4G/5G So-Called “Small Cells”: What You Need To Know

Download PDF tp print


EHTRUST.ORG: Densified 4G/5G Infrastructure

Your Health And The Environment; Adapted from this fact sheet.

What is Densified 4G/5G Infrastructure?

4G/LTE has been with us for over a decade. 5G is the fifth generation of wireless technology that aims to connect billions of sensors and other machines to the Internet, knows as the Internet of Things (IoT) at fast speeds and low latencies. Millions of new cellular antennas are being proposed to be installed on street lights and utility poles &mdas; even in residential neighborhoods, where they are not needed. Telecom has heavily lobbied federal and state legislatures to pass new ALEC-written laws favorable to the Wireless industry that streamline new wireless antenna installations by removing public notice and public hearings and usurp local control.

  • RF-EMR = pulsed, data-modulated, Radio-frequency Electromagnetic Microwave Radiation
  • EMF = Electromagnetic Fields
  • LTE = Long-Term Evolution
  • ALEC = American Legislative Exchange Council

Harvard Investigation Finds Industry Funding Influences Science and Policy

“Industry control, in the case of wireless health issues, extends beyond Congress and regulators to basic scientific research.”
— Norm Alster, in Captured Agency, Harvard University

Medical Doctors Caution

“An Egyptian study confirmed the problems of living nearby mobile phone base stations: increased incidences of headaches, memory problems, dizziness, depression and sleep problems. In large studies, an association has been observed between symptoms and exposure to these RF-EMR and EMFs in the everyday environment.”
— The American Academy of Pediatrics

Scientists Worldwide Are Calling For A Halt To 5G

“We recommend a moratorium on the roll-out of the fifth generation, 5G, for telecommunication until potential hazards for human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists independent from industry…RF-EMR and EMFs has been proven to be harmful for humans and the environment.”
— The 5G Appeal (signed by over 250 independent scientists and medical doctors from 40 countries)

Worldwide Opposition

Governments are taking action to stop 5G. Dozens of cities in Italy, the U.K., the U.S. and Switzerland are passing resolutions/ restrictions to halt the 5G roll-out until adequate safety testing has been done. Several countries recommend reducing children’s exposures to cellular phone radiation

Issues With Densified 4G/5G Infrastructure

Peer Reviewed Research On Wireless Radiation

  • Experimental technology
  • Increases radiation exposure
  • Outdated radiation guidelines
  • Children are more vulnerable
  • Inadequate regulations
  • Impact to tree canopy
  • No oversight by health authority
  • No environmental review
  • Increases energy usage
  • Increases e-waste and pollution
  • Lowers property values
  • Local authority overruled
  • Loss of privacy
  • Interferes with weather forecasting
  • Screen addiction
  • Uninsured liability
  • Cyber security risks
  • Sperm damage
  • Oxidative stress
  • Altered brain development
  • DNA damage
  • Immune system damage
  • Memory problems
  • Sleep problems
  • Hyperactivity
  • Behavior problems
  • Breach of blood-brain barrier
  • Brain tumors
  • Cancer
  • Harm to birds, bees, and tree

5G was not premarket safety tested. LEARN MORE AT EHTRUST.ORG


The following is adapted from a 4G/5G fact sheet from Environmental Health Trust; Original fact sheet here.

4G/5G Wireless antennas transmit pulsed, data-modulated, Radio-frequency Electromagnetic Microwave Radiation (RF-EMR) 24/7, which is harmful to all living organisms: people, animals, insects and plants.

   

We are being told by Wireless Telecom companies that they wish to install 4G/5G Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antenna – Wireless Telecommunications Facilities (CPMRA-WTFs), aka so-called “Small Cells” throughout residential neighborhoods on utility/ light poles and other street furniture to increase download speeds, reduce latency and to transmit . . .

  • Large data payloads to homes for HD/4k video subscription (aka Fixed Wireless)
  • Medium data payloads to/from Mobile phones for call/text/internet services
  • Small data payloads to/from the many sensors that will comprise the so-called Internet of Things (IoT).

The Telecom companies (Telcos), with a strong assist from its heavy lobbying of the US Congress, the FCC, State Legislators and State Utility Commissions have perpetrated many bait and switch schemes over the last 25 years, so we must consider the claimed "benefits" of 4G/5G densification with healthy skepticism. We know from recent history that Telecom Companies have intentionally created the "Digital Divide" in America — ignoring the needs of nearly 100+ million Americans — by over-promising and under-delivering for decades.

