Overview of Cell Tower Health & Environmental Issues
The Telecommunications Act of 1996 prohibits localities from basing their decisions exclusively on environmental effects when ruling on cell tower applications. The courts have interpreted environmental effects to include health effects. Thus, official bodies should not exclusively base their determinations on health effects because cell tower companies may sue and win.
Community members should present information on the health effects of cell tower radiation at official hearings anyway. Knowledge of these effects may alter the position of those who are indifferent about having a cell tower in their neighborhood.
As one wireless safety advocate advised ...
" ... we have the First Amendment. People opposing cell towers can present health concerns all they want in these official hearings, and I have done just that over and over. The official bodies cannot show they made a decision based upon this, but you cannot tell me that the information on health will not affect government body members who usually live in the community themselves. They should just finish their public comment stating 'please vote to not approve this application because this tower has no place in a residential area, disturbs the appearance and fabric of the community, and as an eye sore will reduce the property value and appeal to new home buyers etc...'
We do not want to help the industry keep health effects out of the dialogue. Again I have spoken about health effects at many cell tower meetings." (Note there are some limits on First Amendment rights.)
In the past two years, the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have been working on legislation and rules to facilitate the deployment of hundreds of thousands of "small cell" antennas throughout the country to pave the way for 5G, the fifth generation of cellular technology. The industry anticipates deployment of 800,000 new cell antenna sites for the 5G rollout.
Following are some resources you may find useful.
Sharon Buccino. 5G Coming to Your Neighborhood? Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Dec 6, 2019. Updated Feb 21, 2020.
Sharon Buccino. 5G and the FCC: 10 Reasons Why You Should Care. NRDC. Sep 8, 2019.
Joel Moskowitz. We Have No Reason to Believe 5G is Safe. Scientific American, Oct 17, 2019.
The environmental advocacy group Last Tree Laws provides an excellent overview of the issues: "The FCC ignores current science on wireless health impacts & tramples local zoning rights."
Physicians for Safe Technology
https://mdsafetech.org/cell-tower-and-city-ordinances/
https://mdsafetech.org/cell-tower-health-effects/
https://mdsafetech.org/5g-telecommunications-science/
Environmental Health Trust
https://ehtrust.org/science/cell-towers-and-cell-antennae/
https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell-phoneswireless/5g-internet-everything/
The EMR Safety website covers much of the science. Here are the most relevant links:
Cell Phones, Cell Towers, and Wireless Safety (UC Berkeley presentation / podcast, transcript, video & slides, 2019)
5G Health Risks (9-minute BBC Radio interview, May 30, 2019)
Cell Tower Health Effects
Cell Phone Towers are Largest Contributor to Environmental Radiofrequency Radiation
Cell Tower Radiation Affects Wildlife: Dept. of Interior Attacks FCC
International EMF Scientist Appeal - also see https://emfscientist.org
Scientists and Doctors Demand Moratorium on 5G
5G Wireless Technology: Is 5G Harmful to Our Health?
5G Wireless Technology: Millimeter Wave Health Effects
5G Wireless Technology: Cutting Through the Hype
5G Wireless Technology: Major newspaper editorials oppose "small cell" antenna bills
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS)
Cell Phone Safety Guidance from the California Public Health Department
NTP Cell Phone Radiation Study: Final Reports
Ramazzini Institute Cell Phone Radiation Study Replicates NTP Study
Comprehensive review paper:
Levitt BB, Lai H. Biological effects from exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell tower base stations and other antenna arrays. Environmental Reviews.18: 369–395 (2010) doi:10.1139 /A10-018.Open access paper: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/A10-018?src=recsys
Again, those are the most essential links from the EMR Safety website at which you can find a vast curation of peer-reviewed scientific research.
Community members should present information on the health effects of cell tower radiation at official hearings anyway. Knowledge of these effects may alter the position of those who are indifferent about having a cell tower in their neighborhood.
As one wireless safety advocate advised ...
" ... we have the First Amendment. People opposing cell towers can present health concerns all they want in these official hearings, and I have done just that over and over. The official bodies cannot show they made a decision based upon this, but you cannot tell me that the information on health will not affect government body members who usually live in the community themselves. They should just finish their public comment stating 'please vote to not approve this application because this tower has no place in a residential area, disturbs the appearance and fabric of the community, and as an eye sore will reduce the property value and appeal to new home buyers etc...'
We do not want to help the industry keep health effects out of the dialogue. Again I have spoken about health effects at many cell tower meetings." (Note there are some limits on First Amendment rights.)
In the past two years, the Congress and the Federal Communications Commission have been working on legislation and rules to facilitate the deployment of hundreds of thousands of "small cell" antennas throughout the country to pave the way for 5G, the fifth generation of cellular technology. The industry anticipates deployment of 800,000 new cell antenna sites for the 5G rollout.
Following are some resources you may find useful.
Sharon Buccino. 5G Coming to Your Neighborhood? Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). Dec 6, 2019. Updated Feb 21, 2020.
Sharon Buccino. 5G and the FCC: 10 Reasons Why You Should Care. NRDC. Sep 8, 2019.
Joel Moskowitz. We Have No Reason to Believe 5G is Safe. Scientific American, Oct 17, 2019.
The environmental advocacy group Last Tree Laws provides an excellent overview of the issues: "The FCC ignores current science on wireless health impacts & tramples local zoning rights."
Physicians for Safe Technology
https://mdsafetech.org/cell-tower-and-city-ordinances/
https://mdsafetech.org/cell-tower-health-effects/
https://mdsafetech.org/5g-telecommunications-science/
Environmental Health Trust
https://ehtrust.org/science/cell-towers-and-cell-antennae/
https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell-phoneswireless/5g-internet-everything/
The EMR Safety website covers much of the science. Here are the most relevant links:
Cell Phones, Cell Towers, and Wireless Safety (UC Berkeley presentation / podcast, transcript, video & slides, 2019)
5G Health Risks (9-minute BBC Radio interview, May 30, 2019)
Cell Tower Health Effects
Cell Phone Towers are Largest Contributor to Environmental Radiofrequency Radiation
Cell Tower Radiation Affects Wildlife: Dept. of Interior Attacks FCC
International EMF Scientist Appeal - also see https://emfscientist.org
Scientists and Doctors Demand Moratorium on 5G
5G Wireless Technology: Is 5G Harmful to Our Health?
5G Wireless Technology: Millimeter Wave Health Effects
5G Wireless Technology: Cutting Through the Hype
5G Wireless Technology: Major newspaper editorials oppose "small cell" antenna bills
Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS)
Cell Phone Safety Guidance from the California Public Health Department
NTP Cell Phone Radiation Study: Final Reports
Ramazzini Institute Cell Phone Radiation Study Replicates NTP Study
Comprehensive review paper:
Levitt BB, Lai H. Biological effects from exposure to electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell tower base stations and other antenna arrays. Environmental Reviews.18: 369–395 (2010) doi:10.1139 /A10-018.Open access paper: http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1139/A10-018?src=recsys
Again, those are the most essential links from the EMR Safety website at which you can find a vast curation of peer-reviewed scientific research.