The first study in the world on 5G health risks published
Press release June 20, 2024
This release is from Strålskyddsstiftelsen.se, the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation and is being reposted by Environmental Health Trust.
5G has been rolled out since 2019/2020. A Swedish research team has published the first study to date on how human health is affected by radiation from 5G base stations. The results show that 5G greatly increases radiofrequency radiation exposure and that ill health occurs fairly immediately after 5G is switched on near people’s homes. The study also included three children aged four to eight years. In several cases, the symptoms were so severe that people had to abandon their homes for good.
The new study is a compilation of seven previously separate case studies published between 2021 and 2024. All case studies and the new compilation were conducted by physician and researcher Dr Lennart Hardell from the Swedish Environment and Cancer Research Foundation in collaboration with Mona Nilsson from the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation. During the years 2021-2023, they have studied a total of 16 people’s self-assessed health after 5G base stations or masts were established near their homes. Measurements of radiation from 5G have also been carried out in the homes.
The measurements show that 5G gives rise to extremely high exposure to pulsed radio frequency (RF) radiation, significantly higher than from previous generations of mobile telephony. In several cases radiation reached several million microwatts per square meter (μW/m2) peak levels in the studied homes, which are levels more than 100 000 times higher than the levels recommended as appropriate maximum exposure by other researchers.
These high levels caused symptoms of ill health in several of the people studied within 24 hours after 5G was switched on. The most common and severe symptoms were sleep disturbance, fatigue, headache, irritability, concentration problems, impaired short-term memory and skin problems. These symptoms correspond to the symptoms described more than 50 years ago as an effect of exposure to radiofrequency or microwave radiation, known as microwave syndrome or radiofrequency sickness.
This first and unique study of the health effects of 5G clearly shows that 5G causes ill health in people living within a distance of 3 to 538 meters from 5G base stations/masts, even though the levels of measured RF radiation are significantly lower than the limits adopted by most countries. These limits allow exposure to 10 000 000 μW/m2measured as RMS (root mean square) averaged over 6 minutes, that only protects against instantaneous heating (thermal effects) and does not protect against the effects found in the new study. In an apartment only 20 meters from a 5G base station, the maximum measured RF radiation was just over 135 000 μW/m2 (RMS average over 2 minutes) for the case with by far the highest radiation exposure. This level caused very severe symptoms within a week and the occupant had to leave the apartment for good.
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The study also shows that when people moved to another home where the radiation was significantly lower and with no 5G base stations nearby, the symptoms subsided and disappeared completely in most cases after a short period. This reinforces that it was 5G that caused the reported symptoms.
The study confirms the warning of serious potential human health consequences due to the 5G roll out submitted by scientists and doctors in the 5G appeal to the EU (5gappeal.eu) and that the current limits for maximum allowed exposure do not protect against adverse health effects. 259 scientists have called for the limits to be improved (emfscientist.org).
“5G is a gigantic experiment with public health that is being carried out and is accepted by the authorities and politicians….5G has been rolled out without any research showing that this new technology is not harmful to human health”, says Lennart Hardell.
“These results make it clear that 5G poses health risks to those living near base stations or cell towers because the radiation increases so massively. So far, there is no study of long-term health effects and the consequences could be very serious if people continue to be chronically exposed to these high levels of radiation from 5G”, says Mona Nilsson.
Facts about the new 5G study:
Study published in: Reviews on Environmental Health with open access. Hardell, Lennart and Nilsson, Mona. “Summary of seven Swedish case reports on the microwave syndrome associated with 5G radiofrequency radiation” Reviews on Environmental Health, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2024-0017.
- Number of people included: 16
- Number of case studies on which the study is based: 7
- Year the case studies were conducted: 2021-2023
- Age of studied persons: 4 – 83 years
- Distance to 5G base stations or mobile towers: 3 – 538 m
- Highest measured radiation (max peak): >3 180 000 μW/m2 (microwatts per square meter)
- Maximum measured radiation (RMS average over 2 minutes): 135 000 μW/m2
- Most common and severe symptoms during 5G exposure: Difficulty sleeping, fatigue, headaches, irritation, difficulty concentrating, impaired short-term memory, skin problems
- Recommended maximum value (Europa EM EMF guidelines): 0.1-100 μW/m2
- Thermal limits (ICNIRP/FCC) adopted by most countries: 10 000 000 μW/m2
- Thermal limits based on: Heating effects observed within 1 hour
- EuropaEM EMF guidelines maximum value is based on: demonstrated effects of prolonged whole body exposure
Media enquiries:
Dr Lennart Hardell email: lennart.hardell@environmentandcancer.com
Mona Nilsson email: mona@stralskyddsstiftelsen.se
