Gadgets are, sadly, totally wasted on me, so I am not remotely excited by the prospect of my Nespresso machine or my clothes dryer talking either to me or to each other. I am even less excited about my energy company installing a Smart Meter in my house which not only bathes me 24/7 in wifi but also collects endless data about me and my habits and, if some of the US experiences are anything go by, presents me with eye-watering bills because it has got its digital nickers in a twist….
However, I can, at least for now, opt out of having Smart Meter installed. But if the Internet of Things is really to get underway, I will not be able opt out of the technology required to run it. For, unless it is all to be channelled through nice safe fibre-optic cables, the Internet of Things will need the 5G wireless network. 5G will be able to handle 1000 times more traffic than 4G and will be ten times faster. (This will mean, you will be glad to hear, that you will be able to download a high definition film in under one second – which could take up to 10 minutes on 4G. Gosh!) However, to achieve that it will need MANY more, much more intrusive phone masts or antennae. For a really good duffers guide to what this means check in to this short film and article from the IEEE Spectrum.
It does not look as though any of this will come to pass until the 2020s – other things aside there has been little government harmonisation globally on how to allocate and manage the increased band width. But in the US (always ahead of us in these matters) the FCC, the independent government agency that regulates interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite and cable, approved the 5G rollout in July 2016 – completely disregarding the preliminary findings of the National Toxicology Program’s rat study linking cell phone technology to brain and heart cancer. (See here for an excellent article in the Scientific American on the study.)
However, it offered a green light to the US wireless industry which is now, according to US campaigner, Marilynne Martin, ‘lobbying hard at both the Federal and State levels to remove any roadblocks to this deployment as well as to get funding. The biggest roadblock is local zoning regulations that control siting processes as well as costs. They want this removed and they want unbridled access to the rights of way on our residential streets and properties at little or no cost…. Small cell deployment in residential areas will require a minimum installation every 300-500 feet per industry documents and can include antennas on light posts, utility poles and street signs as well as 65 feet mini cell towers on your front lawn.’
As she points out, there is no opt out to antennas all over your local street so, if you do not want them to be there, it is up to you to bring sufficient pressure to bear on your local authorities for them refuse permission. A big ask….
Electromagnetic pollution aside, there are also serious privacy concerns over the proliferation of 5G masses many equipped with cameras. For a lengthy interview on the Dave Hodges show in the US see here.
And while on the subject of electromagnetic pollution another campaigner, Olga Sheen, accuses the WHO (the World Health Organisation) of ‘no longer fulfilling its mandate of protecting global health. Instead, there are all the hallmarks of a cover-up—just like we had with the decades-long smoking saga. This time, it’s about the proven harm caused by microwave radiation, and the millions of global citizens being seriously affected as a result of WHO’s denial of the science.’
In a 30 odd page document she ‘explores the dynamics driving this untenable situation, exposes WHO’s industry bias, presents some of the science demonstrating biological harm, spells out what WHO and its EMF Project need to do to fulfill their mandates, and shares real-life stories from some of the millions of global citizens being seriously affected by the rapidly increasing microwave radiation in our environment.’
She is certainly not the only one to have made such accusations.