The question of the health risks of 5G was invited to the Senate this morning. Each side was able to present their arguments, while Arcep took the opportunity to explain the continuation of the auctions until September. Several senators asked the FTT and ANSES to ” grant [leurs] speech “, Quite divergent it must be recognized.
The Senate Committee on Regional Planning and Sustainable Development has just organized round tables concerning the controversies surrounding 5G. Representatives from all walks of life were present, including the president of Arcep, a manager of ANSES, the president of the French Telecoms Federation and the Agir pour l’Environnement association. What to draw a complete panorama of expectations and fears of each other.
The ANSES report at the heart of the debates
The beginning of the debate was an opportunity for ANSES to come back to its preliminary report on the health risks linked to 5G. As a reminder, it was published at the beginning of the year, following a seizure of the Health Agency in February 2019 by the ministries in charge of health, the environment and the economy.
To sum up, ANSES faced a problem after a first overview: few publications have studied the effects of exposure to frequencies between 3 and 6 GHz », Already used for satellite connections or Wi-Fi for example. A worrying point for some when the deployments should start in a few months.
This also concerns the 26 GHz band which must be used in a second phase, whereas they are currently used in particular for weather stations. This will not be without posing some technical problems.
During the round table, Olivier Merckel, head of the risk assessment unit for physical agents at ANSES, recalled that there has been a change in “ behavior of electromagnetic waves towards living things “Between 6 and 10 GHz: waves at these frequencies” penetrate less deeply In the tissues of the body.
At 3.5 GHz we are below this range, but ” interaction with the living moves a lot “, He explained. The problem is that there is little data ” because there is very little deployment in this band ” To answer the question of a potential risk, the Agency is studying a solution: ” Can we adapt / transpose / extrapolate numerous data up to 2.5 GHz on the 3.5 GHz? The answer is not yet known.
With 5G, “new very comprehensive methods to understand”
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