These Telcos desire to reap the benefits of a Public Telecom Utility without fulfilling the obligations of a Public Telecom Utility. Title-II-regulated Public Telecom Utilities, such as AT&T-California or Verizon-New-York are supposed to share much of the same mission as that of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), but focused on intrastate telecommunications:

[to enable] communication by wire and radio so as to make available, so far as possible, to all the people of the United States, without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, or gender, a rapid, efficient, nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges . . . for the purposes of promoting safety of life and property.

Instead, the Telcos in 2018, aided and abetted by the FCC, a fully-captured agency, aim to serve only urban and suburban areas, while price gouging everyonewielding monopoly power in many markets. This can be seen most recently in the intrusive invasion of residential public rights-of-way by private Wireless Telecom companies (WTCs), which are subsidiaries of parent Telecom holding companies.

At present, Federal bills (US S.3157, H.R.4953) and various state bills are aiming to preempt local authority in order to streamline the installation of CPMRA-WTFs in public rights-of-way — installing many CPMRA-WTFs as close as 15 to 50 feet from homes, which creates hazards for residents’ safety, privacy and property values.

CPMRA-WTF RF Microwave Radiation is Disastrous

Wireless antennas attached to utility poles, light poles and other street furniture emit pulsed, data-modulated, Radio-frequency Electromagnetic Microwave Radiation (RF-EMR) just like macro cell towers. Many of the Amphenol antennas being installed for 4G CPMRA-WTFs have a maximum rated power input of 2,200 Watts, with an additional 3 dB of headroom, allowing them to accept a power input of 4,400 Watts. This is before an antenna gain of 10x to 12x is applied to focus and amplify the signal (see http://scientists4wiredtech.com/santarosa/cell-tower-specs/).

As first installed, the antennas are typically fed by power from the radios at half or less than the maximum 240 Watts of output power from three Ericcson radios, resulting in peak RF microwave radiation exposures at ground level 100 feet from the antenna of 162,100 µW/m² (microwatts per square meter) of RF-EMR exposure. Since one only needs about 0.02 µW/m² of RF-EMR to get five bars on a cell phone, 162,100 µW/m² RF-EMR exposure is clearly overkill in every sense of the word.

Now, consider how much RF-EMR exposure would result from increasing the input power from 120 Watts to 4,400 Watts (which is quite possible, given this federal law) and ask yourself, why are we even considering installing 48" high x 15" diameter antennas as close as 15 to 50 feet from second-story bedroom windows?

That would be a disaster . . . and this is only for 4G. A single 5G antenna shroud can house about 1,000 antennas in a phased-array with even-higher antenna gains and higher peak-to-average ratios, compared to 4G antennas. This is even further compounded by the fact that Verizon now says that its 28,000 MHz and 39,000 MHz 5G signals actually reach 3,000 feet from its CPMRA-WTFs antennas:

Lowell McAdam, CEO of Verizon:

"When [Verizon] went out in these 11 [5G test] markets, we tested for well over a year, so we could see every part of foliage and every storm that went through. We have now busted the myth that [5G frequencies] have to be line-of-sight — they do not. We busted the myth that foliage will shut [5G] down . . . that does not happen. And the 200 feet from a home? We are now designing the network for over 2,000 feet from transmitter to receiver, which has a huge impact on our capital need going forward. Those myths have disappeared."

Jason L., Verizon Field Engineer:

"[Verizon 5G] is really high frequency [28,000 MHz and 39,000 MHz], so everybody thinks it doesn’t go very far, but it’s a really big pipe and so that’s what allows you to gain the super fast speeds . . We’re 3,000 feet away from our radio node. the cool thing about this is that we did not move the radio node. It’s pointing down to serve the customers in that area " . . . here even 3,000 feet away, we’re still getting 1,000 [Megabits per second] speeds . . . So now we’ve driven about 1/3 of a mile away [1,760 feet] from the radio node. we are still getting very good speeds even though we have foliage in between [800 Megabits per second]."

At the start of every disaster movie, there’s a scientist being ignored.

2017 5G Scientific Appeal (signed by more than 240 scientists and doctors from 42 countries)

We, the undersigned, recommend a moratorium on the roll-out of the fifth generation, 5G, for telecommunication until the harms to human health and the environment have been fully investigated by scientists independent from industry… RF-EMR has been proven to be harmful for humans and the environment.”

