Switzerland: 19.3113 INTERPELLATION: Who Bears the Health Risk of 5G Technology?

UPDATE : On 22 May 2019, the Federal Council replied to this interpellation:

Opinion of the Federal Council

1. The Federal Council takes the public's concern about the harmful effects of mobile telephony very seriously. With its ordinance on protection against non-ionizng radiation (ORNI; SR 814.710), Switzerland has a legislative framework that restricts the radiation of mobile telephony antennas more than most of its neighboring countries. The limit values are set in the ORNI on the basis of the precautionary principle laid down in the Environmental Protection Act (EPL; SR 814.01), a principle that the Federal Council intends to maintain.

Video Interview with Professor Martin Röösli, President of the Swiss Advisory Expert Group NIS (BERENIS)

Video interview with Professor Martin Röösli
schutz-vor-strahlung.ch, 29 May 2019 - translation

[All interviews are in Swiss German.]

Professor Martin Röösli

Martin Röösli is Professor in Environmental Epidemiology at the Tropical Institute in Basel and also a member of  ICNIRP.  He also presides over the Advisory Expert Group NIS (BERENIS), which works for the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), and continues to work in the "Mobile Communications and Radiation" working group, which is mandated by the Confederation. We were allowed to interview him.

WLAN [Wi-Fi] and the detectability of electrosensitivity

We wanted to know why Prof. Röösli considers WLAN to be negligible, because building biologists have been recognizing WLAN as a disturbing factor for a good night's sleep for years.

"If it were possible to prove electrosensitivity only once, that would question the whole model of thinking." 

- Martin Röösli, epidemiologist and FOEN consultant

According to a 2004 survey , 5% of respondents said they were electrosensitive. According to another survey in 2009 , it was 8.6%. An additional increase in the number of persons affected by 2019 is to be expected. Around 800,000 people in Switzerland are therefore likely to react sensitively to electrosmog today. Nevertheless, Prof. Röösli finds no scientific proof of electrosensitivity.

5G, There's Nowhere to Hide!

Opinion: Dr Tracy Chandler – 5G, there’s nowhere to hide!
healthcentral.nz, 22 May 2019

Our health is more important than having cars that talk to each other or faster movie downloads, states Dr Tracy Chandler (aka Dr Wellness) who says we should be wary of 5G.

Dr. Tracy Chandler

Crowd control. No these aren’t the words of a conspiracy theorist but actual history of 5G (a form of radio frequency, or RF radiation) which was originally used in the last Century for crowd control but was later mostly abandoned because it burnt people. This week’s opinion piece has been an accumulation of many weeks of research and communication with experts in the field of the effects of 5G on human health. It was therefore heartening to see the media recently take on this controversial topic.

The key sentence in this Stuff article is an eloquent quote from University of Auckland psychology professor Susan Pockett: “Approximately 600 peer-reviewed research reportsfrom a range of international scientists show us that radio frequency radiation is linked to [multiple medical conditions including] infertility, diabetes, various kinds of cancer and psychiatric disorders”.

Swiss Re Emerging Risk Report: 5G Mobile Networks Rated As "High Impact" Risk for Insurance Industry

5G mobile networks rated as "high impact" risk for insurance industry in new Emerging Risk report from Swiss Re.  Swiss Re rated 5G as a "high impact" risk affecting property and casualty claims in more than 3 years.

From: Swiss Re. SONAR – New emerging risk insights. Zurich, Switzerland: Sustainability, Emerging and Political Risk Management, Swiss Re Institute, Strategy Development & Performance Management. May 2019. https://www.swissre.com/insti…/research/sonar/sonar2019.html

Off the leash – 5G mobile networks (p. 29)

"5G – short for fifth generation – is the latest standard for cellular mobile communications. Providing ultrafast broadband connection with higher capacity and lower latency, 5G is not only heaven for your smartphone. It will enable wireless connectivity in real time for any device of the Internet of things (IoT), whether that be autonomous cars or sensor-steered factory. In doing so, it will allow decentralised seamless interconnectivity between devices.

To allow for a functional network coverage and increased capacity overall, more antennas will be needed, including acceptance of higher levels of electromagnetic radiation. In some jurisdictions, the rise of threshold values will require legal adaptation. Existing concerns regarding potential negative health effects from electromagnetic fields (EMF) are only likely to increase. An uptick in liability claims could be a potential long-term consequence.

Swiss Firms Will Not Be Compensated if 5G Found to Be Harmful

Swiss firms will not be compensated if 5G found to be harmful

swissinfo.ch, 23 May 2019

The Swiss government will apply the precautionary principle to fifth generation mobile communications (5G) and can tighten existing laws in the face of new scientific evidence on risks.

