BBC Reality Check on 5G - the BBC needs a reality check

On My 20th 2019, EE announced the first 5G deployment in the UK. The BBC News website covered the event, along with a "Reality Check" segment. Let's do a real reality check on the Reality Check.

From https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48458280

Is 5G safe?
Analysis by BBC Reality Check

Some people have questioned whether there are health risks from 5G, but experts and regulators say there is no evidence of danger.

>> Because no studies to investigate health risks from 5G have been undertaken.

Similar fears were expressed around earlier mobile internet and wi-fi.

>> The biggest study, the $25 million NTP study that reported in 2018, found mobile phone radiation correlated with increases in brain cancers.

The NTP studies found that high exposure to RFR used by cell phones was associated with:

• Clear evidence of tumors in the hearts of male rats. The tumors were malignant schwannomas.
• Some evidence of tumors in the brains of male rats. The tumors were malignant gliomas.
• Some evidence of tumors in the adrenal glands of male rats. The tumors were benign, malignant, or complex combined pheochromocytoma.

More than 200 scientists appealed to the EU to halt the roll out of 5G, saying that electromagnetic fields may be harmful to humans and the environment, and could increase cancer risks.
>> Brussels, the home of the EU, has imposed a moratorium on the roll-out of 5G.

But the EU says exposure from 5G will be far below limits set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

>> In 2017 ICNIRP classified skin, the main organ impacted by 5G, as a 'secondary organ'. ICNIRP is a registered social club, not a chartered scientific organisation. 


"There has been no evidence to suggest that electromagnetic waves from mobile phones and networks are bad for your health," says Prof Malcolm Sperrin, Director of the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

>> ORSAA has collated a database of thousands of scientific studies that demonstrate harmful effects of EMR. Dr Martin Pall recently provided 157 bodies of evidence of health risks in 8 categories. 

He says a causal link between mobile phone use and cancer in humans is unproven.

>> Untrue - see NTP study above.

5G technology is new but experts believe it poses no greater risk than earlier mobile systems.

>> Untrue - 5G millimeter wave radiation is entirely novel with unique interactions with biological matter.