Switzerland: Doctors for the Environment: Press Release on 5G and the New Regulations for Adaptive Antennas

5G - New regulations for adaptive antennas
An increase of the limit values by a roundabout way as a mere detail of execution

Press Release, Médecins en faveur de l’Environnement (MfE), 24 February 2021 -

Unofficial translation *

MfE press release (pdf in French)

MfE press release (pdf in German)

For years, MfE has been fighting, with the help of its expertise, against a relaxation of the limit values for cell phone radiation, for lower limit values and stricter protection of emissions. The MfE, as a representative of the interests of protection, is a member of the Non-ionizing Radiation Implementation Support Group that prepared the new regulations. The MfE rejects the new existing regulations for adaptive antennas because preservation of the level of protection is not guaranteed. There are currently excellent alternatives from a technical point of view.

For the operating mode of adaptive antennas that can be used for the 5G network as well as for the existing 4G (LTE) network, it is no longer the maximum transmission power that is valid. Temporarily, antennas in adaptive mode may exceed, depending on their type, more than ten times the permitted transmission power and even more. What's new is that the limit value must be determined in 6 minutes. This includes an increase of the limit values by one diverted channel. The limit values remain intact - as stated by DETEC in its press release of 23/02/2021 [in French, German, Italian]- and "the current level of protection is maintained". We do not share this opinion. 

The rationale for the increase in peak values of adaptive antennas is based on simulation studies, unique test measurements and calculation bases that do not in any way satisfy the evolution of the cell phone sector. There is no evidence that the level of protection of the local residents is maintained. Exposure of local residents due to adaptive antennas is, over time, highly dynamic with powerful spikes, is user-dependent and can barely be monitored. This dynamic is, as far as its repercussions on man and the environment, unexplored until now and has been passed over in silence.

More radiation

The current regulations not only allow adaptive antennas to be more flexible in terms of the level of protection for people living near antennas. Cell phone users are unnecessarily exposed to radiation inside buildings when they use the coverage via antennas located outside. Now the cell phone is radiating much more as it connects via the external antenna in question. As a doctor, such an increase in  radiation exposure is a health risk and is unacceptable, given the current state of knowledge.

Consistent prevention in mobile telephony - as little radiation as possible

More and more studies are proving that radiation exposure is harmful to health. Due to new and disturbing studies, the Advisory Committee of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) pleaded, in April 2019, for them to evaluate again, as a high priority, the cancer risk of mobile telephony radiation. In addition to the open questions related to the cancer risk, the impact on well-being, electrosensitivity, cognition and reproduction is the subject of debate. In its position paper on the limit values in force in 2020, the group of NIR advisory experts of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) finds uncertainties and continues to recommend the systematic application of the precautionary principle. The epidemiological studies on the long-term effects of radiation exposure due to conventional cell phone installations above 1 V/m are insufficient. In studies carried out on animals and cells, mobile phone radiation shows a relatively consistent increase in oxidative stress. The special edition of the BERENIS newsletter of January 2021 now contains a brief summary of an expert report commissioned by the FOEN and soon to be published, a current assessment on a possible relationship between oxidative stress and exposure to magnetic and electromagnetic fields and its effects on health. The majority of animal studies and more than half of the studies performed on cells show signs of increased oxidative stress, also in the range of the limit values for mobile telephony. This is worrisome from a medical point of view and especially for the more vulnerable among us: fetuses, children, pregnant women, the sick and elderly people. We reject any increase in limit values and demand systematic health care prevention as a general condition for the further development of mobile telephony.

Alternatives

70 percent of the mobile data volume is used for indoor coverage - especially for streaming; and the trend is upward. The capacity gained through the new regulations will soon be exhausted. It is high time to plan a network adapted to the requirements of the future. ECOSCOPE 2/19 described in detail a blueprint for  low radiation mobile telephony [in German], which we, the MfE, have presented as a possible concept in the context of future developments in the Mobile Telephony and Outreach Report. We expect Parliament to defend, without reservation, the interests of public protection, challenge the new regulations and commit to measures that we can use to improve the quality of life of our citizens that will lead to mobile telephony radiation exposure that is respectful of health.

Background information: [in French]

- Mobile Phone Radiation: Prevention - Why wait? (Ecoscope 2/20)
- MfE Charter 'Mobile telephony and radiation': Prevention for mobile telephony - minimum radiation

Contact: Dr. Martin Forter, directeur des MfE 061 691 55 83

Médecins en facteur de l’environnement (MfE)
Case postale 620 4019 Bâle
061 322 49 49 CP 40-19771-2
info@aefu.ch

www.aefu.ch www.facebook.com/aefu.ch
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Bernhard Aufdereggen, docteur en médecine, président des MfE 079 639 00 40

* translated by the Editor of "Towards Better Health"