Zacks.com & Salon & Radiation Health Risks.com – 2019-01-14 11:21:50
https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/347136/5g-wireless-network-race-set-to-begin-in-2019
5G Wireless Network Race Set to Begin in 2019
Nalak Das / Zacks.com
(January 14, 2019) — Forget 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution), the stage is set for 5G wireless race in the US telecom space. With the US telecom industry continuously evolving, companies in the sector are fighting it out to stay ahead of the curve.
A growing US economy speeds up the demand for real-time voice, data, and video manifold. The escalation in demand has encouraged telecom service providers to undertake large network extensions while upgrading plans. Wireless operators will thrive on 5G network in 2019.
Strong Wireless Market
With rapid growth in video and other bandwidth-intensive applications, the wireless industry participants are making considerable investments in LTE, broadband and fiber in order to provide additional capacity and ramp up Internet and wireless networks. The LTE network has the highest penetration rate of 91% in the North American region.
The impending 5G boom is likely to propel the wireless industry to newer heights. The success of 5G technology hinges on substantial investments to upgrade infrastructure in the core fiber backhaul network to support anticipated growth in data services. . . .
Why Public Health Experts Are
Worried about 5G, the Next Generation of Cell Network
Nicole Karlis / Salon.com
(December 4, 2019) — Mobile giant Samsung and telecom company Verizon made a joint announcement on Monday that was supposed to be unequivocally exciting news: the blazing-fast fifth generation wireless cellular network — known as 5G — is slated to be more accessible in the United States in the first half of next year.
Yet public health experts, professors, and watchdog groups are increasingly concerned about the untested aspects that this next-gen cell network requires — including more cell towers and a constant chorus of higher-energy photons streaming through human bodies and dwellings.
It’s a bit of a David and Goliath battle, as Big Telecom’s PR and marketing teams have been busy hyping the possibilities of 5G, while watchdog groups struggle to get funding for even meager studies into potential health effects.
“5G will usher in a new era of mobile connectivity, allowing people to connect to data, experiences and other people in ways never thought possible,” Brian Higgins, vice president of wireless device and product marketing at Verizon, said in a statement. “Together, Samsung and Verizon have made huge gains in bringing 5G commercial services to consumers in several cities. Now, we’re partnering to create a smartphone to put the power of 5G in the palm of your hand.”
According to CNET, the benefits of 5G extend beyond cellular technology. The networks will form the foundation of remote surgery, Internet of Things accessories, improved drone capabilities and more.
Meanwhile, some experts believe the effects of widespread use of mobile 5G need to be better-studied before 5G goes mainstream.
“Even though the radiation associated with 5G technologies hasn’t been investigated as extensively as that associated with current cell phone technologies, there is a substantial body of literature and evidence to indicate a significant impact of exposure on human health and development,” Dr. Jerry Phillips, a professor at the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado, told Salon in an email.
“Of concern here are not just the potential effects of 5G-associated radiation, but what might result from the combined impact of 5G-radiation with other sources of non-ionizing radiation in our environment. Certainly, a more careful and thorough assessment of the risks to human and environmental health are warranted.”
As 5G wireless becomes more popular, more towers to emit the signals will be built to supplement existing cell towers. This is because 5G needs a different hardware to deliver such signals. However, 5G requires far more of these towers than previous generations of networks — reportedly, as near as 500 feet apart in many neighborhoods — due to having a higher frequency that decays faster in the atmosphere. The close proximity of said towers is also a cause for concern, according to Sabine El Gemayel, the producer and director of watchdog group Generation Zapped.
“I’m very concerned about 5G because 5G’s infrastructure requires cell towers to be much closer to each other, thus creating an emitting grid of 24/7 wireless radiations near our homes,” she told Salon in an email. “Radio frequencies from wireless radiations have been classified a class 2b carcinogen by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is not only a concern because it’s hazardous to our health but it is also raises concerns about privacy and cyber security with IOT (Internet of Things).”
In 2011, WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic to humans.” This classification, according to the original announcement, was based on “an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with wireless phone use.”
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states there is “no scientific evidence that provides a definite answer to that question.
“We don’t know for sure if RF radiation from cell phones can cause health problems years later,” the website states.
Some studies have found there is not an increased risk of cell phone usage with certain types of cancer, but other studies have shown cell phones are associated increase cancer rates. Vox has a helpful guide to the messy research on the subject and why it’s difficult to have a definitive conclusion, partly because many of the studies rely on observational data.
Some local cities are taking it upon themselves to keep 5G cell towers out of their communities. City council members of the city of Mill Valley in Northern California passed an ordinance in September to keep 5G transmitters from being deployed in residential areas. Meanwhile, the The Federal Communications Commission has made it easier for operators to deploy infrastructure.