Mobile operators that have invested in 5G technology will not be financially compensated by the state if stricter laws are introduced, the Federal Council responded on Thursday to a parliamentarian’s question. The financial cost of complying with scientifically-backed new legislation will have to be borne by the telecom companies. There was acknowledgement of the World Health Organization’s decision to classify high frequency radiation as potentially carcinogenic to humans but the government pointed out the absence of relevant long-term studies.

Hence, the Federal Council has taken these grey areas into account based on the precautionary principle. It has set stricter installation limit values for sensitive areas likes homes, schools, hospitals, offices, playgrounds, etc. to ensure low-level exposure over the long term.

When it comes to compensating victims of harmful exposure, several existing legal provisions would make it possible to demand compensation, provided a causal link can be proven. As of now, the law does not provide for the creation of a mutual compensation fund financed by mobile telephone operators. 

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/scientific-evidence-_swiss-firms-will-not-be-compensated-if-5g-found-to-be-harmful/44984736

Geneva: Speech during 5G Protest

Speech during 5G protest opposite the United Nations, Geneva, 4 May 2019
Olivier Pahud, 4G Bien Assez ! - translation

Roger Federer wants us to believe that he doesn't have wifi at home for his virtual glasses, and it is now clear for whom Donald Trump is defending interests. 5G is imposed on us like force-feeding geese.

However, I see in 5G an opportunity, the opportunity to unite, all together. Yellow vests, climate demonstrators, the electrohypersensitive (EHS), all ages from all walks of life have a common cause here.

Because in the end, 5G is symptomatic of our society, of the exhaustion of our old democracy. The commune says to refer to the canton, the canton to the confederation: a devious form of dictatorship in three layers! Politicians are the bedrock of industrialists. They have only one word in their mouths: growth.

Phonegate Alert Association: Minutes of the First General Assembly

Minutes of the first Phonegate Alert General Assembly
Phonegate Team,  22 May 2019

The first Ordinary General Assembly of our association was held on Tuesday, May 21, 2019 at our association’s headquarters. It allowed us to draw a first assessment of the many actions carried out in 2018 by our young organization. Attached is the agenda for this annual meeting as well as the President’s moral report and the Treasurer’s financial statement.

Agenda :

• Moral report from Dr Marc Arazi
• Financial report for 2018 (over 10 months)
• Prospects and projects for 2019
• Election of the members of the Board of Directors
• Other matters

Moral report of the President

The Phonegate Alert association was created on March 2, 2018 by three founding members, Lysiane Brasset, Joël Ferbus and Marc Arazi. It was officially declared in the Journal officiel de la République française on 10 March 2018.

The creation of our association is in line with the alert action carried out by Dr Marc Arazi since July 2016 to make the Phonegate industrial and health scandal known internationally.

Open Letter to the President of the German Federal Network Agency from Environmental Physician Barbara Dohmen

Open letter to the President of the Federal Network Agency

diagnose-funk.org, 17 March 2019 - translation

5G auction / suffering of affected people

The environmental physician Barbara Dohmen from Murg (Baden-Württemberg) wrote an open letter to the President of the Federal Network Agency on the occasion of the 5G frequency auction. From a medical point of view, she impressively describes the dramatic consequences that complete radiation will have for electrohypersensitive people. Freiburg, 17.3.2019

Dear Mr. Homann,

As you will chair, as President of the Federal Network Agency, the auction of the 5th mobile phone generation, 5G, next Tuesday, 19.3.2019, I would like to urge you to inform yourself about the probable unknown effects of mobile phone technology in the health sector. There is a worrying increase in morbidity that we doctors trained in environmental medicine have observed in our professional lives since the beginning of the expansion of wireless communication technology with 2G, 3G, 4G:

Study Claims 5G 'Overheats Insect Antennas'

Study claims 5G 'overheats insect antennas'
by Andrés Castellano, androidpit.com, 17 May 2019

Les ondes plus puissantes de téléphonie mobile ont une
influence sur le métabolisme  fragile des insectes.
Image: iStock / Keystone (Photo posted in Le Matin)

The Swiss organization Pro Natura has published new studies, which indicate that the frequencies used by 5G increase the body temperature of insects. Are we taking another step against nature?

Both insects and 5G need antennas: insects use them as an olfactory organ, and 5G use them to propagate waves, which are invisible, but not harmless. Now, new studies indicate that insects are sensitive to 5G waves: A recent study has shown that insects exposed to 5G radiation have experienced an increase in their body temperature.

Pro Natura runs an intense insect protection campaign called "En
semble contre la disaparition des insectes! "(in English: "Together against the disappearance of insects!"). The campaign addresses the many problems we humans are causing our tiny cohabitants: intensive agriculture, pesticides, the disappearance of ecosystems, light pollution, and now, 5G radiation.

California Jury Hits Monsanto with $2 Billion Judgment in Cancer Lawsuit

California jury hits Monsanto with $2 billion judgment in cancer lawsuit

By Andrew Blankstein and Adiel Kaplan,, nbcnews.com, 14 May 2019

It's the largest payout so far and the third loss in a row for Monsanto in lawsuits alleging Roundup has caused or contributed to cancer.

