Understanding the public voices and researchers speaking into the 5G narrative

" Researchers working at university institutions with laboratories funded by, or in partnership with telecommunication industries seem unable to maintain both their jobs and their independence from these industries. For example, after Dr. Bruce Hocking, former Chief Medical Officer for the Australian telecommunications company Telstra, published on neurological changes in his patients from exposure to their mobile phones (25), he was made redundant. Similarly, after Fred Hollows found that Telstra linesmen exposed to microwaves were three times more likely to develop cataracts (26), Telstra complained to Hollows' university. Hollows received no further funding to conduct follow-up studies (27)." {Credits 1}

" Authors that recommend a precautionary approach and apply a risk assessment philosophy are predominantly medical experts, epidemiologists, biological scientists and biophysicists, or analysts whose papers conclude that there is evidence for risk of harm. Conversely, authors who do not advise precaution or apply a risk assessment approach for evaluating potential hazards are typically connected to industry or ICNIRP and have more expertise in physics or engineering than in biology or biophysics. While two of these authors (Bushberg and Wood) are highly experienced physicists, their expertise is in dosimetry or theoretical modeling and not health. These “no precautionary approach” authors are not experts in RF-EMF and health and are all linked with industry, either directly or indirectly via their co-authors. One anomaly within this pattern is Simkó, a highly experienced EMF and health scientist funded by industry, who finds no confirmed evidence of harm, but calls for a risk policy to be developed by governments (58)." {Credits 1}

" Government advisory agencies are unable to make independent statements about health and exposures, because they are expected to support government plans for comprehensive internet of things (IoT) and smart cities, which are dependent on wireless technologies (31, 32). Moreover, Australia's advisory agency ARPANSA is not permitted to make changes to the RF standard to protect health and the environment if it would prejudice the departments of Defense or National Security (33). The need to support these two agencies most likely creates pressure on ARPANSA not to oppose further wireless technology rollouts or lower exposure limits to improve public safety." {Credits 1}

" t is also instructive to look at the coauthors of each of the main author-spokespersons. Supplementary material 4 lists the authors and co-authors and their links with industry. Wood, a coauthor of Karipidis, has published with several authors closely linked to industry. Kenneth Foster has co-authored with Bushberg, Simkó, and Wood, and has several papers funded by the wireless industry. Foster was mentored by the ex-German biophysicist Herman Schwan, who modeled effects using macro biophysics, but did not incorporate the developing biological or quantum perspectives and was thus unable to let go of his “thermal only” position (see Supplementary material 1). Schwan's position along with industry interests are still influencing today's 5G narrative, via the influence of Foster as co-author on many publications." {Credits 1}

Etc.

{Credits 1} 🎪 Weller S and McCredden JE (2024) Understanding the public voices and researchers speaking into the 5G narrative. Front. Public Health 11:1339513. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1339513. © 2024 The Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.