A New Report That Looks Backward, Not Forward
In August 2025, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) released a 200-page technical report about its newly built whole-body rodent RF exposure chamber.
https://microwavenews.com/papers/novel-whole-body-rodent-rf-exposure-system
They’re framing it as the tool to advance future wireless health research. The system is technically impressive — precise SAR control, environmental monitoring, and modular exposure setups.
The problem? It’s tuned to:
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900 MHz GSM
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900 MHz CDMA
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1,900 MHz GSM
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1,900 MHz CDMA
Those are 2G and 3G-era frequencies — bands we’ve been swimming in for 30 years, and the ones already exhaustively studied in the original NTP cancer bioassays.
What NIEHS Says (and What They Don’t)
The report openly restates the NTP’s past findings:
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Malignant schwannomas of the heart in male rats.
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Malignant gliomas of the brain in male rats.
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Other tumor types and non-cancer lesions.
But when it comes to new data, their “future” studies will simply re-test these same old bands.
Meanwhile, the world has moved on — our networks, our devices, our exposures.
The Political Reality: 600 MHz Expansion Is Here
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill. And he said it plainly:
“Congress must put 600 MHz in THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL.”
— President Donald J. Trump
The bill restores FCC auction authority and directs the freeing of spectrum for commercial broadband.
600 MHz — already deployed nationwide in 5G by T-Mobile and others — is the deepest-penetrating RF frequency ever used at scale in telecom history.
Why 600 MHz Is Different
RF penetration depth in tissue increases as frequency decreases:
| Band | Approx. Penetration in Muscle Tissue |
|---|---|
| 600 MHz | ~50 mm (5 cm) |
| 900 MHz | ~35 mm (3.5 cm) |
| 1,900 MHz | ~18 mm (1.8 cm) |
600 MHz can reach deeper anatomical structures:
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Bone marrow
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Internal reproductive organs
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Deep brain regions
That means its biological targets — and potential health risks — may differ from anything documented in 900/1,900 MHz research.
The WHO’s 2025 Verdict: Risk Is Proven
While NIEHS plans to re-study old bands, the World Health Organization’s 2025 systematic reviews have already delivered high-certainty verdicts:
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High certainty: RF-EMF causes malignant heart schwannomas and brain gliomas in male rats.
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High certainty: RF-EMF reduces pregnancy rate in animals.
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Mechanistic plausibility: oxidative stress, DNA damage, calcium channel disruption.
High certainty in GRADE methodology means new evidence is unlikely to change the conclusion. We already know enough to act.
Why the Current Plan Is a Red Herring
Testing 900 MHz and 1,900 MHz again is not “future-proofing” our science — it’s a stall tactic:
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It burns years on frequencies already proven hazardous.
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It ignores the deepest-penetrating band in current use — 600 MHz — that is expanding coverage daily.
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It sidesteps political friction by avoiding direct confrontation with the newest spectrum deployments.
This is the same mistake made in the early 2000s, when regulators ignored early non-thermal evidence and kept pushing thermal-only FCC guidelines from 1996 — based on 1950s military science.
The Cost of Delay
We have been here before:
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It took decades for asbestos regulation after scientists warned of its dangers.
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Leaded gasoline persisted for generations after its toxicity was known.
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Tobacco companies sold “doubt” long after the cancer link was clear.
With RF radiation, the delay has already been 30 years. And unlike tobacco or asbestos, there is no “opting out” — 5G is everywhere.
If NIEHS and NIH waste the next five years testing old-generation frequencies, the 600 MHz exposure era will be fully entrenched before a single long-term toxicology study is completed.
What Must Happen Now
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Re-tune the new chambers for 600 MHz immediately — not in a decade.
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Replicate the NTP protocol at 600 MHz, using current 5G modulation schemes.
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Study multi-generational effects — fertility, neurodevelopment, cancer.
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Update FCC guidelines to account for non-thermal biological effects.
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Repeal Section 704 of the 1996 Telecom Act to restore local control over tower siting.
The Bottom Line
The science is already clear: RF-EMF can cause cancer and reproductive harm in animals, with mechanisms that make sense biologically. The WHO has said so with high certainty.
The real public health question is not whether 900/1,900 MHz are dangerous — it’s whether 600 MHz, with its unprecedented penetration, poses even greater or different risks.
Until we study it now — before millions of Americans spend another decade bathing in it — any talk of “protecting the public” is just political theater.