20 Mar 2019; DW: As Germany and the world are set to launch fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks and major telecommunication companies prepare to rollout 5G enabled devices, consumers are asking whether this latest generation of mobile phone communication will be detrimental to their health.
What makes 5G different?
5G, the latest generation of mobile communication, will employ higher frequencies and bandwidth, enabling users to transfer wireless data faster (with rates of up to 10Gbit per second) than older cellphone standards.
Previous 'G' networks have used frequencies between 700 MHz and 6 GHz. The 5G network will operate on frequencies between 28 and 100 GHz. To put that into perspective: 4G is 10 times faster than 3G. It is expected that 5G will be around 1,000 times faster than 4G.
By 2024, Swedish telecom giant Ericsson predicts 5G coverage will extend to over 40 percent of the world's population.
With an inability to travel great distances or pass through objects, the shorter length millimeter waves used in 5G need strengthening via booster antennas positioned on average every 150 meters (500 feet).
In addition to the mobile phone towers already dotted across rural and urban areas, the need to enhance frequency levels for 5G networks could soon see booster antennas positioned on street signs, street lights and even post boxes (if they still exist then) in a bid to ensure a stable connection for users.
What's what?
X-ray machines used to take pictures of bones are considered high-frequency, while TV antennas, radio station or mobile phone base stations use lower frequency radio waves to transmit information.
Different frequencies of wavelength interact with the human body in different ways, but with a greater number of low-frequency antennas comes increased exposure to radio frequency radiation.
Cause for concern?
While it might seem as though everyone you know owns or uses a digital device — smartphone, car, laptop or smartwatch — not a week goes by when mobile phone radiation fears are not reflected in the mainstream news cycle.
Around 250 scientists from around the world signed a petition recently to the United Nations and World Health Organization outlining their concerns that "cellular and cordless phones … and broadcast antennas," amongst other radio frequency emitting devices, may produce cancer risks due to the electromagnetic field (EMF) radio waves they produce.
The appeal outlined: "Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional chances of the reproductive systems, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans."
Living organisms at all levels, the scientists added, are affected by exposure to electromagnetic fields produced by smartphone devices and transmission towers.
"Damage is not limited to humans as there is growing evidence of harmful effects in both plant and animal life."
Numerous controlled scientific studies of 2G, 3G and 4G technologies have shown that stress, sperm and testicular damage, neuropsychiatric effects, including changes to electrical activity in the brain, cellular DNA damage and calcium overload can all occur in humans as a result of exposure to EMFs.
Tests in mice exposed to EMFs for nine hours a day over a two-year period also experienced changes in their nervous system, including the brain, heart and testes. Increased cell death was also reported.
Some researchers argue exposure of young children to emitting devices is much more damaging due to their smaller skulls and skull thickness and the increased exposure to their brains.
Despite this, the World Health Organization's International EMF Project, which investigates the health effects of electromagnetic fields on humans, argues there are "no major public health risks [that] have emerged from several decades of EMF research."
The body concedes, however, "that uncertainties remain."
Reducing exposure
Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has called for a thorough investigation into the health risks posed by the new 5G technology.
The body used Tuesday's auction of 5G licenses to provide consumers with advice on how they can protect themselves against mobile phone radiation.
"Especially in view of increasing volumes of data transmission, consumers own radiation exposure should be kept to a minimum when telephoning and surfing [the internet]."
Authorities have advised those with a landline to use that instead of their smartphone.
Consumers, the BfS added, should keep mobile phone calls to the shortest possible duration, write text messages and not make phone calls when reception is poor. The weaker the connection to the next communication tower, the more intensively the electromagnetic field works near the person making the phone call.
People should ensure they only surf the internet on their smartphones or tablets when they have access to a WiFi network.
Using a headset to make and receive calls exposes the head to less radiation and keeping a greater distance between the device and the body is also essential to limiting radiation exposure.
A link between cancer, which often develops over periods of 20-30 years, and 5G radiation has not been determined, the BfS concluded.
"The technology is still too young to draw a conclusion."
