Thread by @BrendanCarrFCC

Lots of conspiracy theories have been swirling around about 5G, cell sites, Wi-Fi, & other RF devices causing adverse health effects.

For some people, the truth & facts simply don’t matter. They will believe this false conspiracy no matter what.

For everyone else, here’s a 🧵:

2. Those pushing this hoax often claim that “there are no scientific studies showing that RF emissions are safe!”

False.

There are dozens upon dozens of scientific, epidemiological, and other studies and analyses that show this.

3. The FDA recently published a 113-page review of RF studies released from 2008-18 that looked for health effects, including tumors, leukemia, & skin cancers.

None demonstrated adverse effects from localized RF at levels encountered by cell phone users.
fda.gov/media/135043/d…

4. You can see this in the real world too.

Since 1987, cell phone use across a variety of tech generations have INCREASED at a pace that resembles a hockey stick. 📈

Over that same time period, the incidences of brain and other nervous system cancers have DECREASED.

5. The FCC, FDA, and health + safety experts are constantly reviewing the relevant science and new studies.

They’ve made clear that the federal RF rules are not only adequate to protect human safety, they include a wide safety margin. The federal rules apply to 5G.

6. The conspiracy theories almost uniformly point to one study to justify their view - it’s from the U.S. National Toxicology Program at HHS (NTP Study).

The news stories summarizing it are very alarming, with titles like “Study Links Cellphones to Cancer!”

Except, it doesn’t.

7. For one, the NTP Study exposed rats to radiation up to *75 TIMES HIGHER* than people experience in the real world.

That’s like tossing a rat off a 75-story building and pointing to the result as evidence that people shouldn’t jump rope.

8. Indeed, the NTP Study’s authors expressly state that you can’t directly extrapolate their results to human cell phone usage, yet click-bait headlines don’t write themselves!

9. The NTP Study also suffered from a series of other anomalies.

The exposed rats actually lived LONGER than the control group.

The study showed NO HEALTH effects for mice or female rats.

It was not a fully blind test.

Plus more.

10. Some people will also point to a WHO / IARC decision to classify RF as “possibly carcinogenic.”

For one, it wasn’t a study - it simply reviewed the existing literature noted above.

For another, the “possibly carcinogenic” label is the same one it put on coffee & Aloe vera.

11. Some also argue that 5G is different because it operates on high-band frequencies for which there are no federal RF limits.

Not so. The FCC’s limits go up to 100 GHz, which is higher than the spectrum 5G operates on.

12. Indeed, the types of RF emissions we’re talking about here are on the same side of the electromagnetic spectrum as visible light and on the entirely opposite side from ionizing radiation like X-rays.

13. The “5G causes COVID-19” conspiracy is just another twist on the same hoax.

Covid is caused by respiratory droplets, not RF.

Plus, the global spread of Covid bears no correlation to areas where 5G has been built.

14. In the end, there’s nothing new here. These conspiracies pop up with every upgrade in wireless tech (3G, 4G, etc.). It just spreads faster and wider today with social media.

Heck, these unfounded conspiracies go back to the first AM and FM radio signals in the early 1900s.

15. The 5G hoax is even being spread by state actors, including Russia because it is falling behind in building out this platform, which is key for economic and national security.

So congrats to those that are buying in to this fake news. You’ve been punked by Russia.