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5G radiation fears debunked

by on06 December 2019


Electromagnetic hypersensitivity is rubbish too

While Facebook is full of Russian troll farm created mems claiming that 5G radiation is deadly and is responsible for birds dropping out the skies, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) has reiterated that there is no evidence that indicates 5G is harmful to people's health.

 

Nathan Wahl, ARPANSA government international relations assistant director, told the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts that 5G was completely safe.

As part of the inquiry into the deployment, adoption, and application of 5G in Australia, ARPANSA lead scientist Ken Karipidis explained how through double-blind trials, the organisation was able to disprove individuals who claimed exposure to electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) was causing them to feel side effects, such as a burning sensation.

"We believe them … when double-blind testing was conducted with such individuals, we don't see a connection to the electromagnetic field … there's been a range of double-blind placebo control trials that have tested such individuals," he said.

"What we mean by double-blind is we've exposed those individuals to electromagnetic fields in a double-blind scenario. In other words, the person doesn't know when the exposure is on or off and neither does the researcher.

"And in all of those trials, the individual hasn't been able to discern when the exposure has been on or off, even though they might report when they walk into a room and can feel the Wi-Fi is on and that's giving them a range of symptoms."

This is consistent with the argument ARPANSA made in its submission, where it pointed out that any biological effects on humans are "physiological responses that can occur for a broad range of reasons" and are not classed as health effects which require medical treatment.

"While ARPANSA and the [World Health Organisation] recognise that the symptoms of EHS [electromagnetic hypersensitivity] are real and can have a disabling effect for the affected individual, EHS has no clear diagnostic criteria and the science so far has not provided evidence that RF exposure is the cause," it said.

"The majority of scientific studies published to date have found that under controlled laboratory conditions, EHS individuals cannot detect the presence of RF sources any more accurately than non-EHS individuals. Several studies have indicated a nocebo effect i.e. an adverse effect due to the belief that something is harmful."

Karipidis also debunked rumours that base stations could be harmful to people's health, contesting that base stations minimise people's exposure to harmful effects that are caused by high power output, not high-frequency levels.

"Phones are really smart … and only put out as much power as it needs … as we've moved from 2G to 3G to 4G and now to 5G, we've increased the number of base stations. Increasing the number of base stations actually reduce the overall exposure because your phone operates at lot lesser power," he said.

 

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