US Not Seeing 5G Attacks Like Europe, but American Cities' Concerns Grow

The National Association of Tower Erectors is monitoring some grassroots activists and groups “making the ridiculous claims linking 5G wireless technologies to the COVID-19 pandemic,” President Todd Schlekeway told us. “NATE's member companies are as busy as ever right now as essential service providers of critical communications infrastructure so the COVID-19 pandemic and associated landscape surrounding it has not impacted our industry.” NATE is talking to the FCC and is ready to act if problems occur, Schlekeway said.

“It’s an issue more towards the lack of understanding of electromagnetic fields and the need for a conspiracy to explain COVID-19 than any function of the technology or the use of spectrum,” said Shane Tews of the American Enterprise Institute. Tom Struble, tech policy manager at the R Street Institute, said “it would be comically absurd and laughable if it weren't leading to serious financial harm and physical violence” in Europe “where confused citizens are destroying cell towers and assaulting technicians.” Struble said RF activists disrupted some U.S. city council meetings, and some 5G developments were slowed or blocked: “At least they're being civil.”

Cities report an uptick in constituent form letters about RF safety during the pandemic, said Angelina Panettieri, legislative manager at the National League of Cities. Letters are coming into a geographically diverse range of communities, not all of which have small-cell facilities or applications, she said. “It’s a big concern for the safety of the telecom workers and city staff.” Panettieri hasn’t heard of any arson in the U.S.

City governments are reluctant to provide information about RF emissions due to federal bans on localities regulating on that basis, the NLC official said. “They’re concerned about what that can open them up to legally.” Silence from the federal government “doesn’t really quell the conspiracists,” she said. Many could be convinced if they received good information, she said. The Intergovernmental Advisory Committee produced the last guidance on RF safety, and the FCC needs to fill the body’s seats, which understandably may not be a priority during the pandemic, she said.

Lincoln, Nebraska, got two letters about RF safety in the past two weeks; it usually doesn’t get any, said Chief Information Officer David Young. One urged the local government to impose an emergency moratorium on small cells during the COVID-19 emergency, arguing the facilities aren't essential. A second got the local government’s attention, said the FCC Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee member. It said the locality may be civilly or criminally liable for “actions and/or omissions surrounding the deployment of 5G technology.” The letter referenced a June virtual conference on RF dangers. Nebraska’s municipal league received similar letters, Young said.

State and federal laws constrain the city’s ability to communicate facts about RF, Young said. The problem, he said, is “this adversarial approach that’s being taken” among local, state, federal and industry. Lincoln typically responds to small-cell protesters by referring them to state law preempting cities, he said.

People concerned about RF globally are “educating each other as more data are tabulated,” said Trent University associate professor Magda Havas, one speaker at the virtual 5G summit referenced in the Lincoln letter. Havas shares information via her website and interviews, she emailed us. “We are trying to make sense of what is happening, which isn’t easy.” Another speaker at the forum, Wireless Education Technology Safety Educator Cecelia Doucette, called news reports about people taking down small cells sensationalism. Concerned citizens should meet one on one with “local, state and federal public servants to share with them the peer-reviewed, scientific studies showing wireless technology is biologically harmful," then work together on laws to investigate, she emailed.

RF safety advocates aren’t claiming that 5G frequencies cause or spread coronavirus, but that they can weaken the immune system, much like chronic illness, clarified Havas: “Anything that interferes or weakens the immune system is likely to make the viral infection more virulent.”

Friday, the FCC Office of Engineering and Technology extended the deadline to comment on an NPRM about human exposure to RF until June 17, replies July 20. The 14-day extension is due to COVID-19 disruptions to testing, it said.

A Wireless Infrastructure Association spokesperson said the group has responded to health concerns about 5G, referring us to information posted on the group’s website. “There is zero scientific evidence behind the conspiracy theory that there is a link between coronavirus and 5G,” the group said: “It is the height of irresponsibility to even suggest that such a misleading link exists. The public needs to rely on scientific evidence rather than on unfounded fearmongering.”

The World Health Organization emphasizes that COVID-19 isn't caused by 5G. “Viruses cannot travel on radio waves/mobile networks,” WHO says: “COVID-19 is spreading in many countries that do not have 5G mobile networks." CTIA and the Competitive Carriers Association declined to comment.