“Our school system would love to bring 5G to the community. However, we have many concerned parents. What can we share with them about the safety of 5G?”

If you’re a parent, you know how much time you spend concerned for your child’s safety. No loving parent wants their child put into any at-risk situation. At Arcadia Towers, we recognize that many parents have genuine concerns over 5G, how it contributes to safe schools, and what risks it could pose for their children. In this article, we bring you published answers to several of those questions from noted experts in the field of RF (radio frequency) studies.

“Are my children at an increased health risk if there’s a cell tower on school property?”

The short answer is, “No, if.” What’s the “if?” If the cell tower is built according to federally-regulated exposure standards, then you can be assured that the RF energy levels from that tower will not have been shown to cause health problems. Those standards regulate how much energy the tower can emit and where the tower can be located in proximity to the population. It should be noted that the exposure levels that can be recorded on the ground are usually thousands of times below the set safety limits.

Arcadia Towers is committed to ensuring that every tower we build and every tower we acquire is located and operated per these mandated safety standards.

“The FCC standards for RF exposure date back to 1996. How can they apply to 5G?”

The existing 1996 federal guidelines regulating the safe exposure to humans for RF fields from sources such as cell phones and cell towers were set at such a low level that they still apply today.

“If RF is so safe, why is it subject to federal regulation?”

Radio frequency radiation at high levels causes heating. The most common experience we have of this is using a microwave oven. Because heating can occur at high levels and in close proximity, the government exposes limits. However, the level of RF exposure from wireless devices is set more than 50 times lower than the level where heating has been shown to have any observed effect.

The Bottom Line

Cellphones and wireless equipment — including cell towers — are required to meet federally-mandated safety standards. These standards are designed to protect public health. In December of 2019, the Federal Communications Commission, the government body responsible for setting these standards, reaffirmed that existing safety standards for RF exposure were sufficient to protect the public. The Food and Drug Administration echoed these sentiments. There are thousands of peer-reviewed studies that have been conducted over a period of 70 years by numerous organizations and accepted by the World Health Organization (WHO)  that maintain that “…there is no evidence to support that adverse health effects in humans are caused by exposures at, under, or even in some cases above, the current RF limits. Indeed, no scientific evidence establishes a causal link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses.”

Arcadia Towers, LLC is a wireless infrastructure real estate investment trust (REIT) founded in 2005. Services include build-to-suit towers, co-location on existing towers and rooftops, and partnering with rooftop owners and landlords to handle every step of the cell tower process, including site management after acquisition or build.