How should we communicate messages about mobiles and health?

One part of spectrum management is helping the public understand the effect that using the airwaves has on human health. The best scientific opinion tells us there is no danger if the safety limits are observed, but many people believe there is a health risk. This new PolicyTracker Dossier tries to understand why safety messages about mobiles and health are not always believed and consider how they can be improved.

Public concern about mobiles and health risks is not new, with some arguing that it reappears every four or five years, often coinciding with a new technology generation. But the growth of social media and the global COVID pandemic has brought the campaign against 5G to new levels of pubic awareness, culminating in arson attacks on base stations in many countries.

Our EMF Messaging Dossier examines why the anti-5G campaigns have been so successful and how industry and public bodies have responded. These issues are also discussed in a webinar, which is available on demand, and an article which summarises the conclusions.

The Dossier examines the growing importance of mobiles and health as a political issue and how individual countries have responded to the issue.

The EMF Messaging Dossier contents are either free to access or available by registering for a PolicyTracker newsletter trial. Our other Dossiers on a range of spectrum policy issues are available as part of the Spectrum Research Service, as part of a paid subscription.

The PolicyTracker EMF Messaging Dossier

The communications challenge of anti-5G campaigning

How should companies and public bodies respond to the emotive messages that have made anti-5G campaigns so effective?

Why have anti-5G campaigns been so successful?

For decades individuals and organised groups have lobbied against mobile phones claiming health risks, but the recent anti-5G campaigns have had an unprecedented impact.

Poll: anti-5G groups are better at campaigning than the wireless industry

Arson attacks on 5G masts, fuelled by misinformation on social media have made policy-makers and the wireless industry reconsider the effectiveness of their own EMFEMF stands for radio frequency electromagn... communications strategies.

Pressure mounts on Brussels to do more to counter EMF misinformation

Fifteen EU member states have urged the European Commission to come up with a “communications strategy” to counter misinformation about 5G.

Editorial: 5G conspiracy theory shows we must change PR strategy

Who is your first stop for health advice? The world’s leading scientists, or a man who thinks “tall, blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are the force behind a worldwide conspiracy against humanity”?

5G electromagnetic field is like a Parisian waiter, French study concludes

French spectrum agency ANFR has concluded that 5G multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems are safe, partly because they resemble the behaviour of Parisian waiters.

Use targeted messaging and honesty to fight 5G EMF concerns

Speakers at PolicyTracker’s recent webinar said that while 5G technology is unlikely to pose health risks, there are gaps in knowledge that must be frankly acknowledged to debunk EMF disinformation.

Could beamforming become a problem for 5G?

In the second of a series of articles about electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the age of 5G, we take a look at beamforming. This is considered an essential feature of 5G base station antennas, but some argue that it will mean that current EMF exposure limits need to be reassessed.