The Chair to advise the Committee of any items on which members of the public have requested to speak and advise those members of the public present of the details of the Council’s public participation scheme.
For those members of the public who have submitted any questions or statements, please note, a three minute time limit applies to each speaker and you will be asked to speak before Councillors debate the issue.
Minutes:
The following members of the public made statements below in relation to 5G Technology:-
Sue Pilkington
Some of the 5G tech will be mounted on 4G masts we already have but the full blown roll out to support the Internet of things will require many many more masts and small cells which are planned to placed very close together and mounted on our houses, offices, public buildings. (They will be more heavy duty Most community light poles are not strong enough to hold the 5G equipment so they will be replaced by much taller wider poles with cell antennas .This is called “hardening” the poles but basically it means the poles will be much wider and thicker metal. )
The 5g 26GHZ
and above require masts much closer together as the signals don't
travel as far meaning masts every 300m or so. This bandwidth is
being sold off later this year.
Man-made electromagnetic spectrum ranges from 100KHz to 300GHZ, this spectrum is divided into bands, which are auctioned off by the Governments to the highest bidder. The current bands we are using for 3 and 4G are saturated, meaning we have used them all up due to so many wireless devices. So higher available bands are being sold to the telecoms so we are moving from sub-millimetre into millimetre waves. The new infrastructure is costing LOTS of money, so to re-deem the costs the telecoms industry needs new products to sell to re-coup their investments. Hence the Internet of things and smart technology. So the argument that 5G technology is good for the planet because they are energy efficient doesn't really stand up, due to the massive amount of infrastructure and manufacturing, by one estimate, four hundred times more towers than are currently deployed (see 1)
The 5g technology is totally different to 4g, is utilises phased arrays and beam forming. This tech has been used in military applications and in crowd control devices.
We know
there are cancer clusters around masts and they devalue your
property by as much as 20% according to
research.
Millimetre
waves haven't been used in human populations before and there has
been no testing done, so this to me is very concerning. No
consideration has been taken for people that suffer with
eilectrsenstivity (see 2), which is a recognised condition in
Sweden.
Planning laws are being revised such that telecoms have a right of access to property and one cannot object to their placement. This is being decided without our consent or consultation.
The signals don't travel through wet trees and therefore if the small cells cannot be placed to achieve a clear line of sight they will be felled. One solution to this is to have extremely high masts as high as Nelsons column bar 2 meters which is being discussed in the news this week.
As well as being unsightly and I am sure very unwelcome right on your doorstep, we have to remember
All of this infrastructure will be beaming out pulsed microwave radiation which has harmful biological effects as proven in thousands of studies and in growing public health records is already causing all sorts of health conditions
5G will utilize current 3G and 4G wireless frequencies already in use and also add even more radiation.
The citizens of
Taunton would please like to be consulted on this proposed
infrastructure in our communities and would like the council to
find out how it is being rolled out, when it is being rolled out,
by who, and how we can stop it with your help.
We need local councils at every level to join together to lobby central government and apply the precautionary principle to the 5G rollout so we can thoroughly research the infrastructure and access whether the people of Taunton, Somerset and the UK really want it.
Charlie Kay
Governments and big tech companies claim that 5G technology will be good for water and fuel efficiency to farming and agriculture, and a cure for climate change. HOWEVER, Governments, 5G and SMART profiteers are overlooking fundamental points which are contrary to our Green goals.
5G and smart technology will consume significant amounts of energy. It will also encourage more consumerism as trillions of new gadgets all become ‘smart'. There will be millions of tiny micro-transmitters embedded in common domestic objects. Even in babies nappies, and there is a petition to stop this (see 1)These transmitters contain rare and precious metals including gold, copper, silver and lithium, all of which have to be mined. Mining is the second most polluting industry in the world
In our Smart future, once or twice in a lifetime items will become upgradable just like our mobile phones, providing more fodder for an already insatiable consumer economy. Our old gadgets and appliances will all eventually be thrown away creating even more waste. And how are we disposing all this waste? Perhaps they will be shipped to Malaysia along with all our adult diapers and Sainsbury bags!
5G and Smart technology will require a huge quantity of fuel, water and raw materials to manufacture all these gadgets and power the NEW masts and the servers that support them!
The new Blue LED street lights which implement 5G technology are bad for humans and wildlife disrupting our circadian rhythm. Have we NOT even considered the damage caused by the disposal of all the old lamp posts? This is not responsible sustainability.
Does massive open-air farming factories using automatic irrigation systems, 5G farm animal checkers and drones to check on livestock, using self-fertilising genetically modified crops sound natural? Farmers in France are raising the alarm of livestock deaths and low production they believe caused by EMR’s ( see 2 )
EMR has been proven to disrupt the migration and orientation of birds, insects and marine animals. Even at existing levels of pollution, birds are losing their way on long-established migration routes. A world blanketed by 5G coverage could permanently destroy the delicate and finely tuned internal navigation systems of countless species across air, land and sea, with knock-on effects of unfathomable magnitude.