Millions of CPMRA-WTFs are planned: The FCC estimates that millions of these wireless transmitters will be built in our public rights-of-way — directly in front of our homes.

5G will add to — not replace — current wireless frequencies and wavelengths: 5G will aggregate bandwidth from a range of frequencies from 600 MHz through 86,000 MHz with corresponding wavelengths ranging from 20 inches at 600 MHz down to 0.1 inch at 86,000 MHz. Every new frequency will be added to our already RF-EMR-saturated airwaves.

Each antenna in this scheme is a two-way microwave transmitter/receiver: There are an infinite number of combinations of wavelength, frequency, intensity and modulations which are the mathematical transformations that encode data onto a carrier wave. Each combination is a new digital fingerprint that uniquely identifies a new manmade toxic agent that, when transmitted through the air, fills our homes, schools, workplaces and public spaces.

Local authority is being overruled: Communities are being stripped of their right to make decisions about this new technology. ”Streamlining” means near-automatic approval. Public notice and public hearings are being eliminated. Even if every homeowner on the block opposes the antennas on their street, the opposition will be disregarded.

Scientists worldwide are calling for a halt to the 4G/5G Densification Roll-out Over 200 scientists and doctors issued a declaration calling for a moratorium on the increase of 4G/5G antennas in residential areas, citing adverse human health effects and impacts to wildlife.

  • Link to the 2017 Scientific Appeal on 5G To the European Commission
  • Link to the 2015 EMF Scientist Appeal to the United Nations
  • Link to Letters from Dozens of Scientists on Health Risks of 5G

24/7 radiation exposure poses serious health hazards: Peer reviewed, published science indicates that continuous exposures to pulsed, data-modulated, Radio-frequency Electromagnetic Microwave Radiation, such as RF-EMR from CPMRA-WTF antennas can increase cancer, damage DNA, alter brain function and development and damage sperm. Most people are unaware that wireless technology was never tested for long-term safety before being sold into the market and that children are more vulnerable than adults to RF-EMR exposures.

Decreased property values: Studies show property values drop up to 20% on homes near cell towers. Would you buy a home with a Close Proximity Microwave Radiation Antenna – Wireless Telecommunications Facility out front? Neither would this person.

See this link to research showing decreased property value from cell towers near homes.

CPMRA-WTFs antennas create additional public safety issues: Unions have already filed comments that workers were injured from RF-EMR exposures because workers were unaware they were working near transmitting antennas. How will HVAC workers, window washers, and tree cutters be protected? The heavy large equipment cabinets mounted on poles along our sidewalks also present new safety hazards. Cars run into utility poles, often, what happens then? See this link to US Dept of Labor letters on cell tower safety

Fiber is the safe alternative: Worldwide, many regions are investing in Fiber Optic Wireline connections which are much faster, more secure, more reliable, more defensible against natural disasters and intentional attacks, provide greater capacity, and are much, much safer. See the link to “Re-Inventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks,” by the National Institute for Science, Law & Public Policy.

Key Research and Reports of 5G RF-EMR Exposures

Frequencies Are Absorbed Into the Skin

Physicists found that the higher millimeter frequencies intended for 5G use are preferentially absorbed into the sweat duct at much higher rates than other organ tissues. Read the following two published studies

  • Link to “The Modeling of the Absorbance of the Sub-THz Radiation by Human Skin.”
  • Link to The human skin as a sub-THz receiver – Does 5G pose a danger to it or not? Paul Ben-Ishai, PhD Lecture.

5G Millimeter Wave Frequencies Are Used As Weapons

Millimeter frequencies have the capacity to cause a severe burning sensation in the skin and are used by the U.S. Department of Defense in crowd control weapons called Active Denial Systems.

Landmark US National Toxicology Program (NTP) Study Finds “Clear Evidence of Cancer” and DNA Damage

The NTP studies found male rats exposed for two years to cell phone radiation developed significantly increased gliomas (brain cancer) and Schwann cell tumors, the very same types of tumors increased in long-term human cell phone users. NIH/ NTP presentation on DNA results states “exposure to RFR has the potential to induce measurable DNA damage under certain exposure conditions.”

