5G Health & COVID-19 conspiracies and arson attacks – Wikipedia
Health[edit]
The scientific consensus is that 5G technology is safe.[99][100][101][102] Misunderstanding of 5G technology has given rise to conspiracy theories claiming it has an adverse effect on human health.[103]
In 2019, 180 scientists from 36 countries wrote to the European Union requesting a pause on 5G rollout, because of their concerns about possible health risks.[104] In April 2019, the city of Brussels in Belgium blocked a 5G trial because of radiation laws.[105] In Geneva, Switzerland, a planned upgrade to 5G was stopped for the same reason.[106] The Swiss Telecommunications Association (ASUT) has said that studies have been unable to show that 5G frequencies have any health impact.[107]
According to CNET,[108] “Members of Parliament in the Netherlands are also calling on the government to take a closer look at 5G. Several leaders in Congress have written to the Federal Communications Commission expressing concern about potential health risks. In Mill Valley, California, the city council blocked the deployment of new 5G wireless cells.”[108][109][110][111][112] Similar concerns were raised in Vermont[113] and New Hampshire.[108] After campaigning by activist groups, a series of small localities in the UK, including Totnes, Brighton and Hove, Glastonbury, and Frome, passed resolutions against the implementation of further 5G infrastructure.[114][115][116]
FDA is quoted saying that it “continues to believe that the current safety limits for cellphone radiofrequency energy exposure remain acceptable for protecting the public health.”[117]
There have been a number of concerns over the spread of disinformation in the media and online regarding the potential health effects of 5G technology. Writing in The New York Times in 2019, William Broad reported that RT America began airing programming linking 5G to harmful health effects which “lack scientific support”, such as “brain cancer, infertility, autism, heart tumors, and Alzheimer’s disease”. Broad asserted that the claims had increased. RT America had run seven programs on this theme by mid-April 2019 but only one in the whole of 2018. The network’s coverage had spread to hundreds of blogs and websites.[118]
COVID-19 conspiracies and arson attacks
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several conspiracy theories circulating online posited a link between severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and 5G.[119] This has led to dozens of arson attacks being made on telecom masts in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc.), Ireland (Cork,[120] etc.), Cyprus, the United Kingdom (Dagenham, Huddersfield, Birmingham, Belfast and Liverpool[121][122]), Belgium (Pelt), Italy (Maddaloni), Croatia (Bibinje[123]) and Sweden.[124] It led to at least 61 suspected arson attacks against telephone masts in the United Kingdom alone[125] and over twenty in The Netherlands.
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G#Health.
