Why 5G will not have a big impact on people

In June this year, protesters held signs such as "Stop 5G" and "100 times the radiation, 100 times the harm" to oppose Australian operators' construction of 5G networks. The protesters believed that 5G radiation was too great, and some organizations even said that "(5G) may be the biggest threat to humanity we face" and that this was brought about by "mentally deranged ruling elites."

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In response to this, Telstra, Australia's largest telecommunications operator, has conducted special tests and popularized science. Telstra stated on its official website, "We have completed extensive testing of 5G networks in real environments using commercial 5G equipment, and our data confirms two things. First, the electromagnetic energy (EME) levels generated by our 5G technology in many cases are about 1,000 times lower than the safety limit. Second, all our tests have found that 5G EME levels are similar to 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi."

Just in May, a statement by Zhang Chaoyang, chairman and CEO of Sohu, also sparked a discussion on 5G radiation in China. At the Sohu Technology 5G Summit, Zhang Chaoyang questioned that the density of 5G base stations is extremely high and is very harmful to the human body. But then he reiterated on Weibo, "Regarding the impact of electromagnetic waves on human health, I just said that this issue is worth discussing. I am not an expert in biomedicine."

Cell phone radiation is the radio waves generated when a cell phone transmits information through electromagnetic waves. Cell phone radiation belongs to low-energy radiation in the electromagnetic spectrum, which is much safer than high-energy radiation such as X-rays. High-energy radiation mainly releases ionizing radiation, which has enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules, thereby damaging cell DNA and may cause cancer, while radio frequency radiation does not.

British operator EE published an article on its community exchange website stating that since the telecommunications industry launched mobile networks in the 1980s, all wireless technologies have been launched under the government's strict radio radiation regulations. These regulations can be traced back to more than 20 years of medical research and research programs, and are regularly reviewed, including 2G, 3G, 4G, WiFi and now 5G mid-band and millimeter wave bands, which are not harmful to the human body. "US operators have chosen to use higher-frequency millimeter wave spectrum, and there is no danger, because all new wireless technologies are launched under similar strict guidance."

This year, the German Federal Office of Radiation Protection also released two lists of test results on mobile phone radiation. The radiation intensity is within the safe range, so it will not cause harm to the human body.

In addition to mobile terminals, do 5G base stations mean greater radiation than 4G? Chinese operators have also expressed their views. China Unicom said that the network speed increase has nothing to do with the increase in base station radiation. The faster 4G and 5G networks are not achieved by increasing the signal transmission power of communication base stations, but by expanding the transmission bandwidth, just like widening a highway.

In the 4G era, the frequency bandwidth has been greatly improved, and users feel that the network speed is faster, but the radiation standard of 4G communication base stations has not changed. It is still less than the national standard of 40 microwatts/square centimeter, and the same is true for 5G communication base stations. Moreover, the denser the coverage of communication base stations, the better the mobile phone signal reception, and the less electromagnetic radiation users will be exposed to. Therefore, with the continuous advancement of the construction of 4G and 5G networks, there are more and more communication base stations, better signals, and less radiation.

Wu Hequan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a forum that many people mistakenly believe that base stations have electromagnetic radiation hazards. The radiation standard for 4G base stations in the United States is 600 microwatts per square centimeter, while China's electromagnetic radiation standard is only 40 microwatts, which is 10 times stricter than that of the United States. At a distance of 10 meters from the base station, the radiation is only 1.5 microwatts, while the radiation of a microwave oven at home is 168 microwatts. The radius of 5G base stations is smaller than that of 4G and the power is lower.