Cell Tower Radiation is Linked To Damage in Human Blood

A published study compared people living close and far from cell antennas and found people living closer to cellular antennas had changes in blood that predicts cancer development.

  • Link to Zothansiama et al, 2017.
  • Link to Compilation of Research on Cell Tower Radiation

Published Scientific Review on 5G Finds Adverse Effects

Scientific literature documents evidence of nonthermal cellular damage from wireless radiation used in telecommunications to DNA integrity, cellular membranes, gene expression, protein synthesis, neuronal function, the blood brain barrier, melatonin production, sperm damage and immune dysfunction.

Cellular Radiation Negatively Impacts Birds and Bees

Published research finds the frequencies alter bird navigation and disturb honeybee colonies.

Resources

  • Link to Research on 5G and Cell Tower Radiation

  • Link to A 5G Wireless Future: Will it give us a smart nation or contribute to an unhealthy one?” Santa Clara Medical Association Bulletin, Cindy Russell MD, 2017

  • Link to Letters by Scientists in Opposition To 5G Research on Cell Tower Radiation, 2017

  • Link to Biological Effects from Exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation Emitted by Cell Tower Base Stations and Other Antenna Arrays, Levitt and Lai, 2010

  • Link to Radiofrequency radiation injures trees around mobile phone base stations, Waldmann-Selsam et al., 2016

  • Link to Department of Interior Letter on the Impact of Cell Towers on Migratory Birds, Willie R. Taylor Director, Office of Environmental Policy and Compliance, 2014

  • Link to Anthropogenic radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as an emerging threat to wildlife orientation, Balmori, 2015

  • Link to Briefing Memorandum On The Impacts from Thermal and Non-thermal Non-ionizing Radiation to Birds and Other Wildlife, Manville, 2016

  • Link to Database of Worldwide International Policy to Reduce EMF

  • Link to Youtube Scientific Videos on 5G

Take Action

  1. Contact local, state and federal elected officials in person.

  2. Share the information in this fact sheet with your friends, family and community.

  3. Ask for government policies that significantly reduces RF-EMR exposures.

  4. Take action to halt legislation that allows CPMRA-WTFs in neighborhoods.

Learn More

  • Link to Federal Legislation

  • Link to US States With CPMRA-WTF Deployment Streamlining Bills

4G/5G CPMRA-WTF Antennas Can Be Placed On:

  • Utility poles
  • Street lights
  • Other street furniture
  • Bus stops
  • Exteriors of buildings
  • Interiors of buildings and sports arenas

Reasons Why CPMRA-WTFs Are Not Small

  • Planned RF microwave radiation exposures will create health and safety hazards
  • Refrigerator-sized equipment cabinets, weighing hundreds of pounds near utility poles are intrusive
  • CPMRA-WTFs
  • Significant reduction in property values for nearby homes

Crown Castle’s 2016 10-K Annual Report says:

“If radio frequency emissions from wireless handsets or equipment on our wireless infrastructure are demonstrated to cause negative health effects, potential future claims could adversely affect our operations, costs or revenues… We currently do not maintain any significant insurance with respect to these matters.”

Link to warnings from Crown Castle, Verizon and other wireless companies.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says:

“An Egyptian study confirmed concerns that living nearby mobile phone base stations increased the risk for developing:

  • Headaches
  • Memory problems
  • Dizziness
  • Depression
  • Sleep problems

Letter from oncologist Lennart Hardell MD & Colleagues:

“There is a substantial body of evidence that this technology is harmful to humans and the environment. The 5G millimeter wave is known to heat the eyes, skin and testes… Of particular concern are the most vulnerable among us — the unborn, children, the infirm, the elderly and the disabled. It is also expected that populations of bees and birds will drastically decline.”

Peer Reviewed Research Studies on Radiofrequency Radiation Have Found:

  • Headaches
  • Sperm damage
  • Altered brain development
  • Depression
  • Neurological symptoms
  • Hormone changes
  • Memo

Additional Links to Science

  • Link to BioInitiative 2012 Report by Independent Scientists

  • Link to Dr. Moskowitz, University of California at Berkeley

  • Link to Dr. Lennnart Hardell, Örebro University Sweden

  • Link to The Baby Safe Project

  • Link to Physicians for Safe Technology

  • Link to Environmental Health Trust 5G Resources

This page is adapted from a 4G/5G fact sheet from Environmental Health Trust; Original fact sheet here.