Nicole Karlis is a news writer at Salon. She covers health, science, tech and gender politics. Tweet her @nicolekarlis.
Why 5G Cell Towers Are More Dangerous
Radiation Health Risks.com
Plans to transition to 5G around the world is already underway. Soon every city will be retrofitted with this technology. Mini cell stations will be placed all throughout our neighborhoods and cities. They will be installed on the sides or tops of buildings and on street light poles.
5G cell towers are more dangerous than other cell towers for two main reasons. First, 5G is ultra high frequency and ultra high intensity. 3G and 4G use between a 1 to 4 gigahertz frequency. 5G uses between a 24 to 90 gigahertz frequency. To put this in perspective, 90 gigahertz is 90 billion electromagnetic waves hitting the cells in your body per second. This is a whole lot more radiation than we are exposed to naturally.
Second, because of the shorter length of millimeter waves (MMV) required by 5G to support the bandwidth, these shorter waves do not travel as far or through objects. This means with our current number of cell towers the cell signal will not be reliable. To compensate many more mini cell towers must be installed. It is estimated that they will need a mini cell station every 2 to 8 houses. Health experts believe this increased exposure to 5G will have a devastating impact on our health.
(Note: Cell towers are dangerous, but most people do not realize how much of this radiation they already have inside of their own home. And this is true even if you don’t live near a cell tower. See our Recommended Protections page that shows the things that we recommend to help you protect yourself from 5G Radiation.) Please see also our article entitled “Why Are 5G WiFi Routers More Dangerous?”
More Cell Towers = More Radiation
5G will require more mini cell towers to function properly- this will give you endless capabilities, however, some health experts believe this could also be a recipe for a health disaster. While there have yet to be any specific tests linking 5G exposure to health ailments, we already know 4G and 3G may be to blame for health issues in children and adults around the world.
According to Safespaceprotection.com, the microwaves from cell phone towers can cause memory loss, headaches, cancer, birth defects and heart disease. Some believe the closer you live or work near a cell phone tower, the greater risk to your health.
Cell phone towers create electromagnetic radiation. That radiation is considered a possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization. And it doesn’t stop there, thousands of well documented studied indicate there is a link to cell phone towers and an increase in serious illnesses. Again, this is based on 3G and 4G signal strength and radiation- not for the more powerful 5G network. I can only imagine what 5G will mean for our bodies, minds, and environments.
In Germany, researchers studied 1000 residents who lived in close proximity to two cell phone towers for about 10 years. According to the study, during the last five years of the observations, researchers discovered neighbors living within 400 meters of the cell towers were diagnosed with cancer at a rate that was three times higher than those who lived much further away.
Another frightening study in 1994, well before 3G, 4G and 5G, links significant health problems with people living in a London apartment building with a cell phone mast on the roof. In this study, the cancer rate of those living on the top floor of the apartment building- the closet to the tower, had a cancer rate of 10 times the average in England.
If that isn’t enough to convince you there is a significant link between cell phone towers and health problems consider a recent study in Italy. In March 2018, the researchers at the world-renowned Ramazzini Institute released the shocking results of a large-scale study of lab animals exposed to cell tower radiation over a lifetime.
“The Ramazzini study exposed 2448 Sprague-Dawley rats from prenatal life until their natural death to “environmental” cell tower radiation for 19 hours per day. RI exposures mimicked base station emissions like those from cell tower antennas, and exposure levels were far less than those used in the NTP studies of cell phone radiation.”- ehtrust.com
NTP refers to the National Toxicology Program study that recently linked cell phone radiation to heart cancer in male rats. The Ramazzini study is the first to complete a study of this scale, over a significant period of time. Together, the studies make a strong argument for more guidelines and standards to protect public health. Health experts from around the world are weighing in on the significance of the findings and urging the World Health Organization to act.
“This study raises concerns that simply living close to a cell tower will pose threats to human health. Governments need to take measures to reduce exposures from cell tower emissions. Cell towers should not be near schools, hospitals or people’s homes. Public health agencies need to educate the public on how to reduce exposure from all sources of wireless radiofrequency radiation- be it from cell towers or cell phones or Wi-Fi in schools,” said Dr. David Carpenter, former Dean of the School of Public Health and the University of Albany.
“This is particularly urgent because current plans to place small 5G cell towers about every 300 meters in every street across the country. These 5G “small cell’ antennas will result in continuous exposure to everyone living nearby and everyone walking down the street. The increased exposures will increase the risk of cancer and other diseases such as electro-hypersensitivity,” said Dr. Carpenter.
