TO: MEMBERS OF THE CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY FROM EXPERTS WORLDWIDE IN OPPOSITION TO SB 649
September 5, 2017
To Honorable California Assemblymembers:
Within a matter of days Senate Bill 649, Wireless Tools of Commerce (‘SB 649’) will come before the Assembly for a vote. This bill denies citizens and local governments the right to a voice as to where 50,000 or more new cell towers (more likely 2 to 3 million new cell towers), spaced every two to ten homes, will soon be placed.
The Telecomm Industry will be erecting towers in the public rights-of-way, placing them on utility poles and lampposts in front of our homes, schools, places of worship and businesses. There will be no escaping the cell towers or the radiation emitted from them. SB 649 fails to mandate monitoring of radiation levels from these cell towers at a time when the FCC is closing their regional monitoring offices. A failure to monitor is a failure to regulate.
SB 649 has flown through the Senate and Assembly committees thus far despite opposition from the cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Jose as well as 294 other cities, the Teamsters, AARP, Environmental Working Group, Environmental Health Trust, Communications Workers of America, the League of Cities, California Brain Tumor Association, and a host of environmental and justice groups, and leaders of 47 California counties.
We are asking you to vote NO on SB 649. 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, and the ubiquitous placement of these towers will expose California’s population 24/7. The most vulnerable among us — the unborn, children, the infirm, the elderly and the disabled will be affected. It is also expected that populations of bees and birds will drastically decline.
Ironically, the strongest among us, the firefighters, received an exemption from SB 649. After years of their stations being targeted for cell tower placement, SPECT brain scan testing among a group of California firefighters revealed abnormalities that included cognitive impairment. This translated to firefighters occasionally getting lost while driving their emergency equipment through the streets in the same town they grew up in. Infertility and miscarriages plagued the department. Perhaps most shocking of all, the cell tower near the station was measured at 1/1000th of the allowed limit set by the FCC.
We support the fire station exemption of SB 649. If the firefighters are impaired, we are all at risk. Yet this exemption protects the strongest of the strong and forces the most vulnerable among us to live with the greatest exposure. We find these well-documented health hazards both real and unacceptable.
In May 2016 the National Toxicology Program, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, released its final first-wave results of a $25,000,000 study on laboratory animals which showed a link between the RF/MW radiation and two types of cancer, prompting the American Cancer Society’s chief medical officer to note that the results "mark a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk." The NTP study also found DNA breakage in brain cells, confirming multiples studies dating back to 1994. The NTP study follows the 2011 classification by IARC, the World Health Organization’s cancer committee, of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF/EMF) — including cell tower radiation — as possibly carcinogenic to humans. This puts RF/MW radiation in the same category as DDT.
Our children are not just our progeny but the future of our state and our country. Keeping them safe must be a priority. Our homes must remain our sanctuaries. We currently have the option to turn wireless off at night, or to not use it at all. With SB 649 there is no "off" switch. Not only will SB 649 tie our hands as parents and private citizens, but this bill usurps ALL local control.
In a time that begs for strong compassionate leaders, we are turning to you to reject this bill, and work with independent health and technology experts from around the world to devise a better, safer solution (fiber-optic to every business and home) so that we can stay connected and protected.
Respectfully,
Lennart Hardell, MD, PhD
Senior Consultant
Department of Oncology
University Hospital
Orebro, Sweden
Frank Clegg
CEO, Canadians for Safe Technology (C4ST)
Oakville, Canada
Former President, Microsoft Canada
Cindy Sage
Sage Associates
Co-Editor, BioInitiative Reports
Montecito, California
Martin Blank, PhD
Department of Physiology (Retired)
Columbia University
New York City, New York
Anthony B. Miller, MD
Professor Emeritus
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
Devra Davis, PhD, MPH
Visiting Professor, Hebrew University Hadassah Medical Center
Ondokuz Mayis University Medical School
President, Environmental Health Trust
Teton Village, Wyoming 83025
Beatrice A. Golomb, MD, PhD
Professor of Medicine
UCSD School of Medicine
San Diego, California
Cindy Russell, MD
Physicians for Safe Technology
Menlo Park, California
Susan Foster
Medical Writer & Organizer
SPECT Brain Scan Study of California Firefighter (2004)
Honorary Firefighter
San Diego Fire Department
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Ellie Marks
Director, California Brain Tumor Association
San Francisco, California
Andrew A. Marino, PhD, JD
Professor, Department of Neurology (Retried)
LSU Medical School
Shreveport, Louisiana
Jerry L. Phillips, PhD
Executive Director, Excel Centers
Professor Attendant, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of Colorado
Colorado Springs, Colorado
Martin L. Pall, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry and Basic Medical Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington
Link to 2017-0905-SB649-Experts-Worldwide-Opposition-Letter.pdf