What is 5G and are 5G Phones Dangerous?

5G is the shorthand for the “5th generation” of wireless communications technology.

In a nutshell, 5G wireless technology provides significantly faster data transfer speeds than the previous versions of the technology.

It’s applications vary from advances in personal entertainment, to commercial machine and AI autonomy, to more possibly nefarious usages, such as military, defense and total state surveillance operations.

An honest assessment of these applications makes it clear that this technology will primarily serve commercial and governing interests, not common citizens who may feel the brunt of the potential health effects of the 5G transmitters surrounding their homes and places of business.

The simple answer here is that it uses higher frequency portions of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Click on the link above to see a graphic of the electromagnetic spectrum from our radio frequency fields page.

Current 4G technology utilizes the 6GHz and below portions of the spectrum. True high-band 5G will use spectrum from 10GHz to 300GHz (theoretically).

The following section describes the current, multiple 5G standards that are being advertised by wireless carriers.

An overview of radio frequency fields used by 5G

If you haven’t read our chapter on radio frequency fields (RF), it is a good primer on how this technology works and the health concerns associated with it.

Remember that the radio frequency (RF) portion of the Electromagnetic Spectrum is located between 3kHz and 300 GHz.

The confusing thing about the general term “5G” is that there isn’t any current, lone standard as to what it entails or what portion of spectrum will be used.

Currently, 5G will take three forms:

• Low-band 5G – Low-band 5G indicates that the spectrum frequencies being used are below the 2GHz threshold. Low-band has greater, less frequent wavelengths, so they can travel long distances, but are slower, as a result.
• Mid-band 5G – Mid-band 5G is locked into the 2-10GHz range in the spectrum. This portion of the spectrum doesn’t travel as far as the low-band, but has increased speeds.
• High-band 5G – High-band 5G utilizes the high frequency, low wavelength part of the spectrum. High-band can’t travel long distances, but has the fastest speeds of data transfer. This is the millimeter wave technology that you’ve heard industry wildly praise and safe-technology advocates and wireless health proponents warn about.

True 5G Availability

As of this publishing date, pure high-band 5G availability appears to be really small. This is due to several factors:

• Current technical limitations of the technology. An example of this would be the difficulty of the ultra high-band waves being blocked by foliage, windows and other structures.
• The delay in rolling out the small-transmitters/infrastructure needed to successfully cover an area. For full coverage of a city this will effectively mean a transmitter on every light pole, power pole, building corner, rooftop, etc… It will mean a staggering amount of cell towers and transmitters in close proximity to where people live, sleep and work.
• Overall consumer demand. It turns out that the public is actually pretty satisfied with their current mobile experience and aren’t clamoring to spend more money on the devices and infrastructure that will be needed to support 5G. More on how corporate and military interests are driving this tech later in the chapter.

As a result of these constraints, the mobile companies are and will need to, for the foreseeable future, use a combination of the low-band, mid-band and high-band spectrum.

So, practically speaking, while advertised as “5G,” mobile carriers will be using a hybrid 4G LTE/5G approach moving forward.

Unfortunately, in practice this will mean that the tower or transmitter directly adjacent to your home and your kids’ rooms could very well be a 4G transmitter that will penetrate the walls of you home more effectively.

More on this in the 5G health section.

As mentioned in the previous chapter on RF fields, the big radio frequency radiation study is the National Toxicology Program Cell Phone Study.

There are more 5G studies in our section on EMF Health Studies.

The wireless industry and the cell carriers love to focus on the following benefits for consumers:

• Massive IoT
• Virtual XR
• Smart Transportation
• Entertainment
• Cloud Based Gaming

Unlike extremely low frequency AC magnetic fields and AC electric fields, the higher frequency RF radiation acts less like a wave and more like a beam. These pulsating beams allow the data transfers that make cell phones and wireless internet possible.

The downside to these amazing innovations is that these pulses may also be triggering biological effects throughout the human body.

I apologize in advance for the snarky tone of this section. I didn’t have the willpower to deny myself this.

The wireless industry and the cell carriers love to focus on the following benefits for consumers:

The Internet of Things (on a gargantuan scale) – “Smart Cities, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Transportation”

What is the Internet of Things?

