The Health and Environmental Protection ministries told the Communications
Ministry on Sunday that they will oppose the expansion of cellular phone
infrastructure to accommodate “fourth-generation” (4G) devices, at least until
any health effects from the radiation are examined in depth.
The
directors-general of the two ministries, Dr. Ronni Gamzu and Alona Schefer Caro,
called on Communications Ministry Director-General Eden Bar-Tal to coordinate
with them on the issue.
They wrote in an urgent letter that upgrading
infrastructure to introduce fourth-generation cellular phones is liable to
increase the use of such technologies and increase the public’s exposure to
cellular electromagnetic radiation.
Its effects on health “have not yet
been adequately proven,” Gamzu and Schefer Caro concluded, “thus the cautionary
principle must be observed.”
In telecommunications, 4G is a successor to
3G and 2G families of standards, and speed requirements set the maximum download
speed at 100 Mbit/s for high mobility communications such as from trains and
cars and 1 Gbit/s for low-mobility communication (such as pedestrians and
stationary users).
A 4G system is meant to provide a comprehensive and
secure broadband system for laptop computers’ wireless modems, smart phones and
other cellular devices and support ultra-broadband Internet access, gaming
services, streamed multimedia and other services.
