Last Updated on June 27, 2022 by Shabnam Sengupta
Quick Take
A social media video shows a woman claiming 5G towers release radiation that is harmful to humans. We fact-checked and found the claim to be Mostly False.
The Claim
A Facebook video post claims ‘🚨 SHARE THE HECK OUT OF THIS!!! 🚨 This video has been taken down 4 times and had more than 1,500 shares and 27,500 views in less than 24’. The post further claims ‘We must STOP The 5G rollout!! ’.
The video shows a woman standing at a distance from the transmission tower and holding a device which seems to be a radiation detector. As per the woman, this detector is showing an increase in the value to claim that 5G is harmful for humans.
The readings are not visible within the video.
Fact Check
Do 5G towers emit radiation harmful to humans?
Not exactly. There are three bands of 5G towers. The left side is the low band, the middle is called the mid-band, and the right side is called the high band. The low band has 600-700MHz and generally works at 30 to 250 Mbps speed. The mid-band has range 2.5-3.5GHz and works at 100 to 900 Mbps speed. Lastly, the high band is in the range (millimeter wave/24-39GHz) and works at 1-3Gbps speed.
While searching about people’s perception on the radiation from 5G, we found a (2020) Deloitte Report suggested that ‘5G does generate radiation, but at very safe levels, and none of it is radioactive radiation. 5G base stations and phones, and the frequency ranges within which 5G operates, are very likely to be operating well within safe parameters in 2021 and throughout 5G’s lifetime, which may extend to two decades. Radiation within these parameters does not significantly raise the risk of cancer.’
This report suggested that ‘radiation’ is not ‘radioactivity’ by claiming ‘the literal definition of radiation is merely any process by which an object (from a human to a radiator to a star) emits energy (whether heat, light, or radioactive particles), which then travels through a medium (such as the air or hot water) and is absorbed by another object (a human body, a frying pan, a steam engine, or anything else)’.
However, 5G emits radiation harmful to humans and cannot be ruled out completely. The Healthy Indian Project (THIP Media) has previously discussed that most people get exposed to lower frequencies of radiation from the 5G network and no evidence confirms radiation causes serious damage to the body. To the scarcity of such data, a (2020) study adds ‘there is a lack of proper unbiased risk evaluation of the 5G technology that places populations at risk’.
In conclusion, the available evidence shows that the 5G network emits radiation but not enough to damage the human body. At the same time, there is a lack of published scientific evidence that shows whether radiation from the 5G network is harmful.
THIP MEDIA TAKE: There is no concrete answer to the claim due to lack of evidence. The study of radiofrequency radiation is challenging because the available studies have used different approaches and provided sometimes conflicting results. These reasons have made it difficult to collate the data and come up with the answer regarding radiofrequency radiation safety.
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