A woman uses a Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller spray
without glyphosate in a garden in Ercuis near Paris on
May 6, 2018. Benoit Tessier / Reuters file

A California jury has found that a popular weedkiller made by Monsanto likely caused cancer in a husband and wife and ordered the chemical giant to pay more than $2 billion in damages, twice what the plaintiffs' attorney had requested.

It's the largest payout and the third loss in a row for Monsanto in lawsuits alleging that Roundup, which includes the herbicide glyphosate, has caused or contributed to cancer — and there are approximately 11,000 suits pending across the country.

"Unlike the first two Monsanto trials, where the judges severely limited the amount of plaintiffs' evidence," attorney Michael Miller said, "we were finally allowed to show a jury the mountain of evidence showing Monsanto's manipulation of science, the media and regulatory agencies to forward their own agenda despite Roundup's severe harm to the animal kingdom and humankind."

Hippocrates Electrosmog Appeal Belgium

Hippocrates Electrosmog Appeal Belgium (auto-translation)
https://www.hippocrates-electrosmog-appeal.be

Faced with the massive and reckless deployment of wireless technologies, we health professionals are asking the government to apply the precautionary principle in order to protect the population and more particularly the most vulnerable groups, including pregnant women. and the children.

"Hippocrates Electrosmog Appeal Belgium"

On the eve of the deployment of 5G, Belgian health professionals sound the alarm

Smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, connected objects of all kinds, WiFi at home, at workplaces, nurseries, schools, transport and public places, ... The exposure of the population to electromagnetic radiofrequency radiation / microwave (RF / MO) keeps increasing. We are now talking about the arrival of 5G and its myriad of connected objects.

Switzerland: Over a Thousand People Demonstrate in Bern against 5G

Speakers in Bern emphasized that the Federal Constitution was committed to the protection of physical integrity. "But we cannot rely on politics to protect us. We must therefore take legal action to ensure that the State meets its precautionary obligation. "

Over a thousand people demonstrate in Bern
srf.ch, 10 May 2019 (auto-translation)

Citizens Committee «Stop 5G» calls for a moratorium on 5G technology and rejects higher limits.

Over a thousand people demonstrated in Bern against the new 5G
mobile communications standard. SRF.

In Bern, more than a thousand people demonstrated against the new 5G mobile communications standard on Friday night. They fear possible negative health effects from the technology, which enables faster data transmission.

The rally was organized by the Citizens Committee «Stop 5G». It calls for a stop to 5G expansion in Switzerland until there is a sufficient number of independent scientific studies. In addition, the applicable radiation protection limits must not be increased.

For the opponents of this technology, it has been proven that high-frequency radiation harms biological life and favors illness. With the introduction of such technologies, humans and ecosystems are threatened with irreversible effects, they warn.

Thyroid Cancer & Mobile Phone Use

Thyroid Cancer & Mobile Phone Use

saferemr.com, 9 May 2019

From: Carlberg et al. 2016 (see abstract below).

A new review of the research has found that cell phone radiation adversely affects cells in the thyroid gland and thyroid hormones. The study was published in the journal, Environmental Science and Pollution Research International by Jafar Asl and colleagues.

The findings from this study support the findings from two recent human studies. Ermioni Tsarna and colleagues recently found in a cohort study that cell phone use during pregnancy increased the risk of preterm birth, and Jiajun Luo and colleagues (see below) found in a case-control study that heavy cell phone use increases the risk of thyroid cancer.

The figure above is from the following open access paper: Carlberg M, Hedendahl L, Ahonen, Koppel T, Hardell L. Increasing incidence of thyroid cancer in the Nordic countries with main focus on Swedish data. BMC Cancer. 16:246. 2016.https://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-016-2429-4

Adverse Effects of Cell Phone Radiation on the Thyroid Gland: Research Review

Study: Cell Phones Touching the Body Greatly Exceed Safety Limit

Study: Cell Phones Touching the Body Greatly Exceed Safety Limit
Suzanne Potter, Public News Service - MO, publicnewsservice.org, 30 April 2019

(article comes with an audio)

Experts warn against holding a tablet in your lap,
putting a cell phone to your ear or carrying a device
in your pocket. (d3damon/iStockphoto)

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Public health groups are calling for a nationwide recall on some cellular phones after a new study showed some units, when pressed up against the body, emit 11 times more radiation than Federal Communications Commission safety limits allow.

A study done by a professor emeritus of electrical engineering from the University of Utah analyzed data from the French government, which tested 450 phones, and found that 9 out of 10 violated safety limits when they touch the body.

Dr. Devra Davis, president of the Environmental Health Trust, said she thinks the U.S. government guidelines themselves are old and need to be updated.