5G: Political vs science-based decisions

Early on, the region of Brussels in Belgium decided to introduce arbitrarily low EMF exposure limits from base stations, despite the overall consensus in the scientific community that the international guidelines for exposure limits proposed by ICNIRP are sufficiently safe. 

In time however, the Brussels government was confronted with the consequences of this decision. In 2013, when the 4G network came to be deployed – the government faced fierce discussions in the parliament on whether or not to increase the very low limits to a point where 4G could be introduced. The political majority finally succeeded in doing so, but only increased the limits to the bare minimum needed to introduce 4G. 

Now, the Brussels government finds itself in the same position again. Given the current use of the mobile network in Brussels, with the high demand for faster data connections and greater capacity there is no room left to introduce 5G. Hence, the discussions among politicians recommence on whether or not limits should be increased. Having departed from a scientific rational long ago, the argument for changing the limits becomes more and more difficult.

In the meantime, the countries who have adopted the science based ICNIRP limits, move ahead in introducing the newest generation of mobile technology and when confronted with questions can rely on advice of the World Health Organization which states: 

“Considering the very low exposure levels and research results collected to date, there is no convincing scientific evidence that the weak RF signals from base stations and wireless networks cause adverse health effects.” (https://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/fs304/en/)

More information: 

• MWF Viewpoint on Brussels and 5G: http://www.mwfai.org/docs/eng/MWF%5FVIEWPOINT%5FBrussels%20and%205G%5FA%2Epdf
• Implications for Mobile Communications Infrastructure of Arbitrary Radio Frequency Exposure Limits: http://www.mwfai.org/docs/eng/MWF_Implications%20of%20Lower%20RF%20Limits_2019.pdf
• 5G and EMF Explained: http://www.emfexplained.info/?ID=25916