Oppose the OTARD Rule

The federal government is working on multiple fronts to make it easier for 5G towers to be installed in rural communities. We must push back against these and other efforts to expand 5G deployment, as well as other instances of federal cronyism that threatens our health.

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FCC Chairman Ajit Pai

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Please oppose the OTARD rule

Dear [Decision Maker],

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Please oppose the OTARD rule. This is another way in which the FCC and industry are undermining the ability of local communities to decide how and whether 5G technology gets implemented.

The OTARD rule, an acronym for over the air reception device, was adopted as part of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. This rule prohibits local municipalities from restricting the installation of satellite dish antennas and other antennas on private residences for reception of TV signals. This rule was amended in 2002 to allow for transmission, but with the caveat that the antenna had to be used primarily for the use of the tenant or homeowner.

At industry prompting, the FCC has proposed a change to the OTARD rule that would cover wireless "hubs." This would allow the industry to turn people's homes into cell towers, and since this would be done on private property, it effectively circumvents the need for companies to meet local zoning and environmental requirements. If your neighbor agreed to accept a fee and turn their home into a cell tower, you could do nothing about it. The limited tools that citizens have to keep dangerous levels of microwave radiation out of their neighborhoods would disappear.

Densified 4G/5G networks purport to require installing so-called "small cells" all over neighborhoods and cities. These small cells include antennas, power supplies, electric meters, switches, bundles of cables, and boxes--all strapped to street lights and utility poles. Some have refrigerator-sized containers on the ground. These cells are being proposed to be placed every 500-1500 feet along residential streets and through commercial districts.

The major problem with densified 4G/5G networks is the RF microwave radiation emitted by all these small cells. There is already excessive RF microwave radiation from current 4G networks; the addition of 5G antennas will exponentially pollute residential neighborhoods and workplaces with the known toxic pollutant -- RF  Microwave radiation -- an agent for which the wireless industry cannot get insurance to cover claims for injury, illness or death from such RF Microwave radiation. Densified 4G/5G networks aggregate bandwidth across many frequencies -- low band (600 MHz to 2100 Mhz)  mid-band (2100 MHz to 6000 MHz) and high-band (6000 MHz to 90,000 MHz)  all at once. Millimeter-wave frequencies, used by Verizon and AT&T (currently 24,000 MHz to 39,000 MHz), have smaller waves than those emitted in 4G networks (700 MHz to 2,100 MHz), which present new health problems:

*Israeli researchers found that our sweat ducts act as antennas for millimeter waves, meaning humans will absorb exponentially more of this high-band RF Microwave radiation energy into their bodies.
*Millimeter wavelengths are also used in crowd control systems, making people caught in the high-powered millimeter wave feel like their skin is on fire.
*A group of hundreds of scientists from around the world recently sent a letter to the United Nations and the World Health Organization warning of "serious concerns regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) generated by electric and wireless devices." The scientists explain that RF/MW and EMF  adversely "affects living organisms at levels well below most international guidelines," causing increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in free radicals, genetic damage, changes to the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, and neurological disorders.

These are just some of the safety concerns we know about from densified 4G/5G . The fact is The fact is that safety testing has been done and densified 4G/5G networks are hazardous. It is wrong that the government and the telecoms industry are rushing towards implementing this technology--at the expense of local democracy.

Federal legislation passed decades ago took control of cell phone towers and radio frequency radiation out of the hands of local authorities. Only the FCC controls it and its standards are far laxer than those of other governments. Why is this? It is clearly linked to the cronyism that exists between big business interests and the federal government. To see this cronyism, just look at the revolving door that exists between federal regulators and the businesses they supposedly regulate.

Here are other gross examples of this cronyism:

The FDA and FTC and some state's attorneys general have recently told doctors they can't advise both their patients and the public about natural prevention and treatment for COVID-19.  If they continue to do so, they will face fines or even jail. Why? These treatments have solid research behind them. FDA drugs cannot cure Covid-19. But the FDA only seems concerned with protecting drug company monopolies.  All of this is an egregious violation of the patient/doctor relationship that will cost many lives.

Other examples of agency cronyism:  the FDA is poised to eliminate a woman's right to choose safe, natural compounded estriol as a treatment, and is creating insurmountable barriers to access homeopathic medicines.

The FDA has even threatened cherry and walnut growers with fines and jail for mentioning respected university studies on the health benefits of those simple foods. The agencies say that any reference to these benefits turns cherries and walnuts into unapproved drugs!  This nonsense has to stop. Now is the time for the American public and its political leaders to step in and stop it.

For all of the above-stated reasons, I urge you to oppose the OTARD rule.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]
[Your Email]