Will New Zealand’s 5G research be a spin job?
I received the below article from the LA Times this morning. Not a very informative article as it is mostly referring to cell phone research which really isn’t that applicable to the frequencies used in 5G technology. However, I noted the brief reference at the end which mentions 5G research which is being conducted by the telecommunications and Network Engineering research group at Massey University, New Zealand. This research is using “modeling” to determine the possible health effects of “many, many transmitters transmitting together”.
Faraz Hasan who heads the research effort was quoted as saying: “I believe if we show that it is bad, we have room to tweak the technology, and if we show it is not bad, then users will be happy it is safe” .
Faraz Hasan is a Senior Lecturer at Massey University’s School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, where he leads the Telecommunication and Network Engineering research group. His research interests include device-to-device communication, 802.11 networks, stochastic modeling and smart grids.
Considering that Hasan’s department is all about advancing wireless technology, and that they are using “modeling” to determine any health effects, this whole research effort will consist of determining if the emissions from their array of test antennas exceeds ICNIRP limits. Areas that are exceeding ICNIRP will be called “bad” and those under “not bad”
Not bad means safe.
Of course, Hasan’s group will find that as 5G technology is under ICNIRP limits it is not bad and we all can be happy.
The industry will then make sure that these scientific findings are published in a prestigious journal and trumpeted to the world’s media as proof 5G technology is safe. Perhaps they will also include something from ACEBR about the nocebo effect. After all, why worry when you can be happy….
The best of New Zealand science? I hope not.
Don
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Is 5G Technology Dangerous?
Early data shows a slight increase of tumors in male rats exposed to cellphone radiation
FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
BY JIM PUZZANGHERA
August 8, 2016, 8:00 p.m.
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-88008803/
As wireless companies prepare to launch the next generation of service, there are new questions about the possible health risks from radiation emitted by cellphones and the transmitters that carry the signals.  Concerns about the potential harmful effects of radiofrequency radiation have dogged mobile technology since the first brick-sized cellphones hit the market in the 1980s.
Industry and federal officials have largely dismissed those fears, saying the radiation exposure is minimal and that the devices are safe. Incidences of and deaths from brain cancer have shown little change in recent years despite the explosion in cellphone usage, they note.
But the launch of super-fast 5G technology over the next several years will dramatically increase the number of transmitters sending signals to cellphones and a host of new Internet-enabled devices, including smart appliances and autonomous vehicles. And the move to the new technology comes after unsettling findings from a long-awaited federal government study of the cancer risk from cellphone use.
National Toxicology Program researchers released preliminary data in May that showed small increases in tumors in male rats exposed to cellphone radiation.
The rats were exposed to nine hours of radiation daily, in 10-minutes-on, 10-minutes-off intervals, over their whole bodies for two years. The researchers found increased incidences of rare brain and heart tumors starting at about the federally allowable level of cellphone radiation for brain exposure, with greater incidences at about two and four times those levels.
Extrapolating the results to humans gets complicated, and there were some puzzling findings as well. Why, for instance, did only male rats show increased tumor rates, and not females? Final results from the peer-reviewed study won’t be released until at least the end of 2017.
The study, which the American Cancer Society said marked “a paradigm shift in our understanding of radiation and cancer risk,” reignited debate about the potential harmful effects of cellphones on human health.
The concerns are amplified by the explosive growth in the number of cellphone subscribers over the last three decades and the increasing amount of time people are using mobile devices amid the popularity of social networks and streaming video.
Now, some experts and wireless-safety advocates are calling for more research as the nation prepares to take the leap into a 5G world that promises to offer more and faster services. And they are reiterating advice – echoed by federal officials – about steps concerned consumers can easily take to reduce their exposure to radiofrequency radiation, such as using a headset to keep the phone away from their heads.
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Joel M. Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health, said there needs to be more federal funding to study the possible radiation risks.
Last year, he helped organize a letter to the United Nations by more than 200 scientists worldwide who have studied the effects of exposure to cellphone radiation and other electromagnetic fields. The scientists want U.N. officials to take more steps to protect humans, particularly children and pregnant women.
One of the few 5G studies is starting in New Zealand. Researchers from Massey University will use modeling to determine the possible health effects of “many, many transmitters transmitting together,” said Syed Faraz Hasan, who heads that university’s telecommunications research group.
“I believe if we show that it is bad, we have room to tweak the technology, and if we show it is not bad, then users will be happy it is safe,” Hasan said.
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