[liberationtech] 5g health effects?

[Bill Woodcock]

>>> On Mar 1, 2021, at 1:40 AM, 3gg <3gg at shellblade.net> wrote:
>>> In your last statement, are you saying the health risk is acceptable because you get to at least use your phone?

>> No.  This isn’t about acceptable or not acceptable.  That’s subjective, and different for different people.
>> This is just about “more” or “less.”

> That makes sense, thank you. What isn't yet very clear to me is the absolute scale of things. Where on that radiation scale would a deployment of 5g lie at, what magnitudes are considered harmful by recent research, and who backed that research?

Again, this is physics, so as you add confounding variables the complexity and range of possible answers mushrooms exponentially.

Think of it like global warming…  The question “do we want more warming or less warming” has a clear answer, but when you start asking “how much is ok?” “how quickly?” “what are the tradeoffs?” the answers begin to multiply and become harder to pin down.  That in no way negates the basic principle that less is better.

It’s the same with RF energy.  We can pretty safely agree that less is better.

The absolute scale is complicated because it’s different for every point in space, for every time, and at every frequency.  So, even if you manage to specify an exact point in space and an exact moment in time, you’re still looking at a, well, spectrum of answers, all valid, for different frequencies.  And many people would agree that frequencies outside of a critical range probably don’t have very much effect on people… At the high end they bounce off your surface relatively harmlessly (the outside layer of your skin was dead anyway) and at the low end, they pass through without hitting anything (we’re all mostly empty space anyway).  But what those high and low thresholds are would be a matter of fierce debate.

Most cell phones have a maximum transmission wattage of 1W, and average around 600mW (0.6W).

By comparison, most microwave ovens go up to 1000W. But microwave ovens try to contain that energy.  Specifically, in the US, 21 CFR 1030.10 limits that: "The equivalent plane-wave power density existing in the proximity of the external oven surface shall not exceed 1 milliwatt per square centimeter at any point 5 centimeters or more from the external surface of the oven, measured prior to acquisition by a purchaser, and, thereafter, 5 milliwatts per square centimeter at any such point.”  So, microwave ovens are 1/100th as dangerous as cell phones if they’re in good repair, and 1,000 times worse if they’re in bad repair.

So, basically:

1) Answers as concrete and simple as you’re looking for don’t exist, there are too many variables.

2) “What’s harmful” in any absolute sense is, likewise, too subjective to be meaningful.

3) Any cell phone that you’re carrying in your pocket or holding up to the side of your head is likely to be, for most people most of the time, the strongest source of RF energy in their lives.  Unless they work in broadcasting or some kinds of manufacturing or have a leaky microwave oven.

4) One of the biggest positive difference most people can make in reducing the amount of RF energy they're absorbing is to change the way they use their phone: not have their phone as near them as much of the time, have it switch to WiFi whenever possible, switch to a 5g handset when it becomes practical, use speakerphone when they’re alone, and a headset when they’re not.

                                -Bill

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