A new generation of cellular telephone technology, 5G, is under development and has people anticipating an entirely new network that is faster and “smarter,” but it isn’t known when 5G will be available in Eureka Springs or Carroll County.
“The arrival of 5G here has not been announced,” said Arthur Bruno, Common Sense Technologies. “However, this is a massive rollout and it has only barely begun. My sense is that 5G is years away locally. 5G is not even fully deployed in New York City, Chicago, Minneapolis, etc. But where it is, it is easy to see how it could become a game changer with massive speed improvements.”
Bruno said he has not studied the safety matters of 5G, so he can’t comment with any insight.
Dale Ingram from AT&T media relations team said they follow the radiofrequency radiation (RFR) exposure limits set by the Federal Communications Commission, and in fact, exposure to the general public from their small cell facilities are hundreds of times below conservative FCC limits.
“The FCC recently said there’s no evidence 5G is a health risk, based on research and findings by the FDA,” Ingram said.
The FDA has concluded that current wireless technology appears to be safe. “We have not found sufficient evidence that there are adverse health effects in humans caused by exposures at or under the current radiofrequency energy exposure limits,” the FDA wrote. “Even with frequent daily use by the vast majority of adults, we have not seen an increase in events like brain tumors. Based on this current information, we believe the current safety limits for cell phones are acceptable for protecting the public health.”
Health effects of 5G have not yet been studied in humans, but studies showed male rats exposed to high levels of whole-body RFR developed heart cancers. The National Toxicology Program (NTP) said the incidence of tumors, called malignant schwannomas that were observed in the heart, increased in male rats as they were exposed to increasing levels of RFR beyond the allowable cell phone emissions. Researchers also noted increases in an unusual pattern of cardiomyopathy, or damage to heart tissue, in exposed male and female rats.
But NTP said “the levels and duration of exposure to RFR were much greater than what people experience with even the highest level of cell phone use and exposed the rodents’ whole bodies. So, these findings should not be directly extrapolated to human cell phone usage.”
NTP said the conclusions still require careful discussion. “There are additional unusual findings from the study, such as the exposed rats living longer than the control group rats, that we are assessing to understand how that may be relevant to the results,” NTP wrote.
No studies have been done showing how animals or people might respond to 5G in addition to wireless networks such as 2G, 3G and 4G. In 2017, 180 scientists and doctors from 35 countries recommended a moratorium on the rollout of 5G until potential hazards for human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists independent from industry.
“5G will substantially increase exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields on top of the 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-fi, etc., for telecommunications already in place,” the joint letter from the scientists and doctors said. “RF-EMF has been proven to be harmful for humans and the environment. 5G leads to massive increase of mandatory exposure to wireless radiation. 5G technology is effective only over short distances. It is poorly transmitted through solid material. Many new antennas will be required, and full-scale implementation will result in antennas every 10 to 12 houses in urban areas, thus massively increasing mandatory exposure.”
Wireless carriers say that 5G may be a huge boon to the economy.
“5G will be a whole new kind of network –faster, smarter and more responsive,” Ingram said. “Over time, it will change how we connect with one another, as well as deliver revolutionary new capabilities for consumers and businesses. While we have not yet announced specific plans for 5G in the Eureka Springs area, we continue investing in building the network our customers need today and preparing for the future. We have upgraded our network in parts of 16 cities in Arkansas to 5G Evolution, which will enable customers on capable devices in areas with 5G Evolution coverage to experience speeds that are up to two times faster than AT&T’s standard 4G LTE.”
Ingram said 5G will eventually power smart factories, self-driving cars, virtual and augmented realities, and other yet-to-be discovered experiences.
“We use small cells to densify our wireless network to meet current demand, while preparing our network for the next generation of technologies and services, like 5G,” he said. “Small cells are low profile, compact, scalable and unobtrusive. They are flexible network solutions that can be readily deployed to specific locations, including those with high concentrations of users or where customers are prone to experience connectivity issues due to buildings or topography, or in areas that can’t effectively be served by a traditional cell tower.”
One U.S. Senator, Richard Blumenthal [D-CT], has raised concerns that there has been no research done into the human health impacts from 5G.
“So there really is no research ongoing,” Blumenthal said. “We’re kind of flying blind here, as far as health and safety is concerned.”
He questioned how much money the industry has committed to supporting additional independent research and if any has been completed.
T-Mobile has said that it has “the first, largest, and only nationwide 5G network, covering more people and places than anyone else. No 5G signal goes farther or is more reliable. Other 5G only covers city blocks. Outs covers thousands of miles.”
T-Mobile says about 200 million Americans have access to T-Mobile’s 5G, and a map of coverage in Northwest Arkansas is at t-mobile.com/coverage/4g-lte-5g-networks.
Not all current cell phones work with 5G, they must be compatible with the network.
[Eds. Note: Part 1 on Jan. 8 explored health concerns about 5G.]