Why would a leading KC be taking the government to court over the roll out of 5G?

Michael Mansfield KC is widely known for representing the families in the Grenfell Tower, Lockerbie, Hillsborough, Ballymurphy Massacre and Stephen Lawrence cases. He is now heading up a team of lawyers who are suing the government over their roll out of 5G technology. How come?

What is the case?

Essentially, that the government’s actions in authorising 5G are a breach of human rights in that they are failing to protect the public from the health risks of 5G technology. Specifically, to quote from Action Against 5G:

That the government has thus far failed to:

• take into account the extensive evidence showing that radiofrequency radiation from masts and wireless devices puts health and life at risk
• carry out a full and independent examination of the risks
• properly inform the public of the dangers so the public can decide how to protect themselves

Instead:

• the government continues to adopt guidelines which the independent scientific research shows is unsafe for humans, animals, and the environment

And this matters because:

• 5G will add significantly to the emissions we already have from mobile phone masts, mobile phones, Wi-Fi, wearable devices, smart meters, and other ‘smart’ devices.
• This issue concerns all citizens.
• The consequence of inaction could be serious and irreversible damage.
  

What has happened so far?

In March last year (2021) Judicial Review Proceedings were launched in the High Court against the Secretaries of State for Health and Social Care, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Digital Culture Media and Sport.

The case focused on ‘the risk to which members of the public, including particular vulnerable individuals, and children, are being exposed without having consented to or agreed to expose themselves to that risk; and without an adequate and proper consideration undertaken by the relevant safeguarding authorities of the creation of those man-made public health risks’. Crucially the government is accused of failing to investigate the possible risks to the safety and health of its citizens of 5G technology – and failing to inform its citizens of any possible risks that this techonology might present so as to allow them to make an informed choice as to whether they wish to subject themselves to those risks or not.

As a result the government are in breach of section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 – as a result of omissions and failings in violation of the positive obligations required to be met by Articles 2, 3 and/or 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. (For the full grounds and the background to the legal proceedings, see the Case updates section here.)

July 2021 – first refusal

In July 2021, not entirely suprisingly,  the first application to judicially review the subject of ever rising levels of radio frequency radiation and its potential harm to citizens and the environment was refused by a judge. Without delay the legal team lodged a Renewal Notice seeking permission for a hearing.

August 2021 – in the US

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ‘failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its determination that its current human exposure guidelines adequately protect the public against all the harmful effects of exposure to 5G, cell tower, cell phone and wireless technologies.’

The case was thrown out because the FCC had failed to provide ‘a reasoned record of review for the thousands of pages of submitted scientific evidence and most importantly had failed to provide a reasoned explanation for its assertion that it’s guidelines adequately protect against the harmful effects of exposure to radio frequency radiation’.

A landmark ruling.

November 2021

The renewal notice seeking permission for a Judicial Review was turned down but the legal team appealed .

May 2021

The Court of Appeal has granted permission for the case to proceed on the grounds stated at the beginning of this post. A date for the hearing has yet to be announced.

Playing the authorities at their own game

Action Against 5G are not the first or the only campaigning organisation turning to the law when more conventional methods have failed. It is not a speedy way of operating, but it can achieve results, although very different results to glueing yourself to a bridge. Sometimes both approaches are needed.

Another group who have very successfully employed the law to hold the government to account is the Good Law Project. Like Action Against 5G it is a not for profit campaigning organisation who ‘use litigation to engage and educate…… We challenge abuses of power, exploitation, inequality, and injustice’. Both are primarily funded by donations from the public and one off crowd funded donations to cover specific cases.

You can read about how successful their multi layered approach has been over the last few years here on their site but in a number of cases their intervention seems to have been game changing. To quote just two:

1. The Met’s stance on Boris Johnson’s criminality over Partygate. In public statements for weeks the Met refused to open an investigation. But when Good Law sued they changed their minds – and then concluded that the Prime Minister had committed a criminal breach of lockdown rules.
2. A long standing legal campaign was over the cronyism which wasted billions of pounds on unwanted, unneeded or inappropriate PPE during the pandemic. When the court finally heard the case  it decided not only that the VIP lane was a gross misuse of political patronage but that it was also illegal.

Support

However…. Neither group can continue their work without support so if you believe their approach can work, you can support them here:

• Action Against 5G

• ActionAgainst5G – Legal action – CrowdJustice

• Good Law Project

To find out more about the possible risks of 5G check in to then Action Aganst 5G site.

Also a good article in Conservative Woman – November 2022