From IBM’s website:⁰³

“The IoT is a giant network of connected things and people – all of which collect and share data about the way they are used and about the environment around them.”

The end game for the Internet of Things are urban settings where every device (appliances/automobiles/cameras/mobile phones apps/etc…) communicates with other devices instantaneously.

The advertisement:

This is Patrick. Patrick works at a widget factory downtown. Due to the awesomeness of 5G, autonomous cars are now a thing as they can communicate seamlessly. This allows Patrick to read or watch Netflix while being driven to his factory. All stop lights have been removed due to the flawlessness of AI and there hasn’t been a car accident in the city in 4 months.

At the factory, AI has totally taken over the manufacturing of the widgets his company produces. There hasn’t been an industrial accident 8 months. Patrick sits in the control room “monitoring” the factory floor while watching more Netflix.

After he finishes his shift, he’s returns home and a warm, pre-scheduled, drone-delivered meal descends immediately upon his arrival. Netflix is preloaded and begins to play his favorite TV show the minute he sits on his couch and begins eating.

The Reality:

A total and unequivocal surveillance society where your location, electrical consumption, water consumption, food consumption, diet, friendships, political leanings, etc… are monitored constantly and rolled into a social credit score of ever-changing standards.

That trip you had planned next weekend to the local mountain resort?

Now deemed prohibited movement by local authorities.

Prohibited, because someone on your rec-league soccer team accidentally liked a facebook post that was mildly critical of a city board member. The system used cell phone geo-location data and wireless cameras to to determine you had both attended and spoken at the game last week.

Don’t worry though, your defense that you simply had asked him if he wanted to switch positions for the second half of the game has been noted in your file.

Thinking about having a scoop of ice cream before bed?

Enjoy being berated and reported by your smart-fridge for excess calorie intake after 9pm.

Friendships?

Probably not worth it, if you have any doubts about their political leanings.

Is this over-the-top?

Most assuredly, but you get the point.

On-Demand Entertainment

This is often advertised as the ability to watch high-definition sports or other television in the middle of nowhere on your phone.

Because there’s nothing more satisfying than watching the Super Bowl by yourself on your tiny mobile phone in the middle of the Mojave desert.

Future augmented reality applications are also mentioned in regard to entertainment. These are mixed-reality applications that can range from gaming (virtual worlds intertwined with the real world) to educational (think descriptive walking tours of cities or museums).

Videos of people walking into walls, lamp posts and fountains while swinging pretend swords should see exponential growth.

If you can figure out a way to monetize this, please email us.

It’s going to be like one big Renaissance Fair without the conversations in Old English.

Communication Innovations

You will be able to have 3D holographic calls with your Grandma.

Great right? Except the calls will consist of her complaining non-stop about her forgetfulness and general brain-fog that just happened to coincide with the 5G transmitters being installed every half-block in her neighborhood.

Help me, Obi-wan.

Cloud Everything

Every song, video, document, etc… you own will never need to be saved or backed up locally again. Everything can just be accessed instantly. This includes people’s browser histories and all the geo-location data from every app they’ve utilized.

This is sure to be foolproof and will absolutely not be subject to corporate and governmental snooping. That would simply be paranoid.

Healthcare

It’s true that remote health-care imaging consists of large data transfers. It’s also true that this could be done with fiber alone or opt-in 5G for individual homes.

Instead you’ll be monitored with RF emitting technology, constantly, in several places on your body, directly adjacent to your skin and other organs.

Translation

Someone will be able to instantaneously translate what the Uruguayan physician (that your HMO connected you with) is telling you about how poorly your organs are doing that are directly adjacent to your 5G emitting devices.

Law Enforcement

You’ll probably think twice about watering your lone tomato plant on the non-determined day of the week when a fleet of police drones are hovering above you and recording seamless video of your criminality.

Future Applications

I know what you’re thinking.

“Man, these current proposed applications of 5G all sound so great. Could it actually get better from there?”

*INSERT IMAGE OF MAN IN SUIT RANTING ABOUT THE BENEFITS OF SELF DRIVING CARS AND AI FACTORIES AND HYPER-ACCURATE, CONTINENTAL BALLISTIC WARHEADS AND WATCHING HD VIDEO ON TOP OF EVEREST AND POLICE DRONES ABOVE EVERY HOUSE … AND…AND…AND…

…DID WE MENTION SELF DRIVING CARS?”

