{"id":2449054,"date":"2019-09-23T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-24T03:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=313317"},"modified":"2019-09-23T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2019-09-24T03:05:00","slug":"aspen-group-against-5g-technology-wants-citys-attention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-group-against-5g-technology-wants-citys-attention\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen group against 5G technology wants city\u2019s attention"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Small mobile antenna on concrete pole.<\/strong>
Getty Images\/iStockphoto | iStockphoto<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

5G technology is on track to debut in Aspen next spring under a cloud of skepticism from a group of locals who contend it will harm the environment and pose health risks.<\/p>\n

Newly created Concerned Citizens for 5G Health Effects wants local government\u2019s attention. It claims the technology is ushering in an unprecedented level of radio-frequency radiation that can lead to a litany of health problems ranging from blindness to cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur intention is to bring education to the (Aspen) City Council, to the health department, to the county commissioners,\u201d said group organizer Tom Lankering, a chiropractor who practices in Aspen and Basalt.<\/p>\n

Lankering, with five other local residents, recently gathered at the Aspen Art Museum Cafe, where they aired their concerns about 5G to City Councilman Skippy Mesirow and a reporter.<\/p>\n

They advocate a cautious approach to the technology and maintain no decisions should be made about its implementation until the science is settled through an objective, nonpartisan study on 5G.<\/p>\n

Communications companies are misleading people and communities, they said, not only by claiming the technology is nonthreatening, but also saying 5G is a \u201c\u2018done deal, forget it, and don\u2019t even try,\u2019 which some people are accepting as facts,\u201d Lankering said.<\/p>\n

High-tech pundits have said 5G over time will render its predecessor 4G LTE near obsolete. For instance, 5G will be the future technology behind performing remote surgeries, operating self-driving cars and downloading a two-hour movie in 3.6 seconds.<\/p>\n

5G marks a revolutionary change to wireless technology and has been slowly introduced globally and nationally, including in Denver, on a limited basis. Protests over 5G were held over the weekend in Switzerland, one of the first countries to employ the technology. The Bern demonstrations came as 5G is looking to expand in the country.<\/p>\n

At noon Wednesday in Aspen, the local anti-5G group will hold an open discussion about the matter. The meeting will be held at the Chabad Jewish Community Center (435 W. Main St.).<\/p>\n

\u201c5G is a completely new cellular technology which uses ultra-high frequency wavelengths that have never been used before and have never been studied for health effects or any other effect,\u201d reads a news release promoting the event. \u201cIt turns out that local governments have been systematically fed false information by industry-paid legal consultants. This has put our local governments and community under a spell thinking that we have no power, responsibility or accountability regarding 5G deployments. This is not true!\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet to condemn 5G, however, have been both the the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which sets standards for radiation exposure limits and is charged with ensuring cellphones are safe for the public to use, and the Federal Communications Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on our ongoing evaluation of this issue, the totality of the available scientific evidence continues to not support adverse health effects in humans caused by exposures at or under the current radio frequency energy exposure limits,\u201d read a Nov. 1 statement<\/a> from Jeffrey Shuren, director of the FDA\u2019s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. \u201cWe believe the existing safety limits for cellphones remain acceptable for protecting the public health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shuren\u2019s statement was in response to a study conducted by National Toxicology Program, which is part of the National Institutes of Health, that concluded radio-frequency radiation used in 2G and 3G cellphones can cause cancer in rats.<\/p>\n

Local governments also have less control over the placement of so-called small-cell transmitters, which enable 5G technology.<\/p>\n

A state law passed in 2017 gives providers the right to locate small-cell facilities on a city\u2019s lights poles, traffic signals and in public rights-of-way.<\/p>\n

And federal law states, \u201cNo state or local government or instrumentality thereof may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the commission\u2019s regulations concerning such emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, that means opponents of 5G don\u2019t have legal footing by using their concerns to block its implementation, according to Andrea Bryan, the city of Aspen\u2019s assistant attorney.<\/p>\n

In August, City Council agreed that<\/a> a neutral host could help minimize the blight of small-cell facilities that potentially could be installed every 150 feet on Aspen\u2019s lights poles and traffic signals, and in public rights of way. Having a neutral host would help contain the number and size of small cells by compelling carriers to use shared facilities rather their own, city leaders concluded.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on everything we can within the limits of the law to protect our environment and the community,\u201d said Paul Schultz, the city\u2019s information technology director, noting he has fielded calls from residents worried about 5G.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are the health concerns that we do hear from the public and we do see on the internet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anti-5G group members such as Candice Claire Oksenhorn and Dorothy Thau say Aspen should take a bold stand against 5G.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would like to see that we are put on the map saying that we\u2019re not going to subject citizens and visitors here to something seemingly and potentially dangerous,\u201d Oksenhorn said.<\/p>\n

Said Thau: \u201cWe\u2019re mothers, grandparents, we have friends with children, and ourselves \u2014 we don\u2019t want to be fried.\u201d<\/p>\n

rcarroll@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Small mobile antenna on concrete pole.Getty Images\/iStockphoto | iStockphoto 5G technology is on track to debut in Aspen next spring under a cloud of skepticism from a group of locals who contend it will harm the environment and pose health risks. Newly created Concerned Citizens for 5G Health Effects wants local government\u2019s attention. It claims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2449054","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 06:16:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449054\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}