Year: 2017

Veto of Cell Antenna Bill, SB.649, Urged By Five California Mayors

September 22, 2017
by Dominic Fracassa, San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com
Twitter: @dominicfracassa

The mayors of five California cities — San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Oakland and Bakersfield — urged Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday in a letter to veto a bill that would shift much of the power to regulate the placement of wireless communication equipment from local municipalities to the state.

Senate Bill No. 649 (SB.649), introduced by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego, establishes a uniform set of rules that cities and towns would have to follow when considering a company’s request to install small-cell devices — compact antennas usually affixed to street lights and telephone poles [that also include refrigerator-size ancillary equipment boxes on the sidewalk next to every pole with an antenna].

Continue reading “CA Mayors Oppose SB.649”

by Bruce Kushnick 09/20/2017 03:03 pm ET

Link to the original article, as it appears at the Huffington Post

FTTBS: Fiber-To-The-Bait-&-Switch

In April 2016, Verizon told Boston it was going to be spending $300 million to deploy FiOS, their wireline Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) service, to the entire city over the next six years. Unfortunately, what Verizon’s CEO told investors on September 13th, 2017, shows it has deceived the citizens of Boston and harmed Massachusetts.

Lowell McAdam, CEO Verizon Communications, speaking at the Goldman, Sachs 26th Communacopia Conference on September 13th, 2017 stated it will be substituting wireless for fiber-optic to the home (commonly called “the last mile”). And they are doing this throughout the East Coast.

Lowell McAdam, Verizon Communications CEO:

“Well, I think that’s where 5G and over-the-top come in because even in the markets where we have our FiOS footprint from Washington to Boston, the preferred method, the preferred architecture for us is going to be that last mile being 5G. So whether we offer a linear package or we offer an over-the-top package, look, the numbers all show that over-the-top is gaining ground and the 300 channel bundle is under a solitaire. (typo) So I may have been premature when I was up here a couple of years ago saying that but I still see it that way and I think the point for our investors is, we’re building the network that doesn’t care. If you can get broadband I don’t care whether the customer goes over-the-top or buys a linear package, and we’ll be able to provide either one to him.”

Continue reading “Verizon FiOS Deployment In Boston Is Fiber-To-The-BS”

Almost a Quarter of All Disease Is Caused By Environmental Exposures

16 JUNE 2006 | Geneva —

As much as 24% of global disease is caused by environmental exposures which can be averted. Well-targeted interventions can prevent much of these environmental hazards, the World Health Organization (WHO) demonstrates in a report issued today. The report further estimates that more than 33% of disease in children under the age of 5 is caused by environmental exposures. Preventing environmental hazards could save as many as four million lives a year in children alone . . .

The report, Preventing Disease Through Healthy Environments . . . breaks new ground in understanding the interactions between environment and health. The estimate reflects how much death, illness and disability could be realistically avoided every year as a result of better environmental management.

Dr Anders Nordström, Acting WHO Director-General states:

"We have always known that the environment influences health very profoundly, but these estimates are the best to date. This will help us to demonstrate that wise investment to create a supportive environment can be a successful strategy in improving health and achieving development that is sustainable."

. . . Dr Maria Neira, Director of WHO’s Department for Public Health and Environment states:

Continue reading “Environmentally Induced Ilnesses”

Read the original 9/10/17 Huffington Post Article or the one reproduced, below.

Dear CA Legislators, You are being played by ALEC, AT&T, Verizon, CTIA Et Al.

by Bruce Kushnick, 09/10/2017 04:01 pm ET

The California legislature is considering an industry-sponsored bill that claims it will bring a fabulous wireless tech future, 5G, that would replace the wires to the home and deliver cable, phone, broadband and internet services. But there’s a catch; the phone companies want the State to remove and preempt city and state laws, among other favors.

The history of broadband should have every member of the state legislature demanding an investigation of AT&T et al. and say to the still regulated Telecomm Companies:

1. DO NOT GIVE these companies any more deregulation or any more tax perks

2. STOP ALLOWING the billions collected in continuous customer overcharging

3. STOP THE CROSS-SUBSIDIES from AT&T’s regulated Wireline entity to its unregulated Wireless entity.

Here Are 10 Reasons to Start Immediate Investigations

(This summarizes a series of recent articles by Bruce Kushnick and others.)

Continue reading “Open Letter to California Legislators about SB.649”

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.

Continue reading “Experts Worldwide Oppose SB.649”

Read the letter here: 2017-0822-SB649-Dr-Golomb-Opposition-Letter or below.

I urge in the strongest terms that you vigorously oppose California SB 649. If this bill passes, many people will suffer greatly, and needlessly, as a direct result. This sounds like hyperbole. It is not.

My research group at UC San Diego alone has received hundreds of communications from people who have developed serious health problems from electromagnetic radiation, following introduction of new technologies. Others with whom I am in communication, have independently received hundreds of similar reports. Most likely these are a tip of an iceberg of tens or perhaps hundreds of thousands of affected people. As each new technology that leads to further electromagnetic radiation exposure is introduced — and particularly introduced in a fashion that prevents vulnerable individuals from avoiding it — a new group becomes sensitized. This is particularly true for pulsed signals in the radiowave and microwave portion of the spectrum, the type for which the proposed bill, SB 649, will bypass local control.