Yes, friend.

Yes, it can.

The cheerleaders of 5G are all in agreement that there are a boatload of revolutionary, super-cool innovations coming down the pike as a result of this miracle we call 5G.

These 5G applications will make our lives amazing and in no way add to the loneliness, feelings of inadequacy and overall existential angst that the previous iterations of the technology have contributed towards.

And, heck, if these amazing inventions never come to pass you can still watch 4k football games on your phone, alone in your backyard, with your one eye that hasn’t been ravaged by high-frequency microwaves.

It’s going to be amazing!

Take it to the bank.

Maybe.

You may have gleaned that we don’t find the marketed reasons for 5G deployment fully truthful.

We concede the novelty of some of the applications, but are skeptical this is a consumer driven phenomena. The speed at which this is being deployed feels inorganic to us.

This portion of the chapter is simply our educated guess on why 5G is really being pushed so hard right now. There’s a bit of leaked information on motives from the US national security apparatus, but it’s mainly conjecture on our part.

Again, this is just our opinion and perhaps a bad one at that. Take it with a grain of salt.

“National security and commercial interests are all entangled, and it’s very hard to separate them.”  

– Scott Wallsten, president, Technology Policy Institute⁰⁴

Wireless Companies and Cell Phone Manufacturers

On the corporate end, the wireless companies and cell phone manufacturers are over-the-moon that they have a new product cycle to sell.

As one can imagine, wireless companies want new bells and whistles to justify their monthly and annual wireless contracts. Governments all over the globe are helping subsidize 5G deployment, so why would these companies possible say no?

Along the same lines, cell phone manufacturers are always looking for novelty in their next product cycles. Especially so when cell phones sales have plateaued over the last few years. Consumers are apparently quite content with their current smart phones and the 4G experience. That isn’t good news for these manufacturers.

Any industry will look for the next market driver. Especially one in which product sales are slowing.

To put it bluntly, these corporations are making logical business decisions in a regulatory environment where the government assists their profit upside and is indifferent (to put it mildly) to any potential danger for the public at large.

The Government

The government’s reasoning behind pushing 5G is best viewed through two lenses: economics and security.

The economics are pretty straight forward. 5G and it’s applications are viewed as a substantial economic boon for manufacturing, transportation, farming and medicine.

A National Security Council document (that can be linked to from this Wired article) looked into a crystal ball and projected job growth in the millions and the economic growth as high as a trillion dollars.

New markets + new jobs = new tax revenue.

The security lens is more nuanced.

Military applications of near-instant data transfer are aplenty. Some examples would be drone and ballistic missile deployment and defense, along with the mobilization of AI-based weaponry with real-time and vastly improved battlefield information.

Currently, the Department of Defense focus seems to be primarily on the external threat from China. US security agencies are extremely wary of the Chinese head-start in this arena and specifically of data monitoring through large Chinese technology manufacturers and corporations such as Huawei.

The aforementioned NSC paper describes the Chinese effort to move forward with 5G and the AI arms race in glowing terms. It compares the data collection that 5G provides to be the “oil” of the new century and lauds China for securing the equivalent of the globe’s first strategic reserve. ⁰⁵

Domestic security also plays a large role in this, as 5G will be a massive component of facial recognition systems and pervasive societal surveillance (many of which are already rolled out in China).

The aforementioned NSC paper also calls out the Chinese government for their “authoritarian regime,” but, realistically, this level of power and control will be irresistible to governmental entities worldwide.

Think of the ring of power in Lord of the Rings.

It will be too much for governing bodies to resist.

Forget the future, it currently is too much for the institutions of power to resist.

For example: don’t want this technology and it’s transmitting infrastructure in your community or neighborhood?

Too bad.

The federal government couldn’t care less.

Section 332(c)(7) and Section 1455(a) of the Communications Act effectively prohibits states and local communities from having a say on if and where wireless infrastructure can be placed.

You and your neighbors, currently, have no say in the roll out of this technology.

Let me repeat that: Until something is done legislatively, your community has zero control over the rollout of this technology.

Hard to view that as anything but authoritarian.

