FCC Should Revisit Exposure Limits For Radio Frequency Radiation

This article includes valuable information about on-line and in-person events during April and May in MA and RI, to discuss safer solutions to wireless technology, on-going petitions and upcoming town meetings.

FCC Should Revisit Exposure Limits For Radio Frequency Radiation
by Patricia Burke, spiritofchange.org, 7 April 2023

The FCC guidelines for public radiation exposure were established over two decades ago before wireless technology infiltrated our neighborhoods, homes and even the sanctity of our bodies.

Are the safety guidelines for radio frequency radiation, set in 1996 by the Federal Communications Commission to facilitate the growth of the wireless industry, adequate for the exposure levels the public receives today?

The health complaints of Pittsfield residents following the placement of a Verizon tower in a residential neighborhood and the resulting legal battle was the topic of a November 2022 investigative article by ProPublica “How the FCC Shields Cellphone Companies From Safety Concerns.”

When Pittsfield Board of Health Chair Bobbie Orsi, a 66-year old registered nurse, who previously fought PCBs with General Electric in Pittsfield, decided to become educated about the health effects of cellphone technology, she quickly discovered there are mountains of scientific evidence of harm. The strongest comes from the government in a large, two-decade National Toxicology Program study published in 2018. The study found “clear evidence” that cellphone radiation caused cancer in lab animals and DNA damage.

What Orsi also discovered is that industry leads municipalities to believe FCC rules gives telecom companies absolute power over certain state and local laws, and thereby, an insidious control over the health of every citizen in the country. They lead towns to believe neither the local Board of Health nor any state agency would be able to withstand a tower placement legal challenge from the telecom industry, which is explicitly empowered by the FCC to sue government entities blocking their expansions.

The FCC guidelines for public radiation exposure were established over two decades ago before wireless technology infiltrated our neighborhoods, homes and even the sanctity of our bodies. By clinging to this outdated risk assessment of the potential health dangers of wireless radiation, and shielding the telecom industry from responsibility for public safety due to the popularity of the products and services it provides, comparisons can easily be made to the decades-long cover-up of the health hazards of smoking tobacco.

Continue reading:
https://www.spiritofchange.org/fcc-should-revisit-exposure-limits-for-radio-frequency-radiation/