5G: Are there biological impacts?

Background

As you may already know, the telecom companies of the world are in the process of deploying a new technology for wireless communication, called 5th generation, or 5G, using an equal and higher band in the electromagnetic (EM) frequency spectrum than previous technologies (Wu et al. 2015, 3GPP). This technology is promised to revolutionize our technological landscape with self-driving cars, artificial intelligence, satellite internet and more.

What you might not be aware of is that world-leading scientists in the field of radiation and medicine are writing letters of concern about this new technology (e.g. D. Carpenter, O. Johansson, P. Héroux, Hardell and Nyberg). One noteworthy example is the Deputy Chairman of the Scientific Council on Radiobiology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and President of the Russian National Committee of Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (RNCNIRP), Prof. Yuri Grigorievich Grigoriev:

“For 50 years I have been working on evaluating the hazards of the biological action of ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. I am very concerned with the increasing electrosmog from wireless communication and its impact on mankind, especially on children.”

In the leading medical journal, The Lancet, a call to assess the global electromagnetic pollution was recently published where the authors present evidence that WiFi and cell-phone frequencies surround us with intensities more than one million times greater than levels before 1980, and 10¹⁸ times greater than natural background levels (Figure 1, Bandara and Carpenter, 2018).

Figure 1: Typical maximum daily exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation from man-made and natural power flux densities in comparison with International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection safety guidelines (source: Bandara and Carpenter, 2018)

What is causing world-leading experts in this topic all over the world to issue these warnings, in spite of the governments telling us this is safe technology?