Adding to this there will be a constellation of 20,000 satellites which are being launched into space by rockets, releasing exhaust gases (see 2,3 ) (adding to Carbon Emissions and Ozone Depletion) Do we trust Elon Musk from SpaceX to protect space and the atmosphere?
We need to be concerned about our trees because Millimetres radio waves suffer attenuation from trees and tree canopies. Some trees will have to be cut down if they stand in the way of the millimetre waves.
The Lancet notes that: “The potential effects of these anthropogenic electromagnetic fields on natural electromagnetic fields, such as the Schumann Resonance that controls the weather and climate, have not been properly studied. Similarly, we do not adequately understand the effects of anthropogenic radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation on other natural and man-made atmospheric components or the ionosphere.” Isn’t it fair to say we should we be checking what type of effect 5G might have on the world’s weather and climate patterns? We all want to make our planet healthy again in intelligent ways and not merely replacing one form of pollution - fossil - with another - EMR.
Electro-Magnetic Radiation isn’t green it is a pollutant (the industry and Insurance Companies have already acknowledged this fact) and that we need to act urgently to reduce the amount of EMR in our environment, not add more!.
The Rural Connected Communities competition is the latest wave of £200 million funding to pioneer 5G testbeds across the country and deliver the benefits of the highest speeds of mobile connectivity available. But at a cost to the health of us all?
The pioneering industries Nicky Morgan talks about don’t have to be based around 5G and EMR. We need real green solutions not this smart agenda fuelled by big tech and governments.
Karen Churchill
Vital information about cellular damage happening at intensities well below the levels set by the guidelines is now fully established and desperately needs to heard.
1000’S of studies on animal, human, plants and public health statistics together give scientific certainty of harm full biological effects of 4G radiations.
Pulsed 5G
microwave radiation will be even worse. The 5g pulsing mechanism
causes unpredictable results. The guidelines assume an additive
effect but research shows that you get can spikes where two pulses
together have a hugely more harmful effect than if you add the
effects of each together. Also pulses can cancel each other when
the second pulse is a different polarity and there will be many of
those in 5G signals. ( the pulsed waves
are unpredictable compared to the steady source effects included in
the safety guidelines.)
Until
recently scientist didn't know the mechanisms of how damage
occurred.
Dr Martin Pal and Dr Heroux have recently had breakthroughs with this though. They have identified and proven that there are disruptions to the voltage gate calcium channels in the cell membranes, changes in the energy production in the mitochondria and disruptions to the DNA. This research has been cited by other scientists many times and is another measure of scientific credibility.
The tech companies claim that the mm waves of 5g will be less damaging as they don't penetrate into the body as deeply but the magnetic aspect of the radiation does and this magnetic component affects these calcium channels too and so 5g high end will affect the whole body.
When the vgcc sensors are stimulated by the cell phone or wifi Ca floods into the cell and the bodies homeostatic mechanism go to work using energy the body could well use for other things .
High intracellular calcium effects correct functioning of the nervous system and helps explain the neuropsychiatric effects of emfs anxiety, Alzheimer, ADHD , concentration , sleeping and memory lapses, depression amongst others.
There has been a vast increase in early onset Alzheimer with the increase of cell phone usage.
Dr Martin Pall describes how this intracellular calcium leads on to oxidative stress and increase in free radicals , which then explains the development of cancers. The 2016 NTP study has proven the link of EMFs to Shwannoma cancers in rats.
The changes in ATP and mitochondria functioning helps us understand the changes in the reproduction system that is being reliably seen in research studies. There are many studies in rats and mice showing in utero exposures cause drop in reproduction in the first and then increasing in the second to litter to near sterility in the third litter. In females there are spontaneous abortions seen in animals and human studies. The public health information shows drops in fertility in tech advanced countries to below replacement levels, including South Korea who have a 30 percent drop. Men after 2 hours of exposure to cell phone radiation have vast drops in sperm count, mobility and viability with breaks in the DNA.
With this amount of research available and the public health information showing the damage we already have with EMR exposures of 4G and the pulsed waves of 5G being worse and vast increases in exposure the internet of things implies, I request the Council action immediate halt to the roll out of 5g and they demand the PHE to review their guidelines.
I request that someone from the Council attend the International radiation conference in London on September 28th where the researchers who are the source of this information will impart the details I have started to outline here in depth. Thank You.
Louise Thomas
The Government takes its advice regarding the new 5G technology from Public Health England.
PHE is the national body that takes the lead on public health matters involving radio frequency electromagnetic fields, or radio waves, which are used in the telecommunications industry. However, Public Health England is ignoring the peer reviewed research and the International appeals from doctors and scientists. PHE continues to take its advice from the World Health Organisation and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).
The ICNIRP is an NGO under German law with no international legal status. It appoints its own members, none of whom is a medical doctor, operates with zero transparency and is accountable to no one. It is an institute of electrical and electronic engineers, It also disclaims all responsibility on its website for any of its information (see 1 ) including its own guidelines, which are based on cherry-picked science.
The ICNIRP has been widely accused of having conflicts of interest and links to the telecoms industry. ( see 2 and printed handout). ICNIRP has also has been accused of corruption.
