Expert Scientific Commission Warns Against FCC Proposal to Deregulate Wireless Industry
Expert Comments Call For the Government to Revise Its “Obsolete” Human Exposure Limits.
TUCSON ARIZONA. – The International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF) has issued strong opposition to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) proposed deregulation of wireless communications infrastructure, calling the move “reckless” and urging immediate action to protect public health and the environment.
In formal comments submitted to the FCC, ICBE-EMF — an international consortium of scientists, doctors, and researchers — called for the FCC to halt its deregulatory initiatives related to cell towers, 5G and wireless infrastructure and instead prioritize updating its outdated safety guidelines for wireless radiation exposure.
“We urge the FCC to set its top priority on the protection of public health and the environment before it considers deleting federal rules that apply to wireless communications devices and infrastructure. The threshold dose that FCC used to establish human exposure limits is inadequate, does not consider hundreds of studies that show health effects below the exposure limits, and ignores studies reporting biological harm to the environment. This is an urgent call for action.”
“FCC, in consultation with the Food and Drug Administration, should responsibly address the urgent need to protect the population from health risks due to exposure to RF radiation before adopting these proposed rules.”
The comments cited the scientific documentation in the Commission’s landmark paper published in Environmental Health,“Scientific evidence invalidates health assumptions underlying the FCC and ICNIRP exposure limit determinations for radiofrequency radiation: implications for 5G,” which concluded that the FCC and the International Commission on Non Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) have ignored key scientific findings.
“The 1980s science used to set exposure thresholds is obsolete.”
Additionally, the ICBE-EMF pointed to a just published 2025 WHO-funded study that found “high certainty” evidence linking cell phone radiofrequency radiation to gliomas in the brain and malignant schwannomas in the heart in laboratory animals.
“The conclusion of the WHO-commissioned study shows that the longstanding assumption that harm only occurs via tissue heating is wrong.”
“Many studies have demonstrated oxidative effects associated with exposure to low-intensity RFR, and significant adverse effects including cardiomyopathy, carcinogenicity, DNA damage, neurological disorders, increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier, and sperm damage,” explains Dr. Ronald Melnick, ICBE-EMFs Chair and a former senior toxicologist with the U.S. National Toxicology Program at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the time. “These effects need to be addressed in revised and health-protective exposure guidelines. Furthermore, the assumption that 5G millimeter waves are safe because of limited penetration into the body does not dismiss the need for health effects studies.
The scientists pointed out that the FCC has yet to respond to a 2021 court order requiring it to explain why it has not updated its radiofrequency emission limits.
“In 2021, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a remand order on the FCC emission limits, requiring it to provide a reasoned explanation for not updating its RF radiation emission limits which were last set in 1996 when only a fraction of the cell towers and cell phones that we have today were in existence. The order stated that FCC had failed to respond to “record evidence that exposure to RF radiation at levels below the Commission’s current limits may cause negative health effects unrelated to cancer.” In doing so, the FCC was required to examine the effects of long-term exposure to humans and the environment, particularly to children. The Court found that the FCC did not convene a committee or produce a report. The court order is still outstanding, and, to date, the FCC has not complied.”
ICBE-EMF is calling for an immediate, independent scientific review of the wireless radiation exposure standards based on the latest research, with the goal of setting much stricter limits.
”In recognition of the flaws identified here with the current FCC radiofrequency human exposure guidelines and given the high level of certainty in the systemic review commissioned by the World Health Organization reporting high certainty of cancers in laboratory animals, the FCC should immediately move to revise its RF radiation exposure limits to protect public health and the environment.”
About the ICBE-EMF
ICBE-EMF is an international consortium of scientists, doctors and researchers with expertise and peer-reviewed publications on the biological and health effects of electromagnetic fields including wireless RF radiation. Wireless devices such as cell phones, cordless phones, Wi-Fi and cell towers emit radiofrequency (RF) radiation.
The Commission is committed to upholding the highest standards of scientific research and makes science-based recommendations to ensure the protection of the public and environment. icbe-emf.org