Mechanisms by which health effects are exerted have been shown to include

• oxidative stress (the type of injury against which antioxidants protect (see optional section below),
• damage to mitochondria (the energy producing parts of cells),
• damage to cell membranes^1,21,
• an impaired blood-brain barrier^3-5 (the blood brain barrier defends the brain against introduction of foreign substances and toxins; additionally, disruption can lead to brain edema⁶),
• constriction of blood vessels and impaired blood flow to the brain⁷, and
• triggering of autoimmune reactions^8,9.

Continue reading “Dr. Beatrice Alexandra Golomb Opposes SB.649”

Over 1,725 Californians have signed this MoveOn.org petition using their last names:

We oppose SB 649. Stop the gross expansion of cell towers and antennas on most every street in California, and stop corporate interests from overriding local governance and taking away citizen rights and legal recourse.

Petition Background

Will you join me, the Mayor of San Jose and 216 Cities in California in opposing SB 649?

If you don’t want cell phone antennas right outside your bedroom window, take action now!

SB.649 has cleared the California Senate and may be approved by the California Assembly in less than 2 weeks. We must act NOW to stop this attack on our rights, privacy and health!

Most utility/light poles, street lights, public signs and other public “street furniture” will become cell towers under Senate Bill 649 and result in 4G/5G antennas lining every block leaving the public with no legal recourse for opposing “micro-wireless”, “small cells”, or even “macro towers.”

We Don’t Want Cell Towers in Our Yards

While fire stations are exempt from antennas, the rest of us are not protected from the proven hazards from the 24/7 pulsed, data-modulated microwave radiation from these so-called “small cell” antennas. Humans, animals and the ecosystem are being jeopardized with SB. 649. The State of California is recklessly attempting to streamline 5G deployment before doing the required due diligence for safety and economic impact. Real estate values will significantly decline near these 4G/5G antennas. Continue reading “Sign The Petition”

Martin Pall, PhD: 8/14/17 Wireless Technology Hazards

Recent Boston Fox 25 News Report Video

Reporter: “Obviously a lot of us are on the phone frequently. Is it dangerous?”
Dr. Pall: “Yes.”

Pall says it was just recently that science figured out how the invisible waves of radiation that wireless devices emanate have a biological effect.

Reporter: “So we’ve got a public health crisis here?”
Dr. Pall: “Yes. Absolutely. Worse one I’ve ever heard of.”

Continue reading “Dr. Martin Pall Opposes SB.649”

“A nation that does not protect its children has no future.”

Toril Jelter, MD, FAAP ¹

July 25, 2017

The Honorable Lorena Fletcher Gonzalez
Chair, Assembly Appropriations Committee
State Capitol, Room 2114
Sacramento, California 95814

Re: SB 649 (Hueso): Wireless Telecommunications Facilities As Amended 7/18/17 — OPPOSE

Dear Assembly Member Gonzalez:

The National Association For Children and Safe Technology (NACST) works to educate the public and support public health policy to protect the safety, health, and well being of children and youth from Radio-frequency / Microwave (RF/MW) Radiation exposure originating from wireless technology and infrastructure. NACST opposes CA SB649 legislation based on health and agricultural science, with human and animal physical injuries and impairments, violation of federal and state laws, and violation of the powers of local government.

It is essential that you vote NO on CA SB649 Wireless telecommunications facilities. This bill is an unnecessary taking of public funds and property values, alongside losses of public health and safety, and human and agricultural productivity. California has strong interest in protecting its economic base and residents’ and visitors’ freedom from physical injury and impairment. The 4G/5G Distributed Antenna System (DAS) would result in scientifically established hazardous radiation exposure with often immediate and therefore provable adverse effects, particularly immediate neurological and cardiologic effects.

Continue reading “NACST Opposes SB.649”

August 9, 2017

The Honorable Lorena Fletcher Gonzalez
Chair, Assembly Appropriations Committee
State Capitol, Room 2114
Sacramento, California 95814

In Opposition to SB 649 Wireless and Small Cell Telecommunications Facilities (as amended 7/18/2017)

Dear Assembly Member Gonzalez Fletcher,

Grassroots Environmental Education is a non-profit environmental health organization with a mission to inform individuals and lawmakers about the links between common environmental exposures and human health impacts. Our award-winning work has helped New York State adopt legislation prohibiting pesticides on school grounds and banning hydraulic fracking for natural gas

We are strongly opposed to statewide legislation in any state which takes away from local decision makers the ability to protect their constituents from harm. The telecommunications industry, one of the most powerful and profitable industries in the country, is spearheading the national effort to consolidate decision-making about 5G technology at the state level so as to avoid the cost and potential delay that might be caused by individuals and organizations that put health ahead of profits. We proudly count ourselves as one of them.

Continue reading “Grassroots Environmental Opposes SB.649”