• by Tom Siebert , Op-Ed Contributor, April 2, 2018

Is wireless communication going to kill a ton of us? Not right away, more like in the next generation or two. The way smoking caught up with a portion of society after it heard several decades of dis/misinformation that cigarettes were A-OK for your health.

Back then, there were already a few squawking scientists trying to sound the alarm about the dangers of nicotine, smoking, cancer and tobacco-company coverups. But they were largely marginalized, and there wasn’t a lot of reporting about their conspiracy theories, particularly as the cigarette companies spent tons of money on television, print and billboard advertising.

That situation has changed, but history repeats itself.

Although the cliche says first time tragedy, second time farce, you’ve got to squint real hard not to see a second tragedy hazily shaping on the horizon.

Out here in California, the state commissioned a study on the dangers of cell phone and wireless radiation. Results showed Electro Magnetic Frequencies (EMF) and wireless radiation emitted by consumer electronics, like cell phones, occurring at concerning levels. It acknowledged a link between EMFs and both brain cancer and fertility problems.

But when a slew of scientists said holy cow, this is bad, California — home to many tech companies! — didn’t like it. So it refused to release the study or even make the results public. It took Dr. Joel Moskowitz suing the state to get the documents divulged, following the tip he received from someone with inside knowledge that the study had been suppressed.

Now, when I see people wearing wireless earbuds, I wish I could walk up to them and ask why they would basically put a pair of wireless electromagnetic radio frequency fields on either side of their brains.

Numerous health professionals and organizations have written studies and released warnings about wireless earbuds, but the concern gets very little balance in media coverage. (The story linked above was a lone cautionary article amid several breathless CNN pieces when AirPods were released.) Is it because tech companies now spend more on advertising than cigarette companies ever did?

But don't take my word for any of this. Even the tiny, fine print on Apple's own iPhone, buried deep deep deep in the legal section of their website warns you not to hold the phone next to your head when you talk on it. Keep it at least 15 millimeters (0.6 inch) away from your body at all times, etc.

But this is technology, where Moore’s Law and the many riffs off it guarantee you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Wait’ll you get a load of 5G, all in the name of the Internet of Things!

Some scientists and researchers are already sounding the alarm about ubiquitous 5G wireless coverage in order to turbo-blast IoT culture. 5G is, so far, completely unregulated and early scientific studies show adverse effects on the brain and DNA.

Last October, 180 scientists in 35 nations released an affiliated statement warning about the dangers of 5G and imploring for more study of its effects — particularly in its alteration of human DNA — before widespread implementation.

Nobody has paid any heed.

In fact, there were reports that the Trump Administration was considering implementing an unprecedented nationalization of a historically private infrastructure to build a government-founded 5G network, but that seems to have been kicked back to private industry. Does your DNA feel safer?

(The DNA and fertility concerns raised by these studies make it worth mentioning the escalating number of children born with and/or developing autism just about the time wireless starts to become culturally ingrained, in the late 1990s. That's just a personal observation — I've seen no correlative studies, and it could be total coincidence.)

Finally, despite all the knocks Gwyneth Paltrow (often deservedly) gets, Goop gave good advice last year when she suggested unplugging your wireless router at night. I did this about six months ago and found my sleep is sounder, with deeper dreams, and I no longer wake up between 3 and 4 a.m. I suggest everyone try it, LMK what happens.

My hypothesis is that in about 10 to 20 years, there will be a huge spike in brain tumors among Millennials and GenXers.