'Conjectures' About 5G Health Risks 'Short on Science,' Says FCC General Counsel

FCC General Counsel Thomas Johnson warned against “alarmism” on RF safety and 5G, in a Washington Post opinion piece Thursday evening. The U.S. hasn't faced physical attacks on wireless infrastructure by activists who believe without evidence that 5G helped spread COVID-19 (see 2005150022), but Johnson said RF fears slowed 5G spread in some areas. “Conjectures about 5G’s effect on human health are long on panic and short on science,” he said: “Paradoxically, such fears are likely to exacerbate suffering during the covid-19 crisis, because the dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic requires strong Internet connectivity to facilitate telework, remote learning, as well as staying in touch with friends and family.” The FCC is apparently “sufficiently threatened by widespread opposition to 5G as well as pending lawsuits involving the FCC, the CTIA, or Apple, … to publish an op-ed,” emailed Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California, Berkeley, Friday. “Will the Post give equal time to wireless safety organizations trying to protect the public's health and safety from exposure to radio frequency radiation?”