Is 5g Really Harmful To Humans?

 

What do you think of when you hear 5G? does it scare you?or does it excite you?

In 2018 there was a lot of excitement in the air when several telecommunications companies came forward with their plans to adopt 5g, but there was also backlash and concerns like it may causes cancer or leads to heart tumors.

So why is 5g generating so much friction when it is not even operational yet?

 

First let us explore what 5g is:

In theory 5g can offer 10 to 100 times the speed of 4G,this is because 5g uses higher frequency waves than 4G or 3G,which are less crowded with other devices. 

This allows more devices to have access to the internet at the same time and at faster speeds.

Also unlike 4G towers which projects signals in 360 degrees 5g antennas are very directional.This again leads to lower interference with other signals that are present in the area.

 5g also offers lower latency rates.With 5g we can expect to see close to real-time responses between devices,which are touted at 1 millisecond latency,whereas 4G stands at 50 milliseconds.

 5g also has more bandwidth than 4G enabling you to connect more devices to a single internet port like a router.

Now comes the question we have been wondering all along: Is 5g safe for humans and our environment?

The issues with 5g arise as a result of its extremely high frequency which lies between 30 gigahertz to 300 gigahertz.Due to the higher frequencies,the waves do not travel vast distances.

Hence antennas must be erected closer to each other to provide clearer 5g reception we are not talking about a few more in but a lot more;exponentially more.

Will these antennas pose health and environmental risks?

 Wireless companies and even government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and United States Environmental Protection Agency believe that radio waves produced by 5g are safe and they could be right.

 5g networks use microwave and millimeter wavelength radiations which are considered non ionizing and don't produce the kind of energy that directly damages cells.

It is ionizing radiation that is the harmful form.The energy from ionizing radiation can pull apart atoms and as such it's known to damage cells and cause cancer.

However more than 215 scientists from 40 different countries have appealed to the United Nations for urgent action to reduce the electromagnetic field exposure emitted from wireless sources even if they are non ionizing.

These scientists also submitted a letter to the Federal Communications Commission(FCC) asking the body to consider health risks and environmental issues before rapidly  deploying a fifth-generation wireless infrastructure and they are not alone!

The belgian government halted a 5g test in brussels over concerns about the radiation from the base stations.

Members of parliament of the Netherlands are calling on the government to further examine 5g while Switzerland is monitoring 5G's impact on people.

 The FCC does not seem to see a cause of concern however and the body is making sure that the technology is deployed at the earliest.

Meanwhile US President has declared 5g rollout a race that must be won:"5g networks will absolutely be a vital link to America's prosperity and national security in the 21st century."

So what is the outcome of all this?who is right and who is wrong? 

It's complicated!although 5g does not have ionizing radiation,some experts suspect that the radiation from these devices could damage cells via oxidative stress in cells.

This biological mechanism leads to inflammation and has been found to cause cancer diabetes and other diseases too.

For the time being 5g seems safe but there is simply not enough data to know for sure.

 If you are concerned you can sign a petition to halt the deployment of a 5g wireless network until a proper framework and guidelines considering health hazards and environmental effects are prepared.

Before we make our homes businesses and cities smart it's important to take smart decisions when adopting new technology

Some Common Questions about 5G:

1.Is 5G dangerous for your health?

5g isn't bad for your health.There's a lot of concern because we use the word radiation where we talk about 5g.

Radiation that 5g uses is a different wavelength,it's not a wavelength that's called ionizing radiation.It can't disrupt your cells in the way that too much exposure to sunlight can.If you want to stay healthy around radiation,wear sunscreen.

2.Why is 5G banned in some places?

The people banning it aren't necessarily connected to the evidence and their priorities are more reassuring their constituencies.

If you're not very ofay with the science it's understandable why you might be scared, but getting to grips with the evidence and knowing that it doesn't harm you is a really important thing here.

 

3.Will 5G give tech firms the ability to spy on us?

Big tech companies already spy on us.If you have a mobile phone that you carry around that's effectively spying on you.You use Google Maps,if you use Android,even if you use Apple, applications and devices are already tracking you so 5g isn't going to bring anything additional to that party 

4.Will 5G masts ruin the countryside?

We have already a lot of things in our environment that are man made.We have

electricity pylons, we have wind turbines,

we have buildings,we have street lamps,

but this is in addition to the built environment and obviously anything new

is going to feel quite jarring but I think we'll get used to it and I think we're not putting it in absolutely pristine places.

5.Is 5G killing bees?

5g isn't killing bees,there is quite a lot of concern about colony collapse and in some ways we don't know what's going on with that but we do know that 5g isn't the problem, again because there's no mechanism for 5g to harm bees.

 

6.Is 5G worth it?

5g is going to give us as a consumers a lot more connectivity so your phone will be faster, you'll be able to stream video more quickly without buffering.

 More broadly 5g is going to deliver a much more connected world. Instead of things talking to each other and to the cloud they'll be able to talk across devices.

 

So for example cars will be able to feedback traffic information between each other in

real-time .In short there's lots good coming from 5g.

PS:If you are curious like me about 5G.Then please hit the follow button to stay updated.And Thanks for your time.