Also in the Netherlands there are people who see nothing at all in the new generation of mobile internet called 5G, the faster successor of 4G (which is now on most phones). Today, protesters gather on Dam Square in Amsterdam to protest. But not all interested people will be there, “because of the radiation in that city,” organizer Rob Verboog told RTL News.
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“My wife is one of them, she is flat in the center of Amsterdam within fifteen minutes.” According to him, too little research has been done into the radiation of 5G. That is why he wants the rollout of 5G to be suspended, at least temporarily.
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RIVM recently published a report together with Agentschap Telecom about the dangers for 5G, in which they cautiously concluded that it is safe. But that is not enough for Verboog. “Before you put a new product on the market, whether it is a medicine or another product, we do all kinds of tests. And we simply throw in mobile data.”
According to Verboog, there are a huge number of complaints related to radiation, such as sleep disorders, tinnitus, headache and even types of eczema. With his demonstration, he also hopes to reach people who are currently still suffering from these kinds of vague symptoms at a doctor or specialist.
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Small antennas
One of the reasons that people are concerned about 5G is that the network requires more (especially smaller) antennas. Moreover, the 3G and 4G networks also remain in the air. This concern about health risks was already a reason for the municipality of Amsterdam to ask critical questions about the rollout of 5G in the city.
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RIVM and the Telecom Agency are trying to remove these concerns with their new research. The 5G masts that will be placed in the Dutch streets will not cause more electromagnetic radiation than is permitted, they say. They point out that there is no evidence in the scientific literature that ‘exposure below the limits’ is harmful to humans.
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Within the limits
For their research, RIVM and Agentschap Telecom looked at scientific literature and did strength measurements during test set-ups of 5G masts. In the test set-ups, the radiation remains within the limits that the European Union recommends: the radiation comes to around 2 to 5 percent of the reference levels in the EU recommendation. The amount of radiation is comparable to that of the existing 4G masts.
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In the Netherlands there is no legal limit to exposure to that radiation, but it has been agreed that it will remain below the European advice limit. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate would like to include that in the law.
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The use of 5G is therefore safe for the time being, is the cautious conclusion of RIVM and Agentschap Telecom. Yet they also hold a small blow: “Whether the insights change remains to be seen.”
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