{"id":13966,"date":"2018-08-22T12:12:14","date_gmt":"2018-08-22T19:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=13966"},"modified":"2018-09-13T12:11:35","modified_gmt":"2018-09-13T19:11:35","slug":"san-rafael-residents-take-pre-emptive-strike-against-5g-installations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/?p=13966","title":{"rendered":"San Rafael residents take pre-emptive strike against 5G installations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

<\/h1>\n
\n
\"Packed
Packed house at San Rafael City Council Monday night. Many stood and applauded in a show of support for city regulations banning 5G cellphone towers (Keri Brenner\/Marin Independent Journal)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

By\u00a0Keri Brenner<\/a>, Marin Independent Journal<\/p>\n

\n

POSTED:\u00a0

\n

San Rafael residents have launched a campaign to block cellphone companies from attempting to build 5G towers in Marin.<\/p>\n

The 5G towers, which would allow for faster and higher-capacity video streaming and other transmissions, could\u00a0exacerbate health symptoms\u00a0<\/a>already suspected as a result of exposure to electromagnetic fields, Vicki Sievers, of the\u00a0EMF Safety Network<\/a>, told the San Rafael City Council on Monday.<\/p>\n

According to the EMF Safety Network website, those symptoms can include fatigue, headaches, sleep problems, anxiety, heart problems, learning and memory disorders, ringing in the ears and increased cancer risk.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve experienced 2G, 3G, 4G and now, on the horizon, is a fifth generation called millimeter wave technology,\u201d Sievers said after her presentation that brought standing applause from about 20 people at the packed meeting. \u201cAround the world, doctors and scientists are gravely alarmed about the biological and physiological effects of that technology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sievers said no permits for 5G so-called \u201csmall cell\u201d towers have been issued in Marin as of yet \u2014 though they have in other Bay Area cities \u2014 and she suspects they are being planned in San Rafael and Marin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201c(We want) amendments to the current telecommunications ordinance \u2014 which has not been reviewed since 2004 \u2014 that protect residential areas, schools and parks through setbacks and attention to power profiles,\u201d Sievers said in an email Tuesday.<\/p>\n

According to Sievers, San Anselmo, Fairfax and Mill Valley are working on strengthening their cell tower ordinances.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur effort has to do with making pre-emptive strikes before Verizon, AT&T (and others) actually make formal applications to each town and city,\u201d Sievers said. \u201cThere are no applications in San Rafael to date, but there surely have been permits granted and installations begun in other Bay Area cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Verizon was forced to withdraw its application to build two \u201csmall cell\u201d towers in Sebastopol after four months of heavy opposition by residents and attorneys for the EMF Safety Network.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral of us San Rafael residents went to the (San Rafael) council on Feb. 20 (when the Sebastopol issue arose), urging them to prevent such debacles here,\u201d Sievers said.<\/p>\n

San Rafael Mayor Gary Phillips said Tuesday he was not aware of any ongoing activity to strengthen or upgrade cell tower regulations in the city and there were no immediate plans for further discussion.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cIt kind of came a little bit out of the blue,\u201d he said of Monday\u2019s presentation.<\/p>\n

EMFs include wireless radiation emitted by cell towers, cell and cordless phones, smart meters, smart grid, Wi-Fi and computers, power lines, fluorescent lights, indoor wiring and other electronic devices, according to the EMF Safety Network.<\/p>\n

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the jury is still out on the health risks of exposure to EMFs.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudies have shown that some workers exposed to high magnetic fields have increased cancer rates,\u201d the CDC reported on its website. \u201cBut such associations do not necessarily show that EMF exposures cause cancer (any more than the springtime association of robins and daffodils shows that one causes the other). Scientists have looked carefully at all the EMF evidence, but they disagree about the health effects of EMFs except to say that better information is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0the website whatis5g.info<\/a>, the 5G \u201csmall cell\u201d tower \u201cwill include the higher millimeter wave frequencies never before used for internet and communications technology. These waves do not travel easily through buildings so 5G will require millions of new cell towers. The wireless telecom industry is aggressively seeking to outfit nearly every lamppost and utility pole around the country with a wireless \u2018small cell\u2019 antenna beaming hazardous radiation next to, or into our homes, 24\/7.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Rafael resident Chandu Vyas said Monday he is wary of EMFs after a health challenge about five years ago. He said he developed severe and constant headaches after a smart meter was installed at his home. The headaches went away after he \u201copted out\u201d and had the smart meter at his property removed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to go through the same health problem again,\u201d he told the City Council. \u201cI ask your help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiah Bosy of Chi Home Design showed the council how her EMF meters ratcheted up to high pitch when she walked toward a TV screen in front of the council chambers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s serious,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re microwaving each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.marinij.com\/general-news\/20180821\/san-rafael-residents-take-pre-emptive-strike-against-5g-installations<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

http:\/\/www.govtech.com\/network\/California-Community-Mounts-a-Fight-Against-5G-Infrastructure.html<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/cityofmillvalley.granicus.com\/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1290&meta_id=59943<\/a><\/p>\n

Item_8_-_Wireless_Telecoms_Facilities_Regulations_180906<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Packed house at San Rafael City Council Monday night. Many stood and applauded in a show of support for city regulations banning 5G cellphone towers (Keri Brenner\/Marin Independent Journal)\u00a0   By\u00a0Keri Brenner, Marin Independent Journal POSTED:\u00a008\/21\/18, 5:29 PM PDT\u00a0|\u00a0UPDATED: 8 HRS AGO San Rafael residents have launched a campaign to block cellphone companies from attempting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[346,357,291,3,648,604,289],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5g","category-5g-antenna","category-california-usa-2","category-health_and_safety","category-mill-valley","category-san-rafael","category-usa-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13966"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14201,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13966\/revisions\/14201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emrabc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}