All comment threads

I approve of the HHS department working on updating the FCC communications act from 1986. Technology has changed drastically since then and we need to make changes.

Re: Radiofrequency Exposure Standards, Biological Effects, and Outstanding Research Gaps I am submitting this comment as a concerned member of the public regarding the adequacy of existing radiofrequency (RF) exposure standards. The central issue is not whether RF radiation can produce biological effects. Experimental research demonstrates that electromagnetic energy can interact with biological systems. The unresolved question is whether existing exposure standards adequately account for potentially adverse effects across different exposure conditions, particularly those involving modulation, pulsing, chronic exposure, and developing biological systems. Of particular interest is U.S. Air Force-funded research conducted by Drs. Gale Craviso and Indira Chatterjee at the University of Nevada, Reno (AFOSR Grant FA9550-06-1-0377). Their 2008 final performance report documented apparent nonthermal alterations in catecholamine release from adrenal chromaffin cells exposed to pulsed microwave frequency sweeps, particularly between 5 and 6 GHz. Bulk temperature and pressure were monitored, although the researchers acknowledged that localized microscopic heating remained a possible explanation. Related experiments demonstrated that extremely brief, high-intensity electrical pulses could trigger intracellular calcium influx and catecholamine release. These experiments involved exposure conditions substantially different from ordinary wireless communications, but illustrate the importance of investigating biological responses to different electromagnetic exposure parameters. Separately, the National Toxicology Program's 2018 studies (Technical Report 595) reported clear evidence of malignant heart schwannomas in male rats exposed to high levels of RF radiation, alongside certain noncancerous tissue changes. Although these exposure conditions cannot be directly extrapolated to typical human wireless-device use, they warrant appropriate consideration in risk assessment. The scientific literature contains both positive and negative findings. Biological responses are not automatically adverse health outcomes, but neither should the absence of substantial tissue heating be treated as sufficient evidence that all biologically relevant effects have been excluded. I respectfully request that federal agencies prioritize independent, reproducible research evaluating: 1. Biological effects of RF modulation, pulsing, frequency sweeps, and peak versus time-averaged exposures. 2. Potential neurological, endocrine, reproductive, and cellular effects, including calcium signaling and oxidative stress. 3. Long-term, cumulative, and simultaneous exposures from multiple wireless sources. 4. Vulnerability during childhood and development, alongside realistic device-use conditions. 5. Whether existing SAR-based compliance procedures adequately characterize relevant exposure parameters. In Environmental Health Trust v. FCC (2021), the D.C. Circuit required the FCC to provide a reasoned explanation concerning noncancer health effects and related shortcomings in its assessment. Compliance with an existing exposure limit is not, by itself, proof that every potentially relevant biological effect has been investigated or excluded. I urge federal agencies to transparently identify unresolved questions, evaluate the evidence according to methodological quality, and support targeted research before making categorical assurances about the safety of current and emerging wireless technologies. Relevant sources: Craviso & Chatterjee, Final Performance Report FA9550-06-1-0377 (2008); Vernier et al., Bioelectrochemistry 73, 1–4 (2008); National Toxicology Program, Technical Report 595 (2018); Environmental Health Trust v. FCC, 9 F.4th 893 (D.C. Cir. 2021).

I do not want cell towers near my home or school due to the health concerns with EMFs. EMFs disrupt the voltage gated calcium channels of the cell and by doing so harms human health:

I live within 500 feet of a cell tower and since I lived here I have gotten migraines, insomnia, tinnitus and an auto immune disease that is excruciatingly painful to live with. My life is over from these conditions but I would hope and pray that others can be saved, please update the regulations, people cannot and should not live like this. Thank you, Susan Emrick

