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The Federal Communications Commission reiterates that 5G is safe to use

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai circulated Thursday. It would keep the agency’s current safety limits for radio frequency exposure the same as they’ve been for 23 years.  

Following more than six years of public input and review, the agency said the current exposure levels for cellphones, wireless towers, Wi-Fi routers and all other devices emitting RF signals are safe. Agency officials added that they don’t have any concern for new gear using 5G technology, including gear that uses millimeter wavelength frequencies.

Since the technology works on higher frequency signals, an increased quantity of towers is required in close proximity to each other, which prompted a letter to the FCC from Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representative Anna G. EShoo regarding the safety of 5G technologies.

The FCC officials in a recent statement, reassured the public about 5G’s safety and said that no changes will be made to the current RF exposure limits as they’re already among the most stringent in the world. Jeffrey Shuren, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, wrote to the FCC about the exposure limits and said that “the available scientific evidence to date does not support adverse health effects in humans due to exposures at or under the current limits,” and that no changes to the current standards were warranted at this time.

The statement also pointed towards the FCC setting radiofrequency limits in close consultation with the FDA and other health agencies. “After a thorough review of the record and consultation with these agencies, we find it appropriate to maintain the existing radiofrequency limits, which are among the most stringent in the world for cell phones,” said Julias Knapp, chief of the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology.

On a call with reporters, FCC officials said that there was no sign 5G airwaves would be any less safe than the airwaves used for 3G or 4G.

The commission has made similar statements before on calls with reporters, albeit with less clarity. It’s also implicitly acknowledged 5G as safe by approving the use of devices that support it.

But today’s gesture is its firmest acknowledgement yet that the FCC believes 5G is safe to use. By leaving emissions standards unchanged, the commission says that its existing standards are already strict enough to determine when radio emissions become problematic. A properly functioning 5G device still falls within those standards.

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