On February 6, 2019 in a hearing of the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on “the race to 5G” Senator Richard Blumenthal asked the representatives of the CTIA and others in the wireless industry how much money they had spent or committed to spend on studies to determine the health and safety impacts of the electromagnetic radiation from 5G cell antennas. They waffled and wiggled through their answers but it’s clear that their answers were, as the Senator pointed out, zero dollars. And it is also clear as he pointed out that the U.S. is “flying blind” on this issue.
Watch this fabulous video. If you are an activist and can do it, consider showing it during a presentation or public comments to your City Council or Town Board. It’s a powerful video, brilliantly framed.
Please write to our City Council and Senators Feinstein and Harris and your Representative to take action on 5G cell antennas and the FCC’s determination that 5G is “safe” (without any evidence). This page provides everything you will need.
On December 3, 2018 Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Anna A. Eshoo (D-CA) wrote a letter Sen-Blumenthal-Rep-Eshoo-to-FCC 2018-1203 to Brendon Carr, one of the Commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission, requesting documentation of the claim that Carr had made at a recent public meeting to the effect that 5G cell antenna equipment was safe. As we know it is not. They requested a response by December 17. Carr has not responded.
What you can do:
#1 Read Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo’s letter to the FCC on this page
#2 Write to the City Council and City Manager Jason Behrmann, care of City Clerk Jason Lindgren (jlindgren@elkgrovecity.org), and ask them to write to U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris and Representative Ami Bera urging them to call on the FCC to provide the evidence that 5G cell antenna equipment is safe. In other words to join Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo.
A sample letter you can send is just above the Sen. Blumenthal letter.
#3 Attend a meeting of the Elk Grove City Council and speak to them for up to 3 minutes during public comments. The Council’s agendas are found on this page:
http://elkgrovecity.org/city_hall/city_government/city_council/council_meetings/agendas_minutes
When: City Council meetings are scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m.
Where: City Council Chambers, Elk Grove City Hall, 8400 Laguna Palms Way, Elk Grove, CA 95758
#4 Email Senator Feinstein, Senator Harris, and your Representative in the House (here in Elk Grove it is Rep. Ami Bera) asking them to do what Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo did; namely, write to FCC and ask for the same information on the alleged safety of 5G. A sample letter you can use and each of their contact pages is later on in this page.
#5 Give yourself a pat on the back for taking action and helping to direct the City Council on 5G and health and safety
Sample letter to Elk Grove City Council.
Sample letter for you to write to Elk Grove City Council, care of Jason Lindgren (jlindgren@elkgrovecity.org). (Of course you can customize it.)
[Date]
Will the City Clerk please forward this letter.
Dear Mayor Ly, City Council Members and City Manager Jason Behrmann,
This is about the City’s developing cell antenna policy.
In my opinion the City should take all necessary measures to minimize the health and safety impacts of long term exposure to 4G and 5G cell antenna radiation to Elk Grove residents. At minimum please keep the cell antennas out of residential neighborhoods and away from schools, parks and libraries.
Most of our current regulations regarding radiofrequency safety were adopted in 1996 and have not yet been updated for next generation equipment and devices.
Literally thousands of studies from the U.S. and many countries, including the National Toxicology Program / U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study released on November 1, 2018, have found that long term exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) causes serious and progressive health impacts up to and including cancer.
Recently U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) wrote to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr asking Carr and FCC to provide documentation, including studies, of Carr’s claim at a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Carr had claimed that 5G cell antennas are safe.
This is a nationwide issue. It already affects many California cities and at some point will affect Elk Grove.
California’s U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, and Rep. Ami Bera ought to make the same request of the FCC that Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo made.
Please write to our U.S. Senators and Rep. Bera and ask them, on behalf of the City of Elk Grove, to join Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo in asking FCC for its 5G safety determination and studies.
Please let me know that you received this message and what action you will take, and when.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your name and address]
Sample letter to Senator Feinstein, Senator Harris and Rep. Bera.
Sample letter you can send to Senator Feinstein, Senator Harris and Rep. Bera.
January 30, 2019
Senator Feinstein, (or Senator Harris or Representative Bera, or your Representative),
As you may know most of our current regulations regarding radiofrequency safety were adopted in 1996 and have not yet been updated for next generation equipment and devices.
Literally thousands of studies from the U.S. and many countries, including the National Toxicology Program / U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study released on November 1, 2018, have found that long term exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) causes serious and progressive health impacts up to and including cancer.
Recently U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Representative Anna Eshoo (D-CA) wrote to FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr asking Carr and FCC to provide documentation, including studies, of Carr’s claim at a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Carr had claimed that 5G cell antennas are safe.
This is a nationwide issue. It already affects many California cities and at some point will affect Elk Grove.
California’s U.S. Senators, Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, and Rep. Ami Bera ought to make the same request of the FCC that Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo made.