The risk is very real. As Dr. Carpenter indicated, public health is at risk with plans for more and more smaller towers to go up on every street corner around the world.
According to experts, doctors and researchers, radiation has the power to change our bodies on the cellular level. These changes, as supported in several studies, create a perfect environment for cancer and other ailments to take over inside our body.
Other studies link cell phone and cell tower radiation to memory loss, headaches, changes in vision and mood, sleep disorders and leukemia. The rollout of 5G and the infrastructure to support it will only increase our risk of suffering major health issues down the road.
5G: What Do The Studies Say?
As companies prepare to make 5G a reality, may doctors and scientists believe the technology will be a “massive public health experiment.”
According to Dr. Joel Moskowitz, a public health professor at the University of California, the increase in mini-cell towers across towns and cities is only part of the concern. Dr. Moskowitz says the lower frequency millimeter waves used in 5G could cause major skin, eye, and nervous system problems.
“The deployment of 5G, or fifth generation cellular technology, constitutes a massive experiment on the health of all species . . . Because MMWs are weaker than microwaves, they are predominantly absorbed by the skin, meaning their distribution is quite focused there. Since skin contains capillaries and nerve endings, MMW bio-effects may be transmitted through molecular mechanisms by the skin or through the nervous system,” said Dr. Moskowitz.
Dr. Moskowitz also believes that MMV can make some pathogens resistant to antibiotics.
Dr. Moskowitz is not alone in his concern about 5G. Dr. Yael Stein from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University recently wrote a letter to the Federal Communications Commission outlining his major concerns about 5G, MMV and how it could impact human skin.
Dr. Stein argues the human skin has the ability to absorb more than 90% of microwave radiation and will cause major problems from head to toe- especially for the vulnerable such as kids, elderly and pregnant women.
MMVs are also believed to cause physical pain. A recent article in Eluxe Magazine takes a deeper look at the issue. According to the article, MMVs could cause pain receptors to flare up in the human body, and cause great damage to our eyes, cell growth and compromise our immune system.
In fact, the US Government currently uses MMV energy as a non-lethal weapon. This weapon is direct and more intense than the MMVs from a 5G network, however, it’s similar and concerning. According to the U.S Department of Defense, the active denial system creates a focused MMV beam that is capable of penetrating the skin, which can create a burning or a stinging sensation.
Some experts even argue 5G will have a devastating impact on our environment as well. A 2010 linked aspen leaf damage to MMV exposure. Some researchers also found MMV’s can cause cell damage in wheat plants, impact wildlife and affect our atmosphere.
Only time will tell how the 5G network will impact our health and the environment. We know existing cell towers are dangerous and with plans to build thousands, if not millions more- it could become very interesting. It’s clear though, MMVs are not safe for the general public- especially considering we will be exposed everywhere we go, even at home.
Ways to Reduce Exposure to 5G
5G is expected to be ready to go by 2020 so you have plenty of time to prepare and make plans to reduce your exposure to MMVs and other cell towers. Because 5G towers will be everywhere it will be difficult to avoid all exposure, so you’ll have to take care of your immune system and make healthy choices.
Boosting your immune system with natural fruits and vegetables is a great way to keep your cells healthy and keep diseases at bay. In addition to making healthy food choices, you can take several precautions around your home.
Some experts believe the best way to keep cell tower radiation from penetrating your home is to create a highly conductive enclosure around your home. So, what does this mean? It means first measuring the levels of radiation with HF35C meter. This meter will give you various levels throughout your home and determine what areas you need to focus on first. Right now, there are various window coverings, paints that will keep radiation from penetrating your home.
Many doctors suggest keeping your distance from the cell towers in question. This could be very hard to do given these 5G towers will be on every corner on every building. Unless you never leave the house, I don’t see this as being a realistic expectation.
I’m hoping there will be an app or map listing all the cell phone towers in every neighborhood, in every city across the world. This would certainly make it easier to know where the new 5G towers are located and how to avoid them when necessary. This information would be helpful to those who are exceptionally vulnerable to cell tower radiation such as children, infants, elderly and pregnant women.
Reducing Radiation In Your Home
While you can’t control where the cell towers go, you can control how and when you use your own cell phone. By limiting your time on your phone and using radiation blocking cases and shielding headsets, you can greatly reduce your exposure to cell phone radiation. Every little bit helps.
Also, if you have an office- make sure you turn off your Wi-Fi router when you’re not using it. And keep your cell phone out of your room at night. Various studies link cell phone radiation to disruptive sleep patterns. When you don’t sleep well, it can throw off your entire day. By leaving your cell phone out of your room at night, you’ll never have to count sheep again.