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on EMFs, Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am very pleased with HHS's initiative and hope it will take action to to examine the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. I also hope that my government of Canada will follow suit. I urge HHS to carefully examine the submitted experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research and give particular attention to children, and other vulnerable populations that are affected in different ways. Please do not delay in taking action.   I was a healthy woman, leading a normal (and international) life until a RF communicating smart meter made me sick. Since 2016, my life and that of my family has been turned upside down. I had to move away from what is deemed 'normal' society. I do not consent to the continuous involuntary exposure to pulsed modulated, biologically active electrical and radio-frequency radiation. Thank you for providing an opportunity to be heard.  1. & 2. Responding as: an individual 3a. Type of sources: pulse-modulated RF radiation from: smart (utility) meters, Wi-Fi routers, any 'smart' tech including in cars; iPads/ laptops; earbuds/ hearing aids ; cell towers. Low frequency EMF's from wiring, electrical appliances, transmission lines, cars. 3b. Nature, duration, frequency, timing: Adverse health effects have changed over time: including severity of symptoms, timing of onset, - some with delay, others directly when exposed - and recuperation time after exposure.  3c. Adverse health effects: Symptoms experienced over the last ten years (difference in presence and severity over time) : Cardio-vascular (heart palpitations, tachycardia); eye sight, neurological effects including speech problems, memory, tinnitus; chest pain/tightened chest; sleep dysfunction/  head aches/ stabbing pains, tremors; sensations in thyroid and face/ jaw area, chills/ flu like symptoms.  3d. Time from exposure to appearance of adverse effects; did a change coincide with onset: In 2016 our family returned to Canada after living in Europe for some years. Upon our return I developed electromagnetic radiation syndrome (EHS), with debilitating neurological and heart problems, very likely caused by frequent and prolonged exposure to a smart meter installed right outside the kitchen on our home in Canada. At the same time A Wi-Fi router in the basement beamed up under my feet and smart phones were charging on the counter.  I had milder symptoms in Europe but did not recognize it as such. I started to use a smart phone around 2014 and developed heart arrhythmia; a cardiologist in Europe could not find anything wrong. I had stabbing pains in my head, but they came and went so quickly, that I did not pay attention. I also already had unusual, unexplainable, out of the blue fatigue. 3e. Medical evaluation sought? Diagnosis?  In Canada I sought medical help from my own family physician: he had never heard of the condition but would look into it and asked how he could help. I did not know. Two other physician-friends were dismissive: one did not respond, the other could not find it in the BMJ". The waiting list for an environmental doctor was too long. I mostly found my way on my own. A few years ago I sought help from an acupuncturist who worked on my neurological system, and recently I started to work with a cranio-sacral therapist.  3f. Steps taken to reduce exposure; subsequent changes in effects: We managed to have our utility company change our smart electricity meter into a non-communicating meter in December 2016, after repeated requests. Early 2017, an EMF specialist measured RFR and low frequency EM fields in our house. We switched off our Wi-Fi; went back to cabled computers and lap tops; replaced our DECT-phone with a corded phone; got rid of dimmer switches; switched back to incandescent lighting and use kill switches to turn off electrical groups at night,.  Regularly being outdoors, walking (and grounding) in the woods, exposing myself to natural sunlight (and the Earth's magnetic field), swimming in summer (in the river), and eating healthy are essential for me to stay healthy, heal and deal with exposure.    I can now better tolerate some exposure for a short duration. Yet radiation density all around is rapidly increasing. It seems a Sisyphean task to grow more tolerant in an an environment that is ever more inundated with artificial forms of electromagnetic radiation. I cannot imagine how life is like for people who have no safe place to live and without a support system.  I try to raise awareness in my community, in the political scene, through the media. I write letters and articles and work with advocacy groups in Canada and across the world, but we encounter many brick walls. That is why I even more appreciate HHS's initiative. 