According to Investigate Europe a team of investigative journalists from the EU, many governments are taking advise from a small circle of radiation safety authorities who reject alarming research and who set the radiation safety limits. Of 13 ICNIRP scientists, six are members of at least one other advisory committee. In the WHO group, this applies for six out of seven. Every third researcher in the EU commission that gave radiation advice in 2015 was represented in other groups. This constitutes a monopoly of opinion.
In the light of these findings and evidence would the Scrutiny committee acknowledge the urgency for our local council to bring this information to our communities in Taunton and to central government and to lobby PHE and Nicky Morgan, Digital Secretary. As you can hopefully understand we are very concerned that the government is not aware of these facts and we wish to shed some light on this situation and present the facts above.
Carol Lydiate
All investment involves managing risk. I work at Musgrove and have seen first-hand the due diligence work the hospital management has been undertaking in preparation for the proposed merger with Somerset Partnership. Every aspect of the work of both trusts has to be taken into account, with the benefits weighed against the risks to ensure that there are no unexpected surprises after the merger. Without this due diligence work the merger would not be approved by NHS Improvement. It would be foolishness indeed to allow it.
Interestingly, the same approach does not appear to have happened with regards to 5G, which should, therefore, legitimately be recognised as a ‘hazard’ as no independent, authoritative assessment of the safety of 5G technology has been undertaken, despite warnings by hundreds of scientists about its health risks. As elected representatives of the people living in Taunton and its surrounding districts I would remind the Scrutiny Committee that as a body the Council has a responsibility to ensure that what the public in this area are being exposed to is going to be safe. Not to do so would be to put us all at great risk in respect to our health and privacy. The telecoms companies concerned, who no doubt are confident of the benefits of 5G to businesses and individuals, seem to care only about the financial rewards and nothing about the risks and damage to humanity and the planet as a whole.
Of particular concern is that no-one will be able to opt out of this roll-out and if anyone wants to protect themselves they must do such things as hard wire their homes and hope that they do not live with a cell tower outside their home (which could not only have privacy and health risks, but have the added risk of devaluing their property). There is no getting away from the fact that we are being experimented on with no idea of what the consequences are going to be in 10, 20, 30 year’s time.
It is particularly worrying that following the hundreds of reports by scientists around the world that their concerns about 5G are falling on deaf ears. Their expert opinion discarded.
The benefits of 5G could be immense to society, we cannot deny that, and no-one would want to stand in the way of progress unnecessarily, but, if this experiment goes wrong and the scientists are proved right, we are facing an unmitigated disaster for the planet - a game changer for humanity and indeed all of creation.
As a group here today we would implore the Council to do what it can to slow down the roll-out of 5G by applying the precautionary principal until such a time that the technology can be proved to be safe.
On 27 August the government announced that bigger and taller mobile phone masts could be built without councils’ permission across the countryside under a proposed overhaul of planning rules in England. In part this is to speed up the roll out of 5G networks and improve mobile coverage in rural areas. This could mean masts of over 82ft high. It is stated that these masts could carry more equipment and potentially stop the proliferation of other masts or even take away some. The issue with 5G though is the higher frequency which doesn’t travel as far as 3G or 4G and therefore needs more cell towers closer together. I am not sure how this will therefore work.
A question to the Council - how does it feel to have the option of denying the building of masts in an area taken out of your hands?
The subject of 5G is a vast one and multi-layered. We cannot do it justice here in a few 3 minute slots. We would encourage you all to look at the evidence for both sides of the coin and take into account the many reports and videos that have outlined concerns to alert the public.
The risk is great and in the interest of survival we must all ask the question, do the benefits outweigh the risks or should caution be shown?
Thank you.
Warwick Lydiate
As with other issues going on at the moment, are there agendas behind 5G that we don’t know about yet? For example...
1 What is ‘big data’, and what is 5Gs function in providing this?
2 What is the ‘Internet of Things’? And connected with that, is it true that every so called ‘smart device’ is actually a data gathering machine informing business and / or government about each of our choices and decisions? What data do ‘they’ want from us? Is it just about selling us stuff, or is it something else?
3 5G may facilitate driverless cars / vans. Do we want driverless vehicles? Have we been asked?
4 Is the impetus to begin making money out of 5G overriding the importance of adequately testing its safety and reliability?
5 Is it true that companies like Huawei are looked on unfavourably by western businesses and governments, because they may not share the information they gather on us? Who are safest, most reliable companies to provide 5G?
6 Do we know what 5Gs role in public surveillance will be? Do you feel that our every movement should be under surveillance? Will 5G override our right to privacy?
7 Does the government intend to override any objections raised by local councils and citizens, and press ahead with it anyway? How do you feel about this?
8 If democracy depends on an informed public (and local council), to what extent is this threatened by insufficient data on 5G or AI?
As councillors, do you know the answers to these questions? Should the public know before this technology is simply presented to us?
The Chairman thanked all members of the public for their statements and requested ongoing dialogue; so that further consideration could be given to setting this as a Scrutiny item at a stage where further information is available around the rollout and the role of District and County Councils in 5G technology implementation.