Take a closer look at your meter outside your house. Many power companies are switching to smart meters. These meters take the guesswork out of how much energy you are using. Smart meters wirelessly transmit data constantly throughout the day, giving the power companies real-time information about your energy consumption.
Smart meters take the place of meter readers. Smart meters, however, transmit harmful levels of radiation. If you can, get a smart meter guard to protect you and your family from harmful radiation. You can purchase a smart meter guard for your router and cell phone for under $100.
By reducing your risk of radiation, you can improve your chances of staying healthy and living a long and joyful life.
If you have kids, pay attention to the Wi-Fi situation at school and in their classrooms. Some studies link ADD, ADHD, memory issues, and behavior problems with Wi-Fi routers and nearby cell towers. Cell phone towers are a big business for school districts. Many districts across the country are selling or renting land for cell phone towers. If this is happening in your neighborhood, speak up. It’s only going to become more prevalent with the rollout of 5G.
For more information about radiation dangers inside your home, please take a look at my most recent blog post, The 7 Worst Radiation Dangers in Your Home.
Why Are Companies Pushing 5G?
5G is the wave of the future. This advanced bandwidth will allow you to download movies in a matter of seconds and is expected to support at least a100 billion devices. That’s a whole lot of devices one bandwidth. In general, 5G will be up to 100 times faster than 4G. That’s fast!
5G stands for 5th generation cellular technology. This is the latest development in the cellular world. Major cell phone companies and other tech giants are making progress right now to be ready to launch 5G capable devices by 2020.
I won’t get over technical but in general, 5G will make technology faster, smarter and create a more connected world. According to Tech Radar, 5G will have an average download speed of about 1GBps (1 gigabyte per second).
With faster connectivity, this network will be capable of supporting the Internet of Things, your personal devices and various networks without any delay. Plus, with 5G the connections will be more reliable as well. No more dropped calls or delays when trying to browse the internet.
“It’s all about making better use of the radio spectrum and enabling far more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time”-BBC.
5G is being touted as the golden ticket to cellular connectivity. More speed, less waiting and more people and things connected than ever before. However, as I mentioned earlier, advances in technology will no doubt have an impact on our health- impacts we may not even realize are happening until it’s too late.
How Will 5G Work?
5G is the super highway for speed, information, and connections. To create this incredible speed and reliability, 5G uses the millimeter wave. This millimeter wave operates between 30GHZ and 300 GHz. According to the BBC, “The higher-frequency bands have a lot of capacity but their shorter wavelengths mean their range is lower.” This means the 5G signal is easily blocked by buildings, cars, planes, plants and other objects.
Because the signal will face so many obstacles, an entire web of small-mini cell towers will need to go up in every city, on every block in every neighborhood around the world. No word yet on exactly how many towers or small masts will need to be installed to support this network. It could easily add up to billions of towers.
A recent article in the UK estimated at least 400,000 extra phone masts would be needed to bring rural Britain to be 5G compatible. That’s just the rural part of Britain. It’s estimated there could be thousands of extra small masts in every single city around the world.
According to experts, the 5G masts will be about four feet tall — not nearly the same height as needed with 4G and 3G networks. These towers will be around every corner and will make communicating with your house, car, and family a breeze. However, being that connected- with so many signals around may cause major health problems. I’ll address this later on in this article.
So, who decides where these towers will go? That’s a great question and one local government across the country and world are addressing right now. However, internet and cell phone providers have lobbyists working with state lawmakers to restrict how much say local government has as to where and when the 5G network cell towers will be placed. As I write this article, 13 states have laws on the books to limit local governments from having a say in the 5G process.
The Difference Between 3G, 4G, and 5G
To understand why 5G cell towers are more dangerous than other cell towers, we need to take a closer look at how each network operates. As I mentioned earlier, 5G is the 5th generation of cellular technology and needs shorter waves to function at a high speed. Shorter waves mean there’s a greater need for more cell towers because these specific waves have lots of obstacles.
Let’s start with 3G. 3G stands for the 3rd generation of cellular technology. This advancement in technology was unveiled in 2003. 3G operates using cellular technology, as in the signals are passed from tower to tower. Then onto the next cell phone tower and so on. This continues until you answer your phone, find your answer on Google and finish watching YouTube.
Cell phone companies strategically place the cell towers in various locations and different heights to give you the best signal possible. 3G was mostly used to make phone calls, texting, and limited internet use.
With 3G the signal can travel farther- however, there has to be another tower around to pick up the signal and you’re moving. If there isn’t another tower then you experience a temporary interruption in service. With 3G you need fewer towers than 5G to operate. Fewer towers mean less exposure to potentially harmful cell tower radiation.
