Prior to the launch of 5G, protests have been organized around the country and online. What most people are worried about is that the radiation would be hazardous to health. But the task is not backed up by cancer statistics or the research community at large.

"The majority of researchers, institutions such as the WHO, the EU and national expert groups agree that today it is not established that there are health effects at these low levels of exposure," said Maria Feychting, professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute.

No increased risk of brain tumors

The people behind the resistance are leaning towards a small group of researchers who believe that the radiation from mobile phones poses a danger to health. One of the researchers the group relies on has since the 90s argued that radiation from cell phones doubles the risk of brain tumors. Each year, the National Board of Health and Welfare publishes statistics on newly discovered cancer cases. At the Karolinska Institute, researchers have looked at the statistics and prevalence of brain tumors between 1970-2017.

- If that were true, there would have been an increased incidence of brain tumors in the population. You see no such increase in risk, says Maria Feychting.

The presence of malignant brain tumors in Sweden. Photo: Karolinska Institutet

The view is also shared by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), which, on behalf of WHO, researches the relationship between mobile radiation and cancer.

"The majority of all research done on mobile phones so far does not indicate any connection between the use of mobile phones and increased risk of brain tumor," says Joachim Schuz, director and researcher at the Environment and Radiation section, IARC, WHO.

Continuous measurements

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority is today responsible for ensuring that we are not exposed to harmful radiation. Therefore, with the support of research, they have produced reference values ​​for both radiation levels and radio wave frequencies. In addition, the 5G networks will initially be at approximately the same radio frequency as 4G, namely 3.5 GHz.

- Nobody will ever be able to prove that something is harmless. But if you look at the aggregate research that exists, we mean that there are no health risks that you could scientifically show if you adhere to the reference values, says Jimmy Estenberg, an expert in electromagnetic fields at the Radiation Safety Authority.

More about 5G in the Science World program 5G - the super tech that scares , 14/10 at 8 pm on SVT2 or on SVT Play from 13/10.