PLEASE join Sen. Blumenthal and Representative Eshoo by writing your own letter to the FCC, for all of the Commissioners, and making the same request for information that Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo made.
Will you please let me know that you received this message?
Will you please send me a copy of your letter to the FCC?
Thank you,
Sincerely,
[Your name]
www.keepcellantennasawayfromourelkgrovehomes.org/
Here are their pages where you can email them through their websites:
https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me
https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact/email
https://bera.house.gov/connect-with-me/email-ami
Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Eshoo 5G Safety Letter to the FCC
The following is the original text with a few links added. Read the original letter here, or the text, below. The Business Wire press release is here.
Congress of the United States
Washington, DC 20510
December 3, 2018
The Honorable Brendan Carr
Commissioner
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street. SW
Washington, DC 20554
Dear Commissioner Carr:
We write with interest regarding your recent remarks on the safety of 5G technologies during a Senate Commerce Committee field hearing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
During this hearing, the Mayor of Sioux Falls, the Honorable Paul TenHaken, asked about the health ramifications of 5G and small cell deployment.
His request as the leader of his municipality, was for clear direction, talking points, studies that have been done that show that there is no harm to our constituents and to the taxpayers on putting these small cells on towers close to libraries, close to schools, close to their homes.
Speaking on behalf of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), you explained, Federal law actually says that state and local governments can’t take [radio-frequency] 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 our current regulations regarding radio-frequency safety were adopted in 1996 and have not yet been updated for next generation equipment and devices. For example, the FCC’s specific absorption rate (SAR) limits do not apply to devices operating above 6.0 GHz; however, SG devices vvill operate at frequencies as high as or even exceeding 24 GHz. The FCC has acknowledged, The SAR probe calibration, measurement accuracy, tissue dielectric parameters and other SAR measurement procedures required for testing recent generation wireless devices need further examination.
1
Furthermore, the final results of the world’s largest and most expensive study to date on the link between radio-frequency radiation and cancer were only just released on November 1, 2018 by the National Toxicology Program (NTP) — an inter-agency program within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.2 That study, which began in 1999, is limited in scope to radiofrequency radiation associated with 2G and 3G cell phones. As you know, this study found evidence of cancerous heart tumors, as well as some evidence of cancerous brain tumors, in male rats exposed to exposed to high levels of radio-frequency radiation like that used in 2G and 3G cell phones. However, researchers have cautioned that findings do not apply to 4G or 5G technologies.
3
To ensure we communicate accurate information to our constituents — many of whom have concerns similar to Mayor TenHaken’s — we respectfully request you provide to our offices the 5G safety determination from FCC and relevant health agencies that you referred to during the field hearing. Please also include current citations for the studies informing that safety determination. Like Mayor TenHaken. we recognize that the literature on 5G technology may be limited because it’s so new,
and are interested in acquainting ourselves with the latest studies evaluating the health effects of high-band frequencies and modulations that would be used in 5G networks.
The cooperation and partnership of localities and states will be critical as we move forward with this transformative technology, which promises wireless speeds as much as five times faster and with much lower latency. Carriers will also need updated guidelines governing the authorization of devices to be used with 5G. We also believe it is critical for the FCC to act on its March 27, 2013 Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and Inquiry [FCC 13-39, pdf here] to ensure all individuals, and especially those working in close proximity to the hundreds of thousands of small cell facilities to be deployed, are protected from any kind of excess radio-frequency radiation.4
We look forward to hearing from you on this important matter. We respectfully request a response by December 17, 2018.
Sincerely,
Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator
Anna G. Eshoo
Member of Congress
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- Federal Communications Commission, Office of Engineering and Technology, Laboratory Division,
SAR Measurement Requirements for 100 MHz TO 6 GHz
https://apps.fcc.gov/kdb/GetAttachment.html?id=RUMcMDL7fmDLsdRSsbCNoA%3D%3D&desc=865664%20DO1%20SARMeasurement%20MHZ%20to%206%20GHz%20v01r04&tracking_umber=28242. ↩
- Federal Communications Commission, Office of Engineering and Technology, Laboratory Division,
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- William J. Broad,
Study of Cellphone Risks Finds ‘Some Evidence’ of Link to Cancer, at Least in Male Rats,
New York Times (New York, New York), November I , 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/01/health/cellphone-radiation-cancer.html. [and for a critique of this NYT coverage, https://microwavenews.com/] ↩
- William J. Broad,
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- National Toxicology Program,
Cell Phone Radio Frequency Radiation Studies.
https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/materials/cellphoneradiofrequencyradiationstudies_508.pdf. ↩
- National Toxicology Program,
- Federal Communications Commission,
Reassessment of Federal Communications Commission Radio-frequency Exposure Limits and Policies; Proposed Changes in the Commission’s Rules Regarding Human Exposure to Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Fields,
28 FCC Rcd 3498 (4), https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/FCC-13-39Al.pdf. ↩