A Petition against the implementation of the 5G network in Montenegro has been launched on the petition.online platform on April 4, and by the time of the Magazine issuance, it has had around 1.880 signatures.
The petition claims that:
“5G has more negative effects – countries that implemented 5G network saw many consequences even during the 5G performance testing – in the Netherlands, hundreds of birds fell from the sky and died because it has frequency ranges that are beneficial neither for human health nor for nature.
Over 400 signed papers from the field of medicine, science, environmental protection, and others, work for the PROOF that 5G radiation is harmful. With this petition, we want the Government of Montenegro to ban the installation of 5G networks in OUR country.”
When it comes to immense bird deaths in the Netherlands, which many conspiracy theorists refer to as well as this petition, it is important to emphasize that this is not true. In the period when the bird deaths occurred (November 2018), no 5G testing was performed on that location. The last testing was carried out on July 28, 2018, or a few months before the incident. The theories were denied even by local societies for the protection of birds. One of the societies posted on Facebook that 5G testing did not occur during those days, and if it were, the question was why such radiation would have had an impact on birds of just one kind that fly in flocks of a thousand birds?
When it comes to the papers the petition refers to, they involve YouTube channels, social media, and alternative websites, because neither one of the relevant institutions does recognize the technology’s adverse human health effects.
As a proof, the petition provides a video 5G network – A video that will make you think, from the FES TV YouTube channel from last May. The video shows plenty of conspiracy theories on alleged harmful effects of 5G technology and radio waves transmitting the data. Additionally, the Fes TV channel is visited by conspiracy theory enthusiasts from the Balkans, which is even stated in some videos from the channel.
Let’s remind that in February 2020, Prime Minister Dusko Markovic met with the representatives of the Czech PPF Group and spoke with them about further technical and technological advancements of telecommunication infrastructure in Montenegro. On that occasion, the PPF Group presented its plans for the implementation of a new generation of cellular technology – 5G in Montenegro.
As well as other generations of wireless technologies (4G, 3G, and 2G), 5G cellular data are transmitted through radio waves. Radio waves constitute a small part of a broader electromagnetic spectrum of waves and they emit the energy called electromagnetic radiation. Radio waves can be found at the low end of the electromagnetic spectrum – and they produce only non-ionizing radiation (a type of electromagnetic radiation that does not have enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules, i.e. to remove electrons from atoms). That means that those waves cannot damage DNA inside cells, compared to waves with higher frequency (such as gamma rays, X-rays and ultraviolet light) which may cause alteration in the DNA inside any cell.
Full Fact, a fact-check organization from Great Britain, researched the claims on links between coronavirus and 5G after the topic had been widespread in the British tabloids. 5G has a higher frequency of radio waves than 4G or 3G, but the levels of the 5G electromagnetic radiation are significantly below international standards. The maximum level of electromagnetic radiation that the British Ofcom measured was about 66 times below the safety margin set by international standards.
Even the Public Health of England and the World Health Organization stated that the 5G network does not have consequences for health.
As WHO stated, after much research performed, no adverse health effect has been causally linked with exposure to wireless technologies.
WHO added that tissue heating is the main mechanism of interaction between radiofrequency fields and the human body. Radiofrequency exposure levels from current technologies (about 3.5 GHz) result in negligible temperature rise in the human body. Provided that the overall exposure remains below international guidelines, no consequences for public health are anticipated.
This, however, did not stop the spreading of such narratives.
In several cities in Great Britain (Liverpool, Birmingham, and Melling), mobile phone masts were set on fire due to a widespread belief that there is a link between coronavirus and the 5G network, which was reported by the British mobile operators.
After photos of burning masts had been posted on social media, operators highlighted that the spread of such rumors raised concern.
The Srpska cast Facebook page posted on March 28 a photo, claiming to be a 5G mast set on fire in Nepal during the citizens’ protests against the implementation of the network in the country. The photo was actually created in 2013 in Philadelphia and it showed a transmitter mast on fire. Nevertheless, the fact did not prevent extensive spreading and sharing of the photo on social media.
