Page 7 - Sonoma County Gazette August 2019

OPINION cont’d from page 6
might be approved at a sub-Supervisorial level, be brought before the full Board of Supervisors.
The time to speak up is now. Submit comments to the appropriate parties:
The Highway 12/Llano Road proposal will next be considered at the Board of Zoning Adjustments. It could come up as soon as August 8. Send Comments to: Daniel Hoffman dhoffman@migcom.com and arielle.kohn@sonoma-county. org and copy your County Supervisor and Supervisor Lynda Hopkins of District 5, where the project is located: lynda.hopkins@sonoma-county.org For more info visit: https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Board-of-Zoning-Adjustments/
For more info and to find out how to help stop the construction of new gas stations in Sonoma County, contact woodyhastings@gmail.com 707-829-3460
OPINION: This O.G. doesn’t need 5G
By Tom Thegood
I’m starting to see people interested in the coming rollout of 5G cellular
technology. Is it the promised lightning fast download speeds that have people talking? No, it’s the antenna/hardware placements that are being placed
in schools, neighborhoods, and just about anywhere that are raising some eyebrows.
Why should be care, after all; we’ve been living with FM radio, wi-fi, 4G cellular, microwave ovens, baby monitors, Alexa, smart meters, etc. and there hasn’t been any ill effects, right? Hmmmm, there are plenty of studies out there showing no “Ill effects” and there are very good studies showing that we are affected by non-ionizing (non-heating) radiation. We are really guinea pigs in this technology experiment and should have a say where all this equipment is being placed. The current situation is that the telecom industry can pretty much put an antenna wherever it likes. Marin county tried to limit placement of antennas on wood telephone poles, but is facing a fight. Sebastopol is attempting to try to control antenna placements. The city of Santa Rosa
has said they can’t regulate what gets placed on the wooden PG&E poles. Apparently the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has given away most of your rights to the telcom companies over the years, so now it’s an uphill battle to “opt out.” How would you like an antenna right outside your house? Maybe you don’t care about the drop in property value it would bring, but maybe you have kids? Kids don’t fully myelinate (insulate) their nervous systems till their 20’s. They are more susceptible than adults to all those signals competing for attention in their brains. I wonder why Steve Jobs didn’t let his kids use iPhones or iPads?
In July 2012, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a review of cell phone testing, entitled, “Exposure and Testing of Mobile Phones Should be Reassessed.” The Washington Post reported, “The GAO found
the FCC’s cell phone safety regulations are woefully out of date, 15+years
old. They urged the FCC to take a fresh look at how children in particular may be affected by radio waves.” The National Toxicology Program (NTP) Chronic Carcinogenicity Studies of Cell Phone Radiofrequency Radiation are the most carefully done studies performed to date on the long term effects of radio frequency radiation from wireless devices such as cell phones. This 10 year $25 million dollar study was completed and peer reviewed in March, 2018 in North Carolina. The animal research looked at long term non-thermal exposure to radio frequency (RF) cell phone radiation. The series of studies demonstrated positive findings (adverse effects) as follows: An increase in tumors of the heart (schwannomas), brain (malignant gliomas) and adrenal gland (pheochromocytomas). Increases in other organ tumors compared to controls (not statistically significant but noteworthy) for pancreas, prostate, pituitary, liver and lung. DNA damage in rodents. Cardiomyopathy similar to aging. Adverse perinatal effects in some groups.
You can find links to the study at the Physicians for Safe Technology webpage, which is a good resource to start educating yourself on our electronic future. https://mdsafetech.org/ntp-study-2016/.
The city of Santa Rosa provides a mapped update of new antennas going up. Take a look and see if there’s one going up on your street
https://data-santarosa.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/small-cells?geometry=- 122.947%2C38.401%2C-122.508%2C38.495&page=2
There are local groups you can get involved with, also. Check out the Sonoma County for Responsible Technology group on Facebook. Also, check out local hero Alex’s Facebook page, at Safe Technology for Santa Rosa, California. He takes RF readings around town that’ll blow your mind. To end on a positive note, Senator Feinstein has introduced a bill to give localities more say in how technology is rolled out in their neighborhoods, so support SB2012 in whatever way you can.
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