This comment shares my perspective as a private citizen of the United States. I am a 37-year-old male. Below, I address questions 2, 3, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14, and 15 from the Request for Information. Exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (EMF), Radiofrequency (RF) radiation, and Wireless radiation is a major environmental contributor to my own illness: chronic, neurologic Lyme disease, tick-borne co-infections, and related autoimmune complications. When exposed to this radiation, I suffer fatigue, brain fog, headaches, vertigo, and exacerbation of underlying neurologic illness. I have been a patient of a practitioner of orthomolecular and environmental medicine for the past 17 years. My symptoms increase in severity the stronger the radiation, the closer the source, and the longer my time of exposure. Two hours of driving in a car on a highway past cell towers induces mild to moderate fatigue and brain fog. An entire day of exposure to WiFi at a home, school, or hotel induces moderate to severe headache, brain fog, fatigue, and vertigo. Repeated exposures day after day in a workplace eventually contributes to severe episodes of head pain, debilitating vertigo, vision disturbances, and loss of ability to think and speak. I have had to leave jobs due to this inability to function. In hindsight, this was also a reason why I had to take multiple medical leaves while attending college on a campus covered with 24/7 WiFi. My family and I have remediated our home environment from wireless radiation by hard-wiring all of our computers, telephones, and electronic devices. We disable all wireless capabilities and do not use any “smart” devices or appliances. I do not use a cell phone. I am able to stay healthy in this low-EMF environment, and in outdoor environments in my semi-rural town. I cannot function for prolonged periods in city or densely-populated suburban environments with high radiation levels. I do not think of myself as “electrically-sensitive,” but simply as a living being who is aware of the harm that EMF, RF, and Wireless radiation cause me. The harms of this radiation to all of life on Earth are well documented in the scientific literature. Arthur Firstenberg presents this evidence in his book "The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life". The presence of electrical, radio, satellite, and wireless infrastructure correlates strongly to the major diseases of modern man: cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and infectious disease. Man-made radiation inhibits the basic functioning of the cells of all living organisms, damaging their metabolism and ability to communicate properly. The result is confusion, disease, and death in humans, animals, and plants. The current regulatory standards and exposure limits regarding this radiation do not protect anyone. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is a captured agency, controlled by the telecommunications industry it is supposed to regulate. Through this agency and federal law which shields them from liability, telecom companies can build and deploy any technology that suits them, without threat of litigation for health and environmental harms. This state of affairs consolidates power and profit for a few giant corporations, while actually benefitting nobody. Our cell tower and wireless infrastructure is making us all sick, and we must acknowledge this damage and turn off these technologies. At the very least, individuals must have the freedom to opt out of smartphones, smart meters, and all other wireless technologies, and local communities must have the right to reject cell towers and antennas if they do not want them. Once we recognize the cost of unchecked wireless radiation throughout all of society, we can return to wired connections and encourage engineers and inventors to develop communication technologies that do no harm to living beings. We have many such technologies already, including pencil and paper! I encourage all at HHS to read "The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life" by Arthur Firstenberg (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020), to read the scientific literature demonstrating the health harms of EMF, RF, and Wireless radiation, and to work with any and all parties willing to cooperate with the reduction and elimination of the technologies harming us all. For more information about the work of Arthur Firstenberg and his book "This Invisible Rainbow", visit the website of the Cellular Phone Task Force: https://www.cellphonetaskforce.international/ Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the harms of EMF, RF, and Wireless radiation exposure.

See attached file(s)

I have been suffering with gi issues ringing in the ears breathing issues and other things. Over 14 months, every tests you can think of. No diagnosis still.

