The newest technology that powers our smartphones is 5G, the fifth generation of wireless cellular technology that’s supposed to make things work better and faster. Before it was deployed around 2019, there were global calls for a pause from some governments, activists, and scientists until the health impacts could be studied. But that didn’t happen. And earlier this year a big government study on the possible danger of wireless radiation was abruptly halted midstream.

Today, we hear from both sides as to what might be going on.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”
Watch the video by clicking the link at the end of the page.

EMF— electric and magnetic fields—are invisible areas of energy or radiation produced by items like electric appliances, computer screens, and cell phone technology. But as technology has leapt forward, there are nagging safety questions.

When it comes specifically to cell phones, which emit radio frequency microwave radiation, there’s a new controversy: important safety research under the National Institutes of Health that was suddenly cut off.

Devra Davis: The national program had committed major resources and millions of dollars to doing a study that would clarify some of the mechanisms of how microwave radiation affects the cell. And the plug was pulled on that for reasons that nobody knows.

Devra Davis is a professor of medicine who’s been warning about the health risks of cell phones for 16 years. In 2008, she was behind issuing a memo at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute’s Center for Environmental Oncology, where she was founding director. It advised the cancer doctors not to carry phones in their pockets or close to their bodies.

The new government research, now halted, was to further investigate how cell phone microwave radiation impacts behavior and stress and how it damages DNA.

Sharyl: When you heard that the plug was pulled, what went through your mind?

Davis: I wanted to figure out what was behind it. And I had suspicions. This industry has been very effective, more effective than the tobacco industry. Because, of course, it’s a very valuable industry. And nobody would deny that microwave radiation has revolutionized our ability to communicate and to send missiles into space and to send drones into battlefields. However, there’s no question in my mind and that of hundreds of other experts in this field, we should keep microwave radiation out of our bedrooms and our homes.

Before the research was terminated, it had already produced worrisome results. Researchers concluded there was “clear evidence” that high levels of cell phone radiation caused male rats to develop cancerous heart tumors. And there were “significant increases in DNA damage” in the brains of male mice and rats, and blood cells of female mice.

Davis says an important board of government advisers said the research should continue moving forward.

Sharyl: What is the most important thing you think people should know about the stopped study?

Davis: They brought in these reviewers, and here’s what the reviewers said: We’ve now looked at all the evidence, and we think that there is, quote, ‘clear’ evidence of cancer. That was what the study found. That is why the board recommended additional program of research. Why was the plug pulled? You’ll have to ask them.

We asked, but the National Institutes of Health declined to answer our questions. The agency referred us to a statement that said there would be no further research because it was “technically challenging and more resource intensive than expected.”

In this Full Measure report five years ago, we spoke with Professor Martin Pall, one of the world’s pre-eminent scientists on the topic.

(September 2019)

Martin Pall: We know that the EMFs impact the cells of our bodies, all the cells of our bodies, by activating some channels. And when they do that, they produce all kinds of effects. And those include neurological neuropsychiatric effects. They include reproductive effects. They include oxidative stress, which is involved in essentially all chronic diseases. So I’m deeply concerned about the situation.

Sharyl: Is it your feeling that mobile phone use and 5G in the future have been and are causes of chronic disease epidemics in this country?

Pall: I believe that the exposures we already have are producing major effects already on our health, and that 5G will be vastly worse than anything that we are already exposed to.

At least three expert medical groups have linked certain kinds of electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, to cancer, particularly childhood leukemia. The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, a working group under the World Health Organization, and a European Scientific Committee, which studied cell phones in particular. Pall says there’s more to worry about.

Pall: What’s been shown is you get depression, you get, “I can’t sleep, tired all the time. I’m depressed. I’ve got headaches. I can’t concentrate. I’m anxious.” All the things that everybody complains about now we know are caused by EMF exposures and not just one type, but multiple types of EMF exposures.

Since that report in 2019, there have been more concerns. Some scientists noted that the COVID pandemic in Wuhan, China and New York City broke out months after the rollout of 5G. And while many dismissed any connection as a conspiracy theory, a 2021 study found wireless communication radiation may have been “a toxic environmental cofactor” with Covid-19 that “can contribute to hypercoagulation” or blood-clotting, “amplify immune system dysfunction” and “hyperinflammation,” “worsen heart arrhythmias and cardiac disorders,” and more.

There is another side. The wireless industry says that, based on scientific data currently available, it “has not determined that RF energy from wireless phones causes health risks.” And it points to government agencies like the FDA and FCC that agree adverse events have not been definitively proven.

We spoke with Christopher Collins about the government’s halted research.

Sharyl: So people watching from the outside who are looking for answers to this might reasonably ask the question, “Was it showing something negative about 5G, and is that why, for some reason, somebody convinced them to stop it?” What would you say to that?

Christopher Collins: That’s interesting. I don’t think that’s the case.

Collins is a professor of radiology at New York University and has been a paid consultant to the wireless industry.

Collins: And yes, there is more than one study that shows that there’s an adverse effect. And people who are worried about cell phones will look at, you know, all the studies that say there are an adverse effect and say, “Well, there’s, you know, hundreds of studies that say there are adverse effects.” But the thing is that generally the studies that say there’s an adverse effect are either not reproducible or have not been reproduced by, say, independent groups, or they’re clearly a thermal effect.

Sharyl: So it’s my understanding the FDA said some years ago, and Congress pushed the industry on this point, that there should be studies done to try to determine more about 5G. If that’s the case, what do you think the next step should be?

Collins: That’s an interesting question. I mean, if you ask me personally, I think that trying to do more careful epidemiological studies probably makes more sense than higher radiation levels in animals. The energy levels, the power levels from these things are really, very low compared to what we use in medicine and compared to what you get from the sun. In terms of what to do if you are worried about it, I mean, there are options for using your speakerphone or some other things. If you want to avoid using your cell phone, you can do that.

That raises at least one burning question, does an American population addicted to its cell phone habit even care?

Sharyl: Even if a huge segment of the American public became convinced with hard data that this was harmful — to be exposed to this radiation — wouldn’t there be a large number of people that would just say, “I’ll take my chances. I don’t really care”?

Davis: Well, certainly. But let me just say this. It’s not that hard to reduce exposures directly. There are simple things that could be done tomorrow. You could make phones and routers that go to sleep except when you need them to wake up. Now in your home, your router’s on 24/7. You’re not using it 24/7. Or if you have teenagers that are trying to, you should cut it off. But, in fact, it’s very simple to program the software of these devices right now. There’s not, it’s not rocket science.

Sharyl: Interesting.

Davis: Think about this. When France banned the iPhone 12 for sales, within two weeks, within two weeks, the iPhone company had figured out how to change software on those phones so that the phones would then pass the French tests. It’s not that hard.

Sharyl (on-camera): While one arm of the government stopped its research on wireless radiation, the National Science Foundation announced it would spend $25 million in tax money to “enhance” 5G operations in the military, federal government, and critical infrastructure sectors.

Watch video here.

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