If you've ever been through a city you might have noticed tiny mini 5G cell towers on the poles of street lights. They look like little boxes, but they're actually broadcasting wireless signals from cellular providers to your mobile.
These smaller towers are replacing the larger built cell towers. While they're not as noticeable however, they could cause issues for users.
The FCC's Radiation Exposure Thresholds
The FCC's Radiation Exposure Thresholds determine the safe limit at which an individual can be exposed to electromagnetic energy from wireless devices. The exposure limits are based upon scientific research that prove that electromagnetic energy can cause harm to health.
The rate of absorption called the specific absorption rate (SAR) is an indicator of the amount of radiofrequency energy that is taken up by tissues. It's usually 1.6 milliwatts per kilogram spread over a gram of tissue.
However, because 5g transmits at higher frequencies, it has the potential to increase the intensity of energy on the skin and other directly-exposed body areas. This could result in various potential harms, including exacerbated appearance of skin conditions such as dermatitis and cataracts and skin cancer.
Because of the potentially negative effects of 5G radiation, PSU has chosen to create a general maximum power density of four mW/cm2 averaged over 1 cm2, but not to exceed 30 minutes, for the entire 5G spectrum at 3000 GHz. This localized limit is consistent with the maximum spatial-average SAR of 1.6 W/kg averaged over 1 grams of tissues at six GHz.
The FCC's Maximum Exposure Thresholds
If you've ever used a mobile phone, you probably know that the safest range from the tower is at least 400 meters away. This is due to the power of transmission from cell towers increases drastically the further the tower is.
While it sounds like a good idea however, people who live close to towers could be more susceptible to health problems. For instance, a study conducted in 2014 in India discovered that people who lived within 50 meters of cell towers experienced significantly more health complaints than those living further far from antennas.
However, this study also revealed that those who relocated to areas that were further from cell towers noticed their symptoms return to normal within a few days. Other studies have shown that exposure to high frequencies of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can cause brain tumors, cancers as well as other health issues.
This is because RF radiation, used for wireless communication, has the ability to penetrate the human body's outer layer, which is the skin. This is important to understand since the skin functions as a barrier to protect against injuries caused by mechanical forces, infections caused by pathogenic microorganisms and the entry of harmful substances. It is also the biggest organ in the human body and is responsible for protecting other organs.
what is a safe distance from a 5g cell tower for the Minimum Exposure
The FCC's Minimum Exposure Thresholds are based on several assumptions that aren't supported by scientific evidence. They include the false belief that exposures of a short duration to RF radiation are safe due to minimal absorption into body (i.e., tissue heating).
https://fibrepen4.bloggersdelight.dk/2023/04/26/how-far-can-you-get-from-a-5g-portable-tower-without-getting-unsafe/ does not take into account the deeper penetration of the ELF parts of modulated RF signals and the effect of short bursts of heat caused by RF pulses. These assumptions are not in line with current knowledge of the biological consequences of RF radiation, and thus they shouldn't be relied upon for health-protection exposure standards.
Furthermore to that, ICNIRP and FCC restrict their exposure limits to local peak SARs, based on the maximum frequency of absorption (psSAR) that is an inadequate dosimetric tool to determine the degree of radiation exposure. Particularly, psSAR is what is a safe distance from a cell tower when frequencies exceed 6 GHz. In addition, psSAR is not been tested for RF radiation exposed to other environmental agents such as sunlight. In the event of interactions, RF radiations with different agents in the environment could result in antagonistic or synergistic impacts. This would result in an increased risk of adverse health adverse effects. For example, co-exposure to RF radiation and sunlight could raise the chance of skin cancer and exacerbate other skin diseases such as acne.