Harmful
Now that 5G is being rolled out, a new “layer” of electromagnetic radiation is added, they warn, of which it is unclear how harmful it is.A large study by the American National Toxicology Program (NTP) in 2018 showed that rats and mice developed cancer when exposed to cellphone radiation. “Our study was groundbreaking,” said lead researcher Michael Wyde. “We discovered that increased presence of heart, brain and adrenal tumors was caused by radio frequency radiation.”Another group of scientists sweeps aside this conclusion. These scientists are often present in institutions that determine on a global level how much radiation is safe and how much is not. The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), for example, states that radiation is only dangerous when the body heats up. “That is the only certain factor,” said Eric van Rongen, [former, A.J.] ICNIRP’s Dutch president [now vice chair, Rodney Croft is the new chair holder, A.J.], whose standards a number of European [and world countries, A.J.], including the Netherlands, rely on. The warming of the human body must remain below 1 degree Celsius. Then it is safe. ICNIRP rejects research that shows or suggests more harm.Similarly, according to ICNIRP, the conclusions of the American NTP are incorrect. The identified tumors can also be indirectly caused by heating, says Van Rongen. “Nonsense,” research leader Wyde retorts. “Our study shows that the effects are not from tissue heating but from the radiation itself.”

Professor Hans Kromhout of Utrecht University, Netherlands, who is conducting a long-term study into the effects of mobile phone use, observes the controversy with sorrow. “In science two camps have emerged, with one group calling from their trenches to the other. A normal conversation is no longer possible.” Kromhout does not like the “activist” academics who write emergency letters. Nor does he believe that ICNIRP is “paid by industry,” as some claim. He is nuanced and has a sense of diplomacy. Not surprising though, because as chair of a special committee on Electromagnetic Fields of the Health Council, the professor must advise the House of Representatives on 5G before summer, while ICNIRP [vice, A.J.]chair Eric van Rongen is the secretary of that committee. The two will have to get along with each other. Yet Kromhout speaks out cautiously. He stresses that the NTP investigation was “a breakthrough.” “You see that certain groups try to explain that away. But they are well-executed studies.”Kromhout calls it “significant” that the ICNIRP standards have “gained so much power in Europe”. And he states, very carefully, that just looking at thermal effects is not enough. “If you see that under the level of 1 degree warming, where ICNIRP clings to, all kinds of effects do occur, you have to go a step forward at some point.”

“Don’t let industry take its course”
Kromhout also endorses the criticism of ICNIRP’s selection procedures. “It’s a rather non-transparent group. It is not clear how candidates are elected. Call it self-indulgence. Within that context it doesn’t really have an independent status.” Van Rongen points out that nominations “are made internally”, that the nomination is made public and that ICNIRP as an independent body “does not have to be accountable to governments, for example.” According to Kromhout, the evaluation of 5G, due to its economic importance, is at odds with the careful way in which we deal with other exposures, such as chemicals, pesticides or medicines. “There are very strict regulations for this,” he underlines. “But for 5G you have just one single standard, the ICNIRP standard, which is entirely based on thermal effects. Some measurements are taken near 5G transmitters, as you see in the RIVM report on 5G. However, no exposure of individuals is measured, no future scenarios of exposure are calculated and no health risks are estimated. That has to change. One shouldn’t just let the industry take its course. Well-considered pre-considerations – benefits versus risks – are also necessary in this case.”

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Additional:
1. Professor Hans Kromhout is an international authority on occupational and environmental exposure assessment and epidemiology based at the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.