Switzerland: 5G Mobile Communications: Warning about the Quick Fix

Warning about the Quick Fix
By Pascal Sigg (text) and Florian Bachmann (photo), woz.ch, 28 March 2024 - auto-translation

The federal government could soon allocate mobile phone frequencies for so-called millimeter waves. What pleases telecommunications companies and the digital economy worries environmental protection doctors.

(Photo): It doesn't really work yet: The effects of the frequencies required for 5G technology on our bodies have hardly been researched.

The hopes for 5G technology are high because it could finally fulfill many of the promises of digitalization: fast mobile internet even on hills, drone-controlled weeding robots in fields, self-driving cars in the city. Telecommunications companies and the Federal Council want to push ahead with the corresponding expansion of the 5G network. But there is a problem: Such applications require mobile communications at higher frequencies. Swisscom, Salt and Sunrise currently only operate at a maximum of 3.5 gigahertz (GHz). The Federal Council is now toying with awarding higher mobile phone frequencies in the 6, 26 and 40 GHz ranges – so-called millimeter waves. In order to examine the specific need for higher frequencies, the Federal Office of Communications (Bakom) recently carried out a public consultation process. The Federal Council could have the frequencies auctioned in just three years.

But part of the Swiss medical profession warns: “We are very concerned about this step,” says Bernhard Aufdereggen to WOZ. The Valais native is president of the organization Doctors for Environmental Protection (AefU). In a statement addressed to Bakom, they wrote: “Millimeter waves for communications use should only be permitted when a reliable risk assessment is possible. It is important to wait for the results of the studies that have been started and to evaluate them overall.”

Restraint in Parliament

The AefU spoke up in the consultation process even though they had not been asked. With this, Bakom simply wanted to inquire about needs. Aufdereggen has been involved since the association was founded in 1987. «We have been dealing with the issue of mobile phone radiation for almost thirty years. We want to bring this knowledge into the political processes early on,” he says.

The AefU are and were represented in important federal health protection committees, for example on noise or air hygiene. They also provide a representative on the Berenis Advisory Expert Group, which follows research on the health effects of non-ionizing radiation (NIS). The group knows: Millimeter waves – electromagnetic waves in the very high frequency range – have a different effect on the human body than low frequencies. How exactly, however, is unclear. One assumption is that they are more likely to be absorbed on the surface of the skin. This causes the skin to heat up more. It is uncertain what consequences this may have and whether other effects occur in addition to heat generation.

The technology is simply too new. Berenis wrote in a newsletter in July 2020: "With regard to the planned increasing use of the frequency range above 6 GHz for mobile communication, there are currently only a few scientific studies." The Federal Council knows that the state of research is still insufficient. The Federal Office for the Environment only commissioned research projects last year. The term: ten years in two stages. Large international research initiatives such as the EU’s “Goliat” project have only just begun.

At the same time, the harmfulness of high-frequency radiation has also been insufficiently proven. AefU President Aufdereggen is also aware of this. “For other environmental influences, there is more evidence of illness-causing effects. But in our work we see that more and more people are suffering from cell phone radiation. We have to take these people seriously.”

As the parliamentary debate on the expansion of the 5G network showed last autumn, the radiation limits are crucial for how the Swiss population responds to the new technology. Parliament only approved the 5G expansion on the condition that the limits were not relaxed. These are rather low in this country because of the strong environmental protection law. Because it is still unclear whether the internationally recommended limit values ​​provide sufficient protection, Switzerland also has lower system limit values ​​in addition to the emission limit values.

Stream films on every corner?

But here the Federal Council has recently cheated on the limits of its competence. With the so-called correction factor, it allows telecommunications companies to exceed the precautionary limit at certain points. The Federal Court must now clarify to what extent this is compatible with the precautionary principle of the Environmental Protection Act. Bernhard Aufdereggen finds these announced adjustments to the calculation methods “very sensitive” because the level of protection could be reduced again.

But an auction of higher frequencies without adjusting the limit values ​​is probably not in the interest of the telecommunications companies. They already demanded higher limits when the frequencies were last allocated. After all: This time the Federal Council wants to adjust the “environmental legal framework” before allocating new frequencies for use. In principle, however, the Federal Council can act on its own initiative by ordinance - and increase the limit values ​​against the will of Parliament and against the recommendations of its own experts. The reasons for this are the ambitious high-broadband strategy: By 2033, the Federal Council would like to use a funding program to achieve the most comprehensive coverage possible for all shops and households with bandwidth of at least one gigabit and make lightning-fast Internet the standard.

The focus is on fiber optic lines, but mobile networks could also be used. In addition, the Federal Council is proposing to use the income from upcoming auctions of mobile phone licenses to finance the expansion program. As mentioned, this money could flow in as early as three years. Important actors such as the Federal Communications Commission are likely to lend a hand in this regard. A year ago, the then president, Adrienne Corboud Fumagalli, made no secret of the fact that for her the high broadband strategy was an economic development measure.

AefU President Aufdereggen first calls for a more differentiated approach to digitalization. “Mobile communication has become indispensable today, and we use it too. But we demand that as much data traffic as possible runs over fiber optics and cables.” And that power consumption and the use of digital applications will be looked at more closely. “Excessive smartphone use can be harmful to the health of children and young people in particular. We don’t have to be able to stream Hollywood films on our smartphones on every corner.”

Original article in German:
https://www.woz.ch/2413/5g-mobilfunk/warnung-vor-dem-schnellschuss/!3ACSHFTW3RMG