6/30 Letters: 5G legislation sounds like history of industry influence repeating itself

Regarding “House bill could give faster 5G wireless networks green light” (5/31): I am a radiologist specializing for 30 years in MRI, which creates amazing pictures of the body using the non-thermal effects of radiofrequencies and electromagnetic fields. As a former member of the National Safety Committee for MRI and the Bioelectromagnetic Society, I investigated potential health effects and determined that there is no evidence for hazard from short-term exposures of patients in MRI to these frequencies and fields.

However, the same cannot be said for long-term exposure from 5G, as proposed on a massive scale with the HB310 bill. There is now scientific evidence for hazard from cellphones and 5G millimeter wave technology resulting in its classification as a 2B possible carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer due to increased risk of malignant brain tumors. Children are most sensitive to the effects of such radiation.

I’m afraid we are in danger of making a mistake with regard to millimeter wave long-term exposure safety. Children with brain tumors will not care if they can download videos faster. Scientific studies funded by industry are less likely to find evidence for hazard than those funded by public agencies. North Carolina is no stranger to the concept of such influence in its tobacco science legacy. Cigarette executives were aware of risks and covered them up, and I think there is reason to believe that the same holds true for this industry. Let’s make a responsible choice this time and evaluate the health implications of the H310 bill.

‘Care for one another’

It is with great sadness I write in response to “Anti-abortion groups get big boost in state budget” (June 26). While the battle over the future of health care has been raging on at all levels of government, it is of great concern to see constitutionally-protected access to health care undermined by a state legislature so extreme as to be elected only with unconstitutionally-gerrymandered maps. The details of this maneuver – funding dubious organizations that fashion themselves “pregnancy resource centers” and have been consistently found to deprive women of medically honest guidance – are beside the point. What matters is how extreme it is.

This is not American. Personally, as a Catholic and American I believe in a responsibility to care for one another. Funding for healthcare is one of the best ways to do that. But this – pillaging healthcare to fund, well, quite the opposite – is disappointing, but more importantly, dangerous.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 6:00 PM with the headline "6/30 Letters: 5G legislation sounds like history of industry influence repeating itself."