Please visit our EMF Activism page and learn how you can help put pressure on politicians to change this.

In Conclusion

While an economic boon is conceivable, it seems extremely likely that this 5G push by the government is at the behest of national security agencies.

This is, unfortunately, bad news for local communities that want to temper or prohibit this expansion into their communities for health reasons.

We could very well be wrong about this.

Maybe 5G will be all 3D holographic unicorns and not a single VR swordsman will topple into a mall fountain.

We can hope.

More on what the 5G rollout will look like below.

As mentioned above, a fully rolled out 5G communications system will entail thousands and thousands of microwave transmitters throughout a city. These transmitters will be on street lamps, power poles, rooftops, the sides of buildings, and standard cell towers.

Most municipal buildings and schools will have them and there is already a push to allow private citizens to put them on their roofs.

As a result, cities will be even more blanketed in radio frequency waves than they currently are.

For people with adverse reactions to this radio frequency radiation emitting technology, the cities will become, effectively, unlivable.

As with all the other generations of wireless technology, the health effects of 5G haven’t been studied prior to it being rolled out.

In chapter 1, we discussed that the FCC guidelines were written in 1996 and haven’t since been updated in 25 years. It’s hard to read that and conclude the FCC and the federal government have given the health of the citizenry any thought at all.

Think about that again. With all the technological changes in the last (near) 25 years, not one update in their guidelines.

The hard truth is that you are on your own with regard to protecting yourself from all this radiation, including 5G level frequencies. Unfortunately, hoping the government and the wireless industry will be responsive to health concerns may not be realistic.

Having said this, it’s always important to fight for your rights as a citizen to not be inundated with RF everywhere you go. Learn more about how to make noise politically by visiting our EMF Activism page.

The environmental (non-human) concerns with 5G can be split into to main concerns: the immediate effect on insect and bird populations and the broad effect on the global environment.

Insects and Birds

There is conjecture that the reduction in certain bee and other insect populations can be attributable to the increased RF radiation being produced by the spread of wireless technologies.

The CEO of Buglife (a European organization dedicated to the conservation of insects) was quoted in a Telegraph article on 5G.  He said:

“We apply limits to all types of pollution to protect the habitability of our environment, but as yet, even in Europe, the safe limits of electromagnetic radiation have not been determined, let alone applied.

“There is a credible risk that 5G could impact significantly on wildlife, and that placing transmitters on LED street lamps, which attract nocturnal insects such as moths increases exposure and thereby risk.

“Therefore we call for all 5G pilots to include detailed studies of their influence and impacts on wildlife, and for the results of those studies to be made public.”

Thankfully, science is starting to examine this. Here’s an example of a study of 5G millimeter frequencies and insects.

Broader Global Environmental Effects

The global environmental concerns are primarily the increased energy consumption of 5G networks and the e-waste created by updating hardware.

5G’s energy consumption in the coming years is estimated to be sizeable.  A 2019 report by Vertiv/451 Research was summarized by Raconteur, with the following important points.

• It’s estimated that network energy consumption could jump 170 per cent by 2026.
• It’s projected that by 2030 information technology will consume one fifth of the world’s electricity.

These numbers could be exceptionally stark if the projected timeline and consequences of Global Warming come to pass.

The e-waste concerns aren’t as catastrophic, but are certainly impactful.  The need for new phones and hardware to utilize 5G means that many perfectly good phones are going to find their way to landfills over the next decade.

Radio frequency fields, including 5G, are most commonly measured in microWatts per meter squared (µW/m2).11 However, they can also be measured in microWatts per square centimeter (µW/cm2), milliWatts per square meter (mWm2) or Volts per meter (V/m).

An RF meter is used used to discover and measure the power density of the radio frequency fields. There are several on the market that can detect the low-band spectrum(<2GHz) and the mid-band 5G spectrum (2-10GHz). Meters for measuring the high-band spectrum (>20GHz) are currently expensive, but hopefully will drop in price before long.

New meters are coming out at a rapid pace, so visit our “Best EMF Meters to Purchase” page to view the most up-to-date 5G meter options.

EMF specialists will provide you a good idea of your entire radio frequency radiation exposure including the low-band and mid-band 5G spectrum. Conclusive high-band 5G testing may not be available until the wireless companies determine which spectrum frequencies they’re going with and the meter manufacturers can then focus on those.

