\u201cNumerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life.\u201d<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/blogs.scientificamerican.com\/observations\/we-have-no-reason-to-believe-5g-is-safe\/<\/a><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/defender\/malibu-small-cell-5g-wireless-transmitters\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n By Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malibu, California, City Council on Monday voted to add the issue of small cell 5G wireless facilities to their agenda for future discussion after residents, including Hollywood celebrities Ed Harris and Mel Gibson, expressed concerns about the proliferation of the facilities in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Small cells<\/a> are individual wireless transmitters distributed roughly every 100-450 meters<\/a> that can be mounted on utility poles<\/a> or other structures, such as a fence. Before 5G<\/a>, most wireless networks were built using a system of macro transmitters in the form of cellular towers. The 5G network<\/a> uses both cellular towers and small cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During Monday\u2019s public hearing, Malibu\u2019s mayor and city councilmembers<\/a> heard live testimony from multiple Malibu residents, including Vanessa Garcia and Lynn Dornhelm who live on Carbon Mesa Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harris and Gibson, who also live on Carbon Mesa Road, submitted letters outlining their concerns about the small cells technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scott McCollough, Children Health Defense<\/a>\u2019s (CHD) chief litigator for the organization\u2019s electromagnetic radiation cases who is representing the Malibu residents in opposing the wireless facilities, called the Malibu City Council\u2019s vote a \u201cbig win.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to McCollough, this was the first time Harris and Gibson spoke out publicly about the 5G wireless rollout. He said he believed their willingness to do so helped get the city councilmembers\u2019 attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEd Harris and Mel Gibson \u2014 on behalf of the residents of Malibu \u2014 convinced city officials that they need to update their ordinance and they need to address how this onslaught of current applications is going to be dealt with,\u201d McCollough told The Defender<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018If these towers were safe\u2026why do workers have to come in unmarked trucks in the middle of the night?\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In his letter<\/a>, Harris told city authorities \u201cright now you have some unhappy residents on your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy neighbor was awakened during the middle of the night by some loud clanging, so she went out to investigate. Several men in an unmarked truck were working on the utility pole 40 feet from her front door, right across the street from my house. They said they were putting up a \u2018small cell\u2019 and from what I\u2019ve learned that\u2019s a 5G cell tower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf these towers were safe on any level, why do workers have to come in unmarked trucks in the middle of the night? I thought the city of Malibu had passed an ordinance that was supposed to keep the cell towers out of residential areas, put them along the main arteries through town, and take extra precautions in our city that has been gutted by fire a couple times in recent memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs I talk to my neighbors and we learn more about the health and fire risks associated with these cell towers, I am amazed the city has left us so defenseless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harris concluded that this situation reflects \u201cunacceptable planning on the part of the city of Malibu\u201d that \u201cmust be remedied.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Garcia \u2014 who handed the councilmembers the letters written by Harris and Gibson \u2014 told Malibu Mayor Bruce Silverstein<\/a> and city councilmembers that she and her family, including two children in special education, are sensitive to electromagnetic radiation<\/a> and opposed having a small cell installed on their fence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gibson<\/a> \u2014 whose property is near two planned wireless facilities \u2014 said he opposed 5G wireless installments and urged the council to \u201cdo what you can to slow, limit, and where possible, stop their deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Gibson, the wireless facilities near his home stand to \u201cmar the beautiful view, impact my family\u2019s quality of life, lower our property value, and increase insurance costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said in his letter<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI cannot appear before you tonight because of other commitments but please listen to those who speak. I agree with their request that you step in and act by agendizing an item on wireless issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis would allow you to hear from city residents and experts on these devices, along with our own legal counsel. From there we wish to have an on-the-record exchange with your staff and deliberate next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gibson added, \u201cWe need you to send a clear message to city staff that this is an important issue and you expect to fully enforce all wireless ordinances, implementation plans and resolutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gibson said this issue is a \u201cpersonal matter to me\u201d and \u201cI am not the only one in Malibu with the same concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are close to 30 pending applications in residential and\/or school zones with \u201cplenty more to follow,\u201d he said. \u201cIf the Council does not act and fully exercise its legally permitted oversight, all of Malibu will soon be infested with these unattractive and unsafe facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dornhelm \u2014 a real estate agent who also lives on Carbon Mesa road near Garcia, Harris and Gibson \u2014 told the council that property values go down by 20% if a cell tower or wireless facility is nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also pointed out that it is becoming increasingly difficult for California residents to obtain fire insurance<\/a> and the proliferation of telecommunication infrastructures exacerbates fire risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The city is literally playing with fire to allow these in our residential areas\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The council also heard comments from other Malibu residents \u2014 including Jenny Rusinko and Stephanie Sunwoo \u2014 and the executive director of Malibu For Safe Tech<\/a>, Lonnie Gordon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon told The Defender she and the others who spoke asked the city council \u201cto finish the job that should have been done two years ago,\u201d referring to the fact that in 2021 the council intended to include more protection for residential areas<\/a> \u2014 but failed to put the language for that in the ordinance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are asking them to deal with this omission by further revising the ordinance. In the meanwhile, the city and residents have to deal with all the current and soon-to-come applications,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gordon said she and other concerned residents \u2014 guided by the legal expertise of McCollough and fire risk expert Susan Foster<\/a> \u2014 succeeded in getting the council, in 2020, to pass an \u201curgency\u201d ordinance<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Foster \u2014 co-founder of the nonprofit California Fires & Firefighters \u2014 is a fire and utility consultant and an honorary firefighter with the San Diego Fire Department who authored a 2022 white paper, \u201cProtecting LA County\u2019s Future<\/a>: How Fire Risks from Telecommunications Equipment, Climate Challenges & A Dangerous Shift Away from Environmental Review Threaten Los Angeles County\u2019s Future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Malibu\u2019s 2020 \u201curgency\u201d ordinance dealt with wireless facilities installed in the public \u201crights-of-way<\/a>\u201d \u2014 meaning along roads and on utility poles \u2014 rather than wireless facilities installed on residents\u2019 property and was much less thorough than the 2021 ordinance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In crafting the 2021 ordinance, the council \u201ctook more time in doing it right,\u201d McCollough said, by requiring that all applications submitted by telecommunications companies seeking approval to build wireless facilities had to include eight detailed engineering and design documents<\/a> that illustrated the engineering specifications of the proposed wireless structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 2021 ordinance stipulated that these eight documents were to be reviewed, sealed and signed by a professional engineer as a way to ensure that the design of the wireless facility did not pose a significant fire risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The City of Malibu<\/a> now requires all wireless companies to provide these eight documents as part of the \u201celectrical and structural safety information\u201d on the wireless permit application<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McCollough and Foster called this requirement the \u201cfire protocol.\u201d McCollough said, \u201cWe are proud that Malibu was the first city in the U.S. to institute the \u2018fire protocol.\u2019 The protocol reduces fire risk \u2014 you can never entirely eliminate risk, but you can reduce it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before the city authorities codified the 2021 ordinance into law, wireless carriers came in, starting in December 2022, with \u201ctons of wireless applications,\u201d McCollough said, adding:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are 26 applications right now in residential areas \u2014 and Malibu isn\u2019t that big. We\u2019re told 50 or more are coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to blanket residential areas in Malibu [and] it\u2019s all because we didn\u2019t finish the 2021 residential ordinance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Commenting on Malibu\u2019s potential rapid increase in wireless facilities, Gordon said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"malibu](\"https:\/\/childrenshealthdefense.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/malibu-california-5g-small-cell-feature-800x417.jpg\")
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