I'm writing on behalf of my wife, son and myself. We are the Haller family from Minnesota. Our story has been all over the internet so privacy is already compromised. We live in very very rural northern MN. Only 4 neighbors in a half mile. We purchased our property in 2007 and while building our home in 2008 a 300 food tall cell tower went up at the same time. We were unaware this was even happening until it reached above the trees and almost appeared to be on our property. It ended up being on the neighbors land but only 900 feet from our home. We didn't think much at the time and even joked at least we'll have great cell service. Life was normal from 08 until 2012, when I was diagnosed with moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis at Only 39 years old. No family history of it but I learned how to deal with it and once again life returned to normal until 9-2019. A large crane appeared at the tower for two weeks, we watched the workers remove the top and replace it with a new one. When they left we noticed immediately our phones switched from 4glte to 5g. Within a week of the crane leaving my wife was stricken with severe vertigo, that's what the hospital said anyway. After a few days of no relief and worsening symptoms we were back at the emergency room. After a MRI the confirmed she was having mini strokes, buy the dozens. Local hospitals had no idea what was happening so we were referred to the mayo clinic in Rochester. They treated her with plasmapherisis and chemo therapy to slow her immune system down enough to make the strokes stop. This worked for a short time until we returned home. Symptoms returned with our return. While we were navigating our own problems we learned our neighbor who owned the property where the tower is had a brief battle with aggressive cancer and died from a stroke at home in 2/2020. We couldn't stay at home so we moved to the inlaws house which is only a mile away. They were working across the country at the time and offered it to us. We moved there in March 2020 and stayed until they returned home in Oct 2020. While staying there the wife's condition improved immensely, she went from walking with a walker to walking on her own. Her brain function improved and she decided to return to nursing school, she was in school when the first round of strokes started but we had her withdrawn. As a family I noticed we were happier, more energetic, sleeping better and just "better". When we returned home in just days the nightmare was returning. With no choice at the time I built her a room in our detached garage and made it RF proof. It worked excellent, while in the room she feels no Symptoms. When she would feel like she had been exposed for too long she'd simply say "I'm going out to the room"! I nicknamed it "the penalty box"! We've stayed away from home as much as possible since Mar 2020 and sleep together every night in that black box I created. It's now been 6 years sleeping in there. She fully recovered to a point, she completed nursing school and is indeed a nurse. She can take some exposure but too much time on the computer or phone and she has to go out to the room. She can feel the tower in her head as soon as she comes home, describing it as a "buzzing" in her head. We've adapted as best as possible. Doctors still are baffled at how this all happened and what made it stop(I never told them what we did), they said it's a miracle...I beg to differ. We tried getting the tower owners to redirect the antennas, through local town board and even federal court. Each time we were told that the FCC preempts local government from any action against telecom. If I was better at computers I would attach files and documents but I simply don't know how. I would love to discuss this further with you and would love if you reached out to us. In closing I would like to say no business/person/organization should be immune from causing personal harm to others, such as the wireless industry. More studies, more testing needs to be done at today's levels of radiation and done so in a 24-7 exposure time. This wireless radiation affects more than just humans. I've studied the local American Grey(timber) wolf as well as whitetail deer, hummingbirds and bats for the last 6 years. I've learned much about their behavior around this tower and the lengths they go through to avoid it. We've lost family pets to this as well. Our beloved dog Ms Daisy had so many tumors on her the weight of them wouldn't let her breathe. The vet had never seen anything like this when we brought her in to be put down. Please HHS listen to all these pleas you are receiving, for too long they have been swept under the rug. I've met hundreds to thousands of families like our after out story aired on the children's health defense website. We were receiving phone calls everyday from people asking for help. I told them what I did for us and it helped. Now I'm asking for your help! We are not crazy,we are victims. Jay & Marcia Haller

After suffering from a brain injury as flight crew in 2017 I began experiencing reactions around wireless technology. Since then it is impossible for me to leave my home without suffering from symptoms of migraine, vertigo, latent sleep disorder, and even at times seizures. Thankfully I can function on my own property without wi-fi as I was able to switch to wired internet. Sadly though, every year it seems the intensity of my neighbor’s wireless networks increases, causing me to suffer mild symptoms on a round the clock basis. If I am so affected by these frequencies, what might they be doing to the developing child’s brains or to our pets and wildlife? After deep diving into published research, it is clear that the literature shows wireless technologies are neurotoxic to biology via neurotransmitter changes and Voltage Gated Calcium Channel disfunction. With our current uptick in maladies such as cancers of all kinds, infertility, neurodegeneration, Cardiovascular Disease, ASD, Hoshimoto’s Thyroiditis, Type 2 Diabetes, and more, we should be asking why this is happening exponentially as we increase the rate of our wireless radiation exposures. At the very minimum, while we continue to perform long-term studies on the effects of non-ionizing radiation exposures on humans and the environment, I propose that we: .Re-introduce wired phone lines and ethernet connections in homes, businesses, and public places. . Require all wireless technologies sold in the US to have an “offline mode” which completely disables all wireless functions. . That all wireless functions of all devices be required to be in their offline mode at our schools, parks, public buildings, places of gathering, hospitals, public transportation, and the like. . That cell phone towers, power stations, and other facilities or antenna that emit ELF, EMF, or RF be required to be positioned a mile or more away from buildings, public spaces, and areas of residence OR require informed consent from all potentially affected parties as to the exposures and their unknown possible effects. . That public warnings be instituted regarding the possible harms of using wireless devices. . That manufacturers be held responsible for any adverse effects from their devices, products, or their infrastructure of wireless technologies.