By Brandon HENSLEY

Though 5G technology promises a cheaper and easier way of communicating, it’s clear there are many people in the foothills who feel the potential health effects severely outweigh its benefits. Concerned residents packed the La Crescenta Library community room on Monday night to hear an anti-5G presentation on what might happen if cell towers that include 5G are installed close to people’s homes.

“With 5G, we must take a stand. This is a worse-case scenario,” said Kevin Mottus, president of the U.S. Brain Tumor Association and opponent of 5G technology.

Mottus and other speakers, including a Skype call with Paul Heroux, a medical faculty member at McGill Universtiy in Montreal, said big business and politicians don’t want to hear the science on 5G effects on the human body, which can include cancer.

“It’s a complete lie that the evidence isn’t there. What the industry means is that we will never accept any evidence that interferes with the commercialization of our product,” said Heroux, who testified at Michigan’s 5G Small Cell Tower Legislation hearing last October.

In an email addressed to local residents informing them of the presentation, Valerie Tuna and Rola Masri, director of the U.S. Brain Tumor Association, wrote, “We are currently facing a rollout of 5G emitters being installed on phone poles and in front of our homes, all across the foothills. People have no idea what is happening and wrongly assume that local and federal government or the FCC is protecting them. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Proposals to install 5G towers in La Crescenta and Glendale have been met with resistance for well over a year now. If approved, potential towers would be installed near schools and homes. Mottus said when users are on their phones it would be focused electromagnetic beams at their head.

“Wait a minute – is this a good idea? This is military grade technology,” he said.

“The FCC says it’s safe, but they don’t have a health department. No wireless device is safety tested. They’re emissions tested, which is a big difference.”

Mottus added, “Some of these big transmitters that have been installed in northern California … there’s no way people don’t get sick. It’s too powerful, too disturbing to the body.”

At the back table of the room were several packets detailing research done in other countries regarding 5G, information about assembly bills that would enable the use of 5G, and pages of research that supports detrimental health effects due to wireless radiation.

Mottus highlighted the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which states government bodies are not allowed to consider health effects when considering telecommunications-based policies. He said it needs to be reversed.

In addition, the presentation included a page containing links stating that 5G millimeter waves don’t work, the coverage won’t scale-to-benefit users outside of dense populations, and it wouldn’t be cost-effective to fix the problem.

Both Heroux and Mottus advocate for companies to use optical fiber as an alternative for phone and internet connection. Mottus said fiber optics can be just as efficient in addition to being safer.

  Brandon Hensley