Residents have expressed fear for the potential dangers associated with radiation from 5G mobile masts.
Over the years, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has undertaken studies on 5G technologies and on Monday it shared its research on different radio frequencies and human tissue, as well as epidemiological evidence of the effects of current mobile phone networks.
Senior researcher Dr Essa Suleman spoke of the alleged health effects, including the spread and mutation of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, Covid-19 vaccines and if there was a link between these and 5G mobile technologies.
“The WHO [World Health Organisation] dashboard, which tracks Covid-19 infections globally, shows many parts of the world where there are no 5G roll-outs still have a significant case of Covid-19 cases and deaths.
“There’s no correlation between the 5G roll-out and the Sars-CoV-2 distribution.”
These supposed health threats included: cancer, skin effects and the spreading and mutation of Covid-19.
Suleman added weak immune systems were susceptible to diseases.
“It’s a scientific fact a weaker immune system could increase likelihood of infection for variety of diseases, not just Covid-19.”
Although it was believed by some people 5G caused the virus to mutate, Suleman noted 5G waves did not penetrate the skin and the virus was primarily found in the respiratory system, and 5G did not have the energy to cause mutation of the virus.
Dr Fisseha Mekuria, another researcher, gave a technical background on the emerging 5G mobile network technology opportunities for South Africa.
“5G is the fifth generation of mobile wireless of [information and communications technology] standards that began in the 1980s.”
The first generation was more analogue and frequently used voice services.
The second generation had additional data and text and introduced digital technologies, such as the global system for mobile communications standards.
The third had additional multimedia data and text and internet communication.
The fourth was designed primarily for data over wireless communication with increased bandwidth, which has become the most used feature as people want to access entertainment and banking applications on their phones.
“Recently, there’s been a lot of talk with 5G, which is designed with low latency, reliable [machine type communications] and industrial automation.
“There’s also talk about 6G, which will probably be available in the 2030s, where the networks will be updating themselves depending on the demand from the customers and the industry and the networks will be powered by the greenhouse,” she said.
– asandam@citizen.co.za
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