If you’re interested in the DIY EMF testing route, you’ll need a reliable meter with which to take your measurements. We provide a good option below.

If you’re interested in some affordable DIY 5G testing, your best bet may be the Safe and Sound Pro II from Safe Living Technologies. This meter can effectively measure from 200 MHz to 8 GHz, which encompasses the low-band and most of the mid-band 5G spectrum frequencies.

We offer printable PDFs of worksheets to record your 5G and radio frequency field measurements and other EMFs to those readers that support our cause by purchasing a PDF or kindle version of the Beginner’s Guide to EMFs. It makes a great gift for those family members that may be unaware of what EMFs are or how the fields may be affecting them.

Please consider supporting this worthy cause by purchasing this EMF Guide (PDF, Kindle or eReader) or providing us with a small donation.

Below are the Building Biology guidelines for radio frequency fields in sleeping areas. You can read the original PDF here.

Safe Living Technologies also has an Education section with Building Biology and International EMF Guidelines that you can download and use as a reference.

It’s important to note that these are specific recommendations for sleeping areas. The Building Biology field views bedrooms and sleeping areas as especially important due to the restorative nature of sleep. As such, the guidelines are some of the most conservative you’ll come across.

Learn more about the Building Biology profession and their guiding principles.

Taking action in reducing you, your family’s and your pet’s exposure to 5G radio frequency fields often takes the form of three steps:

a) creating distance from external RF field sources
b) reduction or elimination of cell phone use
c) shielding

Cell phone towers and transmitters are the main external source of 5G and other radio frequency fields. Unfortunately, residential transmitters on posts and rooftops could also be a factor in the future.

The farther you are from these external sources the lower your 5G radio frequency radiation exposure will be.

5G Cell phones are and will be an extremely common 5G RF radiation source for people.

While we realize it’s difficult to give up your phone completely due to family and business obligations, here are some steps to lower you and your family’s exposure to 5G:

1) Do not purchase a 5G enabled phone. There are plenty of standard 4G and LTE phones still on the market.

2) Regardless of which generation phone you have make sure it’s in “airplane mode” when not in use. Make sure the wi-fi and bluetooth functions on your phone are turned off, as well.

You can then check your phone for messages or texts every half hour to hour, if need be.

3) Limit your data activities if you have a 5G phone. We know this is the whole point of smart phone technology, but this is where you and your family’s exposure can be greatly heightened.

4) In the same vein, don’t use your phone for entertainment purposes with your children. Use a tablet in airplane mode, instead.

Professionals are still sorting out how to best shield 5G RF fields. We’ll update this section when we learn more.

We’ll have these up shortly.

Many of these experts are available for remote EMF consulting via Telephone/Zoom/Facetime/Skype and can be extremely helpful in locating problematic areas of electromagnetic exposure.

To learn more about EMF research and epidemiological studies, many dealing with radio frequency fields, please visit Chapter 20 – EMF Learning Resources (coming soon).

As mentioned throughout this chapter, information about 5G is changing rapidly.

As we continue to learn more about the technology and its deployment, we recommend that people approach it with caution, as with all RF producing products.

As they say in the Building Biology⁰⁹ field, “Nature is the gold standard.”

So, provide your family, your pets and yourself the most restorative sleeping environments possible.

01 – Electromagnetic Spectrum

Visit Chapter 02 to view the Electromagnetic Spectrum

02 – National Toxicology Program Study

View the NTP Study.

03 – IBM Page on IoT

View IBM’s webpage on the Internet of Things.

04 – As quoted in Wired Magazine:

Read the article here.

05 – Document Link from Wired Article:

Read the article.

06 – microWatts per meter squared (µW/m2)

While EMF specialists tend use this most commonly, you will have people use V/m, as well.

06 – World Health Organization

Here’s the WHO press release detailing their change in classification. On the page is a downloadable PDF.

07 – 1996 FTC Cell Phone Guidelines

Straight from the horse’s mouth.

08 – microWatts per meter squared (µW/m²)

While EMF specialists tend use this most commonly, you will have people use V/m, as well.

09 – Institute of Building-Biology and Ecology

Learn more about Building Biology and IBE.