A food producer reports symptoms near a tower at a commercial kitchen, concerns about additional rural si…

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a very concerned member of the public, and as a family member. I am 81 years of age, a retired organic farmer, currently leasing a WSDA licensed food processing facility where I make and sell an entire brand line of local, organic, ready-to-eat nutrient-dense foods to make America healthy again. It has been 30 years since I purchased ultra-processed foods for myself, also having dedicated the past 30 years to preserving farmland and protecting our food supply. My licensed, leased kitchen is on a 200-acre sheep farm in rural Yelm, Washington. After a lengthy community effort opposing the cell tower, Thurston, County issued a permit for a 4-G Cell Tower to be placed on this farm and in view of my kitchen (>>>>>>>>>). When faced with the prospect of the 4-G Cell Tower going live I gave serious consideration to moving my commercial kitchen but decided to stay when I realized finding a cell-tower-free location was becoming increasingly difficult to find. Now with the FCC on a fast track to install as many cell towers as possible, those fears and concerns have come true. Now I am experiencing health issues from proximity to this cell tower: frequent atypical headaches, heart arrythmia and depression. I have sought medical attention, but no definitive action has been taken. To make matters worse, there are 3 or 4 more cell towers approved or in process of being approved in our rural neighborhood which will also amplify the cell tower on my kitchen property. To make matters even worse, the cell tower recently approved on Penn Rd. is 1 mile from my daughter and her husband’s organic farm, plus 2 or 3 more potential cell tower sites in our rural neighborhood. The FCC is endeavoring to fast track multiple cell towers in our rural neighborhood we chose to live in to get away from cell towers. The prospect of her and her husband being exposed 24/7 to EMF Radiation is deeply concerning, actually really concerning that my entire community will be bombarded 24/7 with RF/EMF. I do not own or use a cell phone even while endeavoring to run a business. I have a landline for my phone, and I am hard-wired with ethernet to connect to my PC. Sounds good, except I have a Cell Tower in my back yard, and as mentioned, with symptoms of radiation exposure/sickness. As stated before, the tables need to be turned: the FCC needs to be required to prove RF/EMF are safe, NOT the other way around. As also stated before, it is beyond wrong the FCC will not allow health claims to even be considered as a factor in the decision-making process. First, I don’t know how you back-track cell towers, but they should have NEVER been approved until proven safe just like prescription medications. This is my first point. The FCC should be required to prove that EMF Radiation from cell towers is safe and at what levels, not the other way around. There was something categorically wrong with whatever agency thought this was okay, and with the public, me included, who allowed them to get away with this. Absurd and patently wrong. It’s beyond absurd that somehow citing health issue concerns became not acceptable to oppose cell towers. Doubly absurd an agency that has no expertise in public health, the FCC is in a position to make public health decisions. I am thrilled Health and Human Services has issued this RFI. My first request is for you to place public health decisions back in the hands of a public health agency, HHS.