Problem.
The federal RF framework rests on two planks that together externalize health costs:
(1) Preemption: 47 U.S.C. §332(c)(7)(B)(iv) bars states and localities from denying sites “on the basis of the environmental effects of RF emissions” if FCC limits are met, removing health from local police powers.
(2) Thermal rubric: The FCC’s 1996 order imported ANSI/IEEE C95.1‑1992 (a revision of ANSI 1982), embedding a 6‑minute heat test and whole‑body SAR thresholds, with no protection for non‑thermal developmental endpoints.
The record has moved.
• Court: D.C. Circuit (2021) remanded the FCC’s “no‑change” decision as arbitrary and capricious for failure to address non‑cancer harms (children, long‑term exposure, environmental effects). The agency owes a reasoned update.
• Animal evidence: NTP reported clear evidence of malignant heart schwannomas (and some gliomas) in male rats; WHO‑commissioned 2025 review rates animal evidence high‑certainty for the same two tumor types. ScienceDirect
• Developmental window: Research at 0.08/0.4 W/kg (the ICNIRP public/worker whole‑body limits) shows synapse loss, E/I imbalance, ↓BDNF, reduced cortical proliferation, and DNA damage/apoptosis in neural stem cells—effects directly relevant to attention/memory/behavior in children. ScienceDirect
• Human exposure under‑measured: Interphone’s “heavy use” threshold (~30 min/day) is now routine, and the Danish subscriber cohort excluded hundreds of thousands of corporate lines—the heaviest users—biasing results toward the null. ScienceDirect+1
Policy architecture that blocks corrective action.
• §704 gag: Localities cannot consider health in siting even next to schools.
• Small‑cell shortcuts vacated, but… the FCC’s attempt to exempt densified networks from NEPA/NHPA was struck down in 2019; yet the practical effect remains rapid deployment under a thermal paradigm.
• Research vacuum: NTP indicates no further RFR studies planned, stalling mechanisms the public was promised.
What Congress and agencies can do (narrow, surgical, bipartisan).
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Legislative—restore local agency.
Amend §332(c)(7)(B)(iv) to allow states and local governments to consider non‑thermal, developmental evidence in siting near sensitive receptors (schools, daycares, NICUs) while preserving the “no effective prohibition” language for connectivity. Insert a clause enabling exposure budgets and duty‑cycle caps for public buildings. (One paragraph of statutory edits suffices.) -
Regulatory—finish the remand with real biology.
Direct the FCC to complete the EHT v. FCC remand by integrating:
• Pulsing/modulation & duty cycle (real‑signal envelopes; not just time‑averaged heat),
• Developmental endpoints (prenatal/early childhood), and
• Whole‑body/near‑body dual metrics aligned to ICNIRP’s own 0.08/0.4 W/kg framework but extended beyond thermal. PubMed -
Research—restart mechanisms.
Re‑fund a modern NTP RFR program for co‑exposures (e.g., smoke initiators ± RF promotion; realistic waveforms) and developmental neurotoxicity, building directly on the 2025/2024 datasets. -
Procurement—change the indoor carrier now.
Make optical‑first (IEEE 802.11bb Li‑Fi) and fiber backbones the default for schools, libraries, and clinics; keep RF for mobility and emergencies. This is a physics win (room‑contained signal) that reduces ambient load without compromising connectivity. ScienceDirect
Why this is not anti‑tech.
It is pro‑children, pro‑local control, and pro‑precision engineering. The same federal government that earns tens of billions selling spectrum also owes families a framework that reflects non‑thermal developmental biology—and gives communities lawful tools to protect sensitive spaces.
