
Ask HN: What's HN community opinion on 5G health issues? - Biba
Wired and many other news outlets are writing about health concerns, opinions are different, so I&#x27;m interested to hear the opinion of HN community.
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Spooky23
It’s a difficult issue, as the people carrying the water on it tend to overlap
with ignorant constituencies like anti-vaxers.

I know there was concern in the 90s about military exposure to millimeter wave
radars, and I’ve never read anything credible about the outcome of whatever
studies were done, good or bad. I know that the 24 GHz bands are part of 5G
and also related to vehicle networks, so I assume that all major roads will be
blanketed with coverage.

My biggest concern with 5G is the FCC declaring every telephone pole “critical
infrastructure” and removing or limiting the ability of local governments set
rules. In my city, the incompetent response on the city’s part means that
Verizon is dropping poles in the optimal (from a cost/radio pov) spot, period.
So people have wooden telephone poles in the middle of their lawn. A block
from my house, they dropped a pole in the middle of the curb cut for crossing
the street, 5 feet from another utility pole. (To avoid renting pole space)

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maxehmookau
The only people I've seen suggesting that it has health implications have been
hanging out in my city centre also claiming that 9/11 was an inside job and
that InfoWars is a legitimate news source. This is in the UK!

...so I'm not convinced of any issues so far.

~~~
guilhas
9/11 being an inside job is still more plausible than any other theory or
"investigation" conclusion really.

~~~
maxehmookau
It's definitely not. But thanks for playing along.

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SigmundA
Although we should always be studying potential risks, I have little concern.

Just keep it in perspective, you walk around outside under a nuclear fusion
fireball receiving around 1000 watts of terahertz radiation some of it
ionizing and known to cause cancer.

Wifi, Cell including 5G are in the Gigahertz range, non-ionizing, which means
they can basically heat your flesh like a microwave and nothing more and are
at milliwatt power levels from the phones transmitter and maybe a hundred
watts from the towers transmitter.

This would be like worrying about what an led flashlight (the phone) or street
light (the cell station) does to you.

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Ultramanoid
Related :

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19595450](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19595450)

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Tepix
I wasn't even aware of health concerns.

My first uninformed impulse reaction:

More cell towers means lower signal strength which means less risk of health
issues.

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guilhas
I don't need 5G, and I will have it as far as possible until people study it
better.

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decoyworker
It's non-ionizing radiation. I don't worry about health issues from 5G.

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mruts
Isn’t that just a narrative pushed by RT as Russian propaganda?

~~~
coldtea
No, that's just what people who believe in conspiracies (like "everything is
Russian propaganda") believe.

Except if you consider the "US department of health" as Russian agents:

"The NTP studies found that high exposure to RFR used by cell phones was
associated with: Clear evidence of tumors in the hearts of male rats. The
tumors were malignant schwannomas. Some evidence of tumors in the brains of
male rats. The tumors were malignant gliomas. Some evidence of tumors in the
adrenal glands of male rats. The tumors were benign, malignant, or complex
combined pheochromocytoma."

[https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/results/areas/cellphones/index.htm...](https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/results/areas/cellphones/index.html)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29530389](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29530389)

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X1...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X15003988)

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298533689_Internati...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298533689_International_Appeal_Scientists_call_for_protection_from_non-
ionizing_electromagnetic_field_exposure)

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29459303](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29459303)

"The results also show that the peak-to-average ratio of 1,000 tolerated by
the International Council on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection guidelines may
lead to permanent tissue damage after even short exposures, highlighting the
importance of revisiting existing exposure guidelines."

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30247338](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30247338)

"Our results show that 5G downlink RF fields generate significantly higher
power density (PD) and specific absorption rate (SAR) than a current cellular
system. This paper also shows that SAR should also be taken into account for
determining human RF exposure in the mmW downlink."

[https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.03683](https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.03683)

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016041201...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412012002334)

"Preliminary observations showed that MMW increase skin temperature, alter
gene expression, promote cellular proliferation and synthesis of proteins
linked with oxidative stress, inflammatory and metabolic processes, could
generate ocular damages, affect neuro-muscular dynamics."

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29402696](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29402696)

"The analysis of various antioxidants in the plasma of exposed individuals
revealed a significant attrition in glutathione (GSH) concentration (p <
0.01), activities of catalase (CAT) (p < 0.001) and superoxide dismutase (SOD)
(p < 0.001) and rise in lipid peroxidation (LOO) when compared to controls.
Multiple linear regression analyses revealed a significant association among
reduced GSH concentration (p < 0.05), CAT (p < 0.001) and SOD (p < 0.001)
activities and elevated MN frequency (p < 0.001) and LOO (p < 0.001) with
increasing RF power density."

[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318916428_Impact_of...](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318916428_Impact_of_radiofrequency_radiation_on_DNA_damage_and_antioxidants_in_peripheral_blood_lymphocytes_of_humans_residing_in_the_vicinity_of_mobile_phone_base_stations)

"► Base Station (BS) clusters and deaths by neoplasia in the Belo Horizonte
municipality have been identified. ► The mortality rate has been higher for
the residents within an area of 500 m from the BS. ► The radiation
superposition near the BS has also been observed; the nearer the stronger. ►
Measured values stay below Brazilian Federal Law limits that are the same of
ICNIRP. ► The human exposure pattern guidelines are inadequate. More
restrictive limits must be adopted urgently."

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971...](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969711005754)

[http://www.5gappeal.eu/signatories-to-
scientists-5g-appeal/](http://www.5gappeal.eu/signatories-to-
scientists-5g-appeal/)

[https://mdsafetech.org/2018/07/18/dr-leszczynski-sounds-
warn...](https://mdsafetech.org/2018/07/18/dr-leszczynski-sounds-warning-at-
australian-meeting-precaution-with-5g/)

[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DNh0DEBrK8LyQjP1uTUjYMFguO4...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DNh0DEBrK8LyQjP1uTUjYMFguO4cF4hR/view)

~~~
bryan11
Thank you. It's nice to see references to real studies as opposed to the
social logic saying 'It's the same as anti-vaxers, so there's no basis to
that!'

