There seems to be more than a few Luddites out there who are vocally challenging the rollout of 5G technology.
During a visit to Whangaparaoa, I noticed one such crazy who has plastered their property with hand-painted anti-5G signs. I thought I’d check out their claims.
5G Banned in Israel?
Well, no actually. Israel is holding tenders for the rollout of 5G. They’d hardly tender something that was banned. Reuters reported:
Israel launched a tender for fifth-generation (5G) cellular frequencies on Sunday, hoping discounts to cash-strapped mobile phone operators battling fierce competition will entice bids.
The telecoms regulator expects three groups to bid, including a combination of operators to cut down on costs. It expects to announce winners by the end of the year with a commercial launch to start in 2020 and continuing through 2023.
“We are aware of the companies’ current financial situation and the tender takes this into account,” said Communications Minister David Amsalem.
The ministry has said 5G is necessary to develop health, agriculture and education, as well as smart cities and self-driving cars.
So, not banned and the Luddite’s first lie.
5G kills bees?
Again, this claim is utter codswallop. This is a fairly emphatic claim, but there simply is no evidence of this. On these nutters’ website they can’t even provide any evidence for the claim that 5G kills bees. A Google search only comes up with one instance and that is impossible to attribute to 5G as it isn’t even installed in the area that made the claim.
Others claimed the poles could not be holding 5G broadband, with one saying: “5G has only been installed in major cities, dude. It’s not in Sierra Madre and it probably never will be.”
There are no scientific papers either to support this bizarre claim.
Cell damage to plants, insects, animals and humans?
Large claim, zero facts. Again, this is utter nonsense. The NY Times wrote an article scotching this particular conspiracy theory:
In 2000, the Broward County Public Schools in Florida received an alarming report. Like many affluent school districts at the time, Broward was considering laptops and wireless networks for its classrooms and 250,000 students. Were there any health risks to worry about?
The district asked Bill P. Curry, a consultant and physicist, to study the matter. The technology, he reported back, was “likely to be a serious health hazard.” He summarized his most troubling evidence in a large graph labeled “Microwave Absorption in Brain Tissue (Grey Matter).”
The chart showed the dose of radiation received by the brain as rising from left to right, with the increasing frequency of the wireless signal. The slope was gentle at first, but when the line reached the wireless frequencies associated with computer networking, it shot straight up, indicating a dangerous level of exposure.
“This graph shows why I am concerned,” Dr. Curry wrote. The body of his report detailed how the radio waves could sow brain cancer, a terrifying disease that kills most of its victims.
Over the years, Dr. Curry’s warning spread far, resonating with educators, consumers and entire cities as the frequencies of cellphones, cell towers and wireless local networks rose. To no small degree, the blossoming anxiety over the professed health risks of 5G technology can be traced to a single scientist and a single chart.
Except that Dr. Curry and his graph got it wrong.
According to experts on the biological effects of electromagnetic radiation, radio waves become safer at higher frequencies, not more dangerous. (Extremely high-frequency energies, such as X-rays, behave differently and do pose a health risk.)
In his research, Dr. Curry looked at studies on how radio waves affect tissues isolated in the lab, and misinterpreted the results as applying to cells deep inside the human body. His analysis failed to recognize the protective effect of human skin. At higher radio frequencies, the skin acts as a barrier, shielding the internal organs, including the brain, from exposure. Human skin blocks the even higher frequencies of sunlight.
“It doesn’t penetrate,” said Christopher M. Collins, a professor of radiology at New York University who studies the effect of high-frequency electromagnetic waves on humans. Dr. Curry’s graph, he added, failed to take into account “the shielding effect.”
Dr. Marvin C. Ziskin, an emeritus professor of medical physics at Temple University School of Medicine, agreed. For decades, Dr. Ziskin explored whether such high frequencies could sow illness. Many experiments, he said, support the safety of high-frequency waves.
Despite the benign assessment of the medical establishment, Dr. Curry’s flawed reports were amplified by alarmist websites, prompted articles linking cellphones to brain cancer and served as evidence in lawsuits urging the removal of wireless classroom technology. In time, echoes of his reports fed Russian news sites noted for stoking misinformation about 5G technology. What began as a simple graph became a case study in how bad science can take root and flourish.
So no health effects, and the one so-called study that weirdos produce is so wrong Martyn Bradbury could have written it.
These people promoting these conspiracy theories are charlatans and quacks. There is no evidence to support their claims, and in most cases there is evidence which directly contradicts their claims. In many cases, they are just outright lying, like saying 5G is banned in Israel, when it isn’t.
The only thing 5G is proven to cause is the unhinging of people who seem to live on the edge of sanity anyway.