3G is also referred to as mobile broadband. This term became a catchy way to sell phones and tablets in the mid-2000s. Mobile broadband basically means there are enough cell towers to keep your signal connected while you’re moving around town or traveling around the world!
The data speeds for 3G are much slower than 4G and certainly much slower than 5G.
Let’s take a closer look at 4G. 4G is what most of us are using today. It’s the reason you can Facetime with your best friend in Europe or download an entire movie on your tablet. Some tech experts describe 4G as removing speed bumps in the cellular signal, “allowing traffic to move much faster.”
4G uses cell towers, just like with 3G- however, the speed at which data and information can travel is much different. 4G uses more bandwidth than 3G, which means towers need to be more powerful. The more powerful the cell phone towers, the more potential for radiation to be emitted into our environment.
Even though 4G is more powerful than the 3G network- it’s not nearly as powerful as 5G. 5G is the super horse, a new wave of technology designed to connect everything via the internet. It’s a game changer. This big shift could mean big health consequences as well.
Future of 5G
The future is here and companies are building the infrastructure needed to create a full world-wide rollout of 5G by 2020. AT&T is leading the way in this major effort to make cities 5G compatible. In July, the tech giant announced plans to have the 5G infrastructure in place and ready to go in 12 cities by the end of this year. Verizon and T-Mobile are also planning limited rollouts of 5G in the next year or so.
There is still a lot of work to be done on the 5G front. In May, Verizon announced Los Angeles will be one of the first cities in America to make the move to 5G. This is not a small feat by any means. According to an article in Tech Crunch, Lowell McAdam, Chief Executive for Verizon, said the company purchased 36 million miles of fiber so they can support the hundreds of megahertz of bandwidth needed to deliver “the whole suite of 5G.” McAdam said Verizon has added 1,000 extra cell sites in LA to make the 5G experience possible.
Verizon also has plans to bring Boston and other major cities into the 5G era as soon as possible. AT&T announced it’s working on 5G capabilities in Atlanta, Dallas, and Waco, TX. Sprint says its bringing 5G to NYC, Phoenix and Kansas City.
Right now, AT&T is running 5G trials in Waco, TX, and Dallas. South Korea unveiled its 5G system during the Winter Olympics this year.
South Korea, Sweden, Turkey, Japan, and China are also working hard to create a seamless transition to 5G. Some industry insiders are calling the 5G networks a technological revolution.
The information, data, and insights made possible by 5G will change how people interact with each other and how businesses operate. According to one article I recently read, 5G has the power to increase revenue across a variety of industries — to the tune of $12 trillion dollars. Yes, trillion dollars.
“Unlike its predecessors though, 5G is a technological paradigm shift, akin to the shift from typewriter to computer. And it isn’t just a network. 5G will become the underlying fabric of an entire ecosystem of fully connected intelligent sensors and devices, capable of overhauling economic and business policies, and further blurring geographical and cultural borders. It will be capable of delivering at every rung of the ecosystem’s ladder and will provide seamless, continuous connectivity for business applications,” Technology Review.
“All industries will feel the effects of the shift to 5G. In particular, automotive, health care, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are expected to bring about dramatic transformations in our daily lives.” — Technology Review.
Most companies in the United States hope to have the 5G infrastructure in place by 2020. Each country has its own timeline on a 5G rollout.
Will I need a new Phone/Tablet?
Yes, you will most likely need to buy a new phone to take advantage of the speed and reliability promised by 5G. However, if you like your phone and don’t want to spend the extra money, your current 4G phone will continue to work just fine- for now.
As I mentioned earlier, 5G offers more bandwidth — which means it can support more data. This network is also more reliable. Some cell phone and tech companies are already offering 5G compatible phones and tablets that make the most out of the new technology.
Your phone is only part of the 5G equation. You may have to pay more for 5G service. It’s unclear what the new plans will cost, but it’s likely all the major carriers will be competitive to keep customers from jumping ship. In general, you get what you pay for. Better service will mean you will have to pay at least more than your currently used to. Time to start your 5G fund!
5G and You
There’s no doubt 5G will change our physical and virtual landscape. However, it’s clear this technology comes with major health concerns too. The wave of the future may also mean a wave of new cancers, illnesses, and disabilities.
More research and studies need to be completed before the entire 5G rollout is complete. The potential health consequences associated with the 5G infrastructure is too great to ignore. If you can, stay in contact with your government and advocate for local control over where 5G mini cell towers are located. We must approach this new technology with respect and caution.
For more information on the dangers of cell phone tower radiation check out my blog, Is Cell Phone Tower Radiation Harmful?
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