Senate Commerce Committee member Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wants to know why the FCC believes 5G is safe. “We need to know whether the radio frequencies can cause cancer,” Blumenthal said a press conference in Hartford, the CT Mirror reported. Blumenthal called 5G a “vast improvement” over 2G and 3G. However, “There is also a peril of health hazards associated with radiofrequency that is higher and requires more transmitters and antennas,” he said.
Sioux Falls South Dakota Mayor Paul TenHaken raised the safety issue during a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing last month, Blumenthal and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), wrote in a letter to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr this week. TenHaken asked for “clear direction” and “studies” that have been done showing no harm to constituents regarding “putting these small cells on towers” close to libraries, schools and homes, they wrote.
According to Blumenthal and Eshoo, Carr explained, “Federal law actually says that state and local governments can’t take [RF] concerns into account given how much work has gone into this issue at the federal level, both at the FCC and other expert health agencies in Washington. They stay very much up to speed on these issues and have reached the determination that these are safe.”
Most of the nation’s regulation concerning RF safety was adopted in 1996 and has not been updated for next-gen equipment, according to Blumenthal and Eshoo. They recognize the literature on 5G may be limited because it’s so new, and they “are interested in acquainting” themselves with the “latest studies evaluating the health effects of high-band frequencies and modulations that would be used in 5G networks.” The FCC had no immediate response to the letter, reported the CT Mirror. Blumenthal and Eshoo asked for a response by December 17.
David Weidlich, head of the Connecticut local division of the Communication Workers of America, was at the news conference. He said the AT&T workers he represents wear RF monitors when they work on cell towers. However, the small cells that would be used to transmit 5G frequencies would be installed on individual telephone poles where “there is no consistent safety mechanisms,” he said, according to the account. Comments? Email us.
December 5, 2018
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