The Historico-political Context Behind the Current, Inadequate Health Safety Standards

One of the first questions one might ask is, "if all this wireless radiation from cell towers, cell phones, wi-fi, smart devices, etc. was determined to be harmful to our health and other living organisms, wouldn't the health safety standards for human exposure to EMR have been changed accordingly?"  Hopefully, this page will shed light on the reasons the average person is still unaware of the serious, and sometimes deadly health effects of EMR, particularly within the radiofrequency and microwave spectrum, and why the FCC's 1996 standards are inadequate, outdated, and in serious need of revision to reflect the peer-reviewed scientific research.  One will discover that numerous people and entities have indeed been trying to stop the proliferation of manmade EMR for decades.  There are a lot of organizations one can find on the internet that have been fighting legal battles and performing informational campaigns for many years. 

Still, more people need to be educated and enlightened until the truth can no longer be ignored.  Everyone needs to be cognizant of the decades of scientific research concluding that non-ionizing radiation causes deleterious biological effects at levels far lower than the levels permitted under the current health safety standards.  People need to understand the historico-political context behind the creation of the FCC's current health safety standards which were determined based solely on the intensity of radiation required to measurably heat body tissue, and the political- and military-related reasons the 1996 standards have not been revised since their creation.  The current, 1996 FCC standards are grossly inadequate to protect us, or any of the living organisms on planet Earth, since measurable biological effects are documented and known to occur far below the threshold for heating body tissue.  The 1996 health standards were never developed with the intent to protect the public health, per se.  They were set at a level that would protect military operations (such as those requiring radar and radio transmissions) necessary to protect the U.S. from foreign threats.

As explained on the What is EMR? Page, the electromagnetic spectrum contains many different types of electromagnetic radiation, with varying energy.  Those wavelengths that possess enough energy to cause an electron to leave its atom and become an ion are called ionizing radiation.  Less energetic EMR is referred to as non-ionizing radiation.

It is well-documented and well known that ionizing radiation such as x-rays and gamma rays are dangerous and cause cancer.  It is also well-documented that non-ionizing radiation such as UV light from the sun or tanning beds can also cause cancer.  Although lesser known among the general public, it is also well-documented that non-ionizing radiation from low-frequency electromagnetic fields from power lines; and the radio waves and microwaves used in communication and radar (and one's microwave oven); is also dangerous and causes biological effects, including cancer.  Refer to the Sufficient Evidence Exists to Conclude that EMR Causes Cancer Page for details.

Everyone knows and agrees that radio waves (and microwaves, which are a subset of radio waves) have the potential to heat tissue and cause thermal injuries (burns) of varying severity depending on the frequency, intensity, and duration of exposure.  However, some countries have chosen to ignore and suppress the research and knowledge that non-ionizing radiation also causes numerous other biological effects and non-thermal injuries; and that it is correlated with the acquisition of a multitude of health symptoms and serious diseases.

Different countries and organizations set their human safety standards based on their acceptance (or non-acceptance) of the scientific research related to the health effects correlated with non-ionizing radiation at levels lower than required to heat body tissue.  The U.S. government does not accept the research.

For this reason, the federal guidelines set by the FCC in the U.S. only consider the thermal (heating) effects of radiofrequency radiation when setting human safety standards.  Standards set by federal agencies in some other countries (i.e. Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, and New Zealand); and the guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) are also based only on thermal effects.  In other words, these entities' guidelines only consider whether or not the radiation substantially heats one's body tissue, essentially claiming that "if it doesn't heat you, it doesn't harm you."

Other countries do acknowledge and accept the decades of research concluding that non-ionizing radiation causes biological effects well below the threshold for heating tissue.  These countries have more conservative human safety guidelines (i.e. Russia, China, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Iceland, France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, and Luxembourg).  Some of these countries even maintain designated wi-fi-free areas for sensitive people or offer governmental assistance to shield their homes so they can at least have a safe refuge.  Some of these countries also clearly indicate with signage when public areas have wi-fi in operation.  Some (like Iceland, France and Russia) also offer much greater protection for children in schools by banning the installation of wi-fi in a school.  See the Effects of EMR on Children Page for details.

Besides setting health limits that are determined with only the goal of making sure the RF radiation is not too strong to damage body tissue through heating, and ignoring the research indicating a multitude of other biological effects caused by very low levels of radiofrequency transmissions, the other feature relating to the inadequacy of the current FCC health standards is that the standards only consider the RF emissions from a single device, as if nothing else was in the environment transmitting radiofrequencies.  When approving a particular device, there is no consideration of its safety when many of the devices are together in one area (such as a bunch of people gathering, all with cell phones on their person; or an office building, with numerous wireless printers, wi-fi computers and routers; or a gym, with rows of exercise equipment, all blasting their Bluetooth signals), or if the particular device will be used in an area with a lot of other devices emitting wireless radiation.

When a new antenna transmitter is approved for installation in a city, town or village, it is approved based on its radiation levels as if it were the only antenna in the environment.  No one is taking readings of the background levels of electrosmog in a particular area before approving the installation of another tower or antenna, so certain communities, or parts thereof, can end up with far higher radiation levels than others.  Sometimes, residents of a rural community can suffer even more than a downtown area because of the placement of the towers and antennas often literally right in someone's backyard.  This especially happens with cell towers in rural communities, since there is often a lack of public land to install the tower:  A resident with a lot of agricultural land, ignorant of the health effects of microwaves, decides it is a good investment to receive money from a cellular company by leasing a section of their land for the tower installation, which ends up placing the antennas dangerously close not only to their property, but the property of others as well.