Ofcom Tests 5G Towers:Emissions are Super Low

Ofcom took measurements of 5G electromagnetic field emissions at 16 of the busiest 5G sites in the United Kingdom. 

Ofcom found emissions that were just 1.5 percent of the levels set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). That is significant because of much non-scientific fear about the impact of 5G on human health or even bee colonies. 

People often hear the word “radiation” and think atomic bomb effects. Or they hear that millimeter waves are the same sorts of energy used by microwave ovens and worry that health effects--such as contributing to cancer--might therefore be a possibility.

But millimeter radio waves are not the same sort of energy ax X-rays or gamma rays, which have enough energy to knock electrons out of orbit. And that does pose a risk of cancer. Millimeter radio waves, on the other hand, cannot knock electrons out of orbit, and therefore do not pose the same risks as gamma or X-rays.

In fact, those concerned about millimeter wave damage to the brain forget that, by definition, millimeter radio waves cannot penetrate skin or leaves or bricks or tree bark. In other words, there is no way for the millimeter waves to reach a human brain. 

Signal strength matters, of course. Workers who climb cell towers should definitely limit exposure, as signal levels are far higher right up next to the radios. 

It is true that non-thermal effects of radio frequency energy at any frequencies used by mobile networks have not been studied. But, by definition, the only impact of RF energy on tissue is to cause a slight amount of heating. Some studies do suggest possible risk. Others criticize many of those studies for not controlling for other variables, or for using test methods wildly beyond any exposure any human mobile phone user would encounter. 

Limiting exposure remains a wise precaution for those who do worry about RF energy. The other important fact is that mobile cell towers operate at very low power and RF energy has a logarithmic decay rate. 

Basically, doubling the distance of a receiver from a transmitter means that the strength of the signal at that new location is 50 percent  of its previous value. Just three meters from the antenna, a cell tower radio’s power density has dropped by an order of magnitude (10 times). At 10 meters, power levels have dropped by 100 times. 

The Ofcom tests show that 5G signal levels are a bare fraction of safe levels.