If you've ever been through a city you might have noticed tiny cell towers for 5G placed on poles for street lighting. They look like little boxes, but they're actually broadcasting wireless signals from mobile providers to your phone.
The smaller ones are being replaced by larger, purpose-built cell towers. Although what is a safe distance from a 5g cell tower 're not as visible, they still can create problems for those who live nearby.
The FCC's Radiation Exposure Thresholds
The FCC's Radiation Exposure Thresholds define the safe distance that one can expose to electromagnetic energy generated by wireless devices. what is a safe distance from a 5g cell tower are based on scientific data that show that RF energy can cause harm to health.
The rate of absorption called the specific absorption rate (SAR) is an indicator of the radiofrequency energy taken up by tissues. It's typically 1.6 watts per kilogram, calculated over one kilogram of tissue.
But, since 5g operates at higher frequencies, it has the potential to create more energy on the skin and other directly-exposed body parts. This can lead to a wide range of potential problems, including an increased appearance of skin disorders such as dermatitis, skin cancer and cataracts.
Due to the potential for harmful effects of radiation from 5G, PSU has chosen to create a general limits on power density, which is 4mW/cm2 measured over 1 cm2, and not exceeding 30 minutes for all 5G services running at 3000 GHz. This limit for localization is in line with the maximum SAR that is spatially averaged at 1.6 W/kg, averaged over one g of tissue at 6 GHz.
The FCC's Maximum Exposure Thresholds
In the event that you've used mobile phone, then you've probably realized that a safe range from the tower is around 400 meters. This is due to the power of transmission from cell towers increases drastically the further away you are from it.
While it sounds like something that's good, the reality is that people who live close to towers could be more prone to health issues. For example, a study from 2014 in India found that those who lived within 50 meters of cell towers experienced much more health problems than those who were distance from them.
However, this study also found that people who moved into areas farther away from cell towers experienced their symptoms return to normal within a few days. Other studies have shown that exposure to high levels of radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) can cause cancer, brain tumors as well as other health issues.
This is because the RF radiation used in wireless communication can penetrate the human body's outer layer, which is the skin. This is important to understand because the skin acts as a protective barrier against injury to the body, infection by pathogenic microorganisms, and infiltration of toxic substances. The skin is the biggest organ of the human body, and is responsible for protecting other organs.
The FCC's Minimum Exposure Thresholds
The FCC's Minimum Exposure Thresholds are based on many assumptions that aren't supported by scientific evidence. These include the erroneous belief that exposures to RF radiation are safe due to minimal radiation penetration in the human body (i.e. the heating of tissues).
This also overlooks the more extensive penetration of ELF parts of the modulated RF signal and the consequences of brief bursts of heat from pulsed RF waves. These assumptions do not correspond with current understanding of the biological effects of RF radiation. As such, they should not be considered for health protection exposure guidelines.
In https://www.openlearning.com/u/mccanndickinson-rtpatc/blog/WhatIsTheSafestDistanceFromYour5GCellTowerSystem , the ICNIRP and FCC restrict its maximum levels of radiation exposure for local peak SARs that are based on the maximum speed of spatial absorption (psSAR) that is an inadequate dosimetric tool to determine the degree of exposure to radiofrequency radiation. Particularly, psSAR is inaccurate when frequencies exceed 6 GHz. Furthermore, psSAR has not been evaluated for RF radiation that is exposed to other environmental agents such like sunlight. Interactions of RF radiation with other environmental agents may produce synergistic or antagonistic impacts. This would result in an increased risk of negative health effects. For example, co-exposure to RF radiation with sunlight may cause an increase in the incidence of skin cancer, and may also exacerbate other skin diseases such as acne.