To 5G, or not to 5G?

Thursday 03 October 2019

A controversial yet highly credentialed American scientist has come to Guernsey to speak to the island's group of 5G protestors.

The group are asking the States to slow down the island's roll out of 5G - which is currently targeted at next year - because they believe it is a risk to everyone's health.

Dr Devra Davis, a former health advisor in Bill Clinton's government, and since, an advocate for safer use of wireless technologies, was invited to Guernsey by one of the group to give a talk. She is, however, sometimes criticised in scientific circles for only pointing to studies which support her line of argument - her book 'Disconnect, the truth about cell phone radiation' has come under fire for this.

Pictured: Guernsey has committed to rolling out the first licenses for 5G by the middle of next year - a group of islanders are strongly against rushing into things though, and want to wait until the technology is much better understood. 

She said 5G was a risk to people unlike its predecessors because of the need for far more masts to be dotted around the island, all of which emit EMF. This is despite the fact that the masts are known to have a much lower output and intensity of EMF than ones used for former technologies, which were spread more sparsely. 

"Guernsey wants to be a safe place with health as its motto, but in order for 5G to work, you will need an antenna every 10 homes," she said in an interview with Express.

"The problems with 5G have to do with the fact that while it only gets a little bit into the skin, it has an affect on the immune system. It's radiation, and it does increase your risk of a whole load of problems, least of which is cancer."

It is true that 5G will require far more masts to be placed around the Channel Islands, but CICRA, the telecoms industry's regulator, have previously clarified they believe this will be ok because the masts are much less intense in what they output. 

Pictured: 5G is the next evolution of data technologies, which is expected to open up exponential new opportunities for businesses to develop new things.

When challenged on why more main-stream scientists do not believe 5G poses a risk to people, Dr Davis said that one, many studies were 'sponsored' by industry bodies, and two, that something having 'no evidence of a health risk' did not mean it was safe. 

"5G MAY be a detriment to our health and to the environment, but the key message is that all wireless radiation needs to be tested and understood better so that we can develop ways to improve it. I do not think that we are going to end wireless radiation - I am not naive."

Pictured: 5G will see more masts around the islands. 

According to her, wired connections should be the way the island adopts 5G. Using the fibre optic infrastructure already in place, businesses and banks that want the connection should be directly wired up to avoid "exposing everyone else to it unnecessarily".

"On a small island like this, you have 3G and 4G masts further away, but you need more masts for 5G and you will have to include 3G and 4G within them. You already have fibre optic cable, put the 5G through those cables and all is fine, you don't have to be exposed to your neighbour's radiation," she added.

"The industry has sponsored a number of expert groups, and those expert groups have said 'don't worry, there isn't a problem there'."

Finally, Dr Davis said people should seriously consider keeping their phones away from their pockets - she pointed to studies that found men's fertility was reduced by having a phone in your trouser pocket. 

Pictured top: Dr Devra Davis, an American epidemiologist with more than 200 scientific publications.