Measurements carried out in October 2023 in central Stockholm show that there are extremely high levels of radiation from 5G in several public spaces. The highest radiation was measured on Mäster Samuelsgatan where just over 11 million microwatts per square meter (μW/m2) were obtained.
The Swedish physician and researcher Lennart Hardell, in collaboration with researcher Tarmo Koppel from Estonia carried out the measurements, published in a scientific journal on September 10, 2024 (full article here).
The measurements were performed with the Narda NBM-550, with a probe that measures frequencies between 3 MHz and 18 GHz. The results are expressed in RMS (root mean square) which is an average value and a bit lower than the maximum peak levels obtained with other meters. Measurement results at some different locations in Stockholm are reported below in max (RMS). More results are reported in the published article.
Location Radiation in μW/m2
Stureplan galleria 2 127 380
Mäster Samuelsgatan 11 613 976
Sergels Torg 3 290 314
Central station 3 637 191
Skeppsbron 2 250 814
Drottninggatan 5 271 555
Radiation levels causing ill health
The measured levels are way above of those previously shown to cause ill health when people are exposed to radiation from 5G or previous generations of mobile phones (4G, 3G, 2G).
Lennart Hardell, in collaboration with Mona Nilsson from the Swedish Radiation Protection Foundation, has previously published the first studies in the world on the health effects of radiation from 5G base stations (read here). In the case study of 5G where the highest radiation was measured (an apartment only 20 meters away from a 5G antenna), the maximum radiation level, measured with the same meter (Narda RMS) was 1,368,021 μW/m2. This level caused such severe ill health in less than a week that the man who lived in this apartment had to leave the apartment for good. This ill health causing level, is yet lower than the levels measured in public places in Stockholm city in October 2023.
High radiation levels below the ICNIRP and FCC limits
These extremely high levels are well below the ICNIRP limits, recommended by the WHO and the EU and adopted by most governments around the world and also below the FCC limits in the USA. These limits however, only protect against harmful effects resulting from radiation so intense that is cause heating in the body. This means that the ICNIRP and FCC limits do not protect against a range of adverse effects that have been repeatedly reported by scientists, such as the symptoms known as the microwave syndrome or radiofrequency illness, cancer, degenerative diseases and chronic diseases. The ICNIRP limits are therefore heavily criticized by most EMF scientists.
The ICNIRP limits updated in 2020 allow extremely high, 10 000 000 μW/m2, measured as an average value over 30 minutes. There are no studies showing that prolonged whole-body exposure to either GSM, 3G, 4G or 5G at such extremely high levels does not harm human health. Therefore, there is no scientific basis for claiming that the ICNIRP levels would protect people from adverse health effects from chronic exposure to radiation from mobile phone base stations, other than harmful effects resulting from acute heating. There is also no scientific support that levels 100-10 000 times lower (measured averaged over 30 minutes) do not result in adverse health effects. Yet the telecom companies, the WHO, the EU and ICNIRP agree that these values would protect against adverse health effects from long-term exposure to 5G radiation.
In an article published in 2022, world-leading experts in the field concluded that the ICNIRP limits are based on a number of incorrect assumptions. They called for the public be informed of the risks, current limits be lowered, further deployment of 5G to be halted and that new limits that also protect wildlife from harmful impacts are developed.
Promotional brochure
The limits from ICNIRP, an organisation with known links to the telecom industry, are of great economic importance to the telecom industry because, according to Ericsson, it would be “difficult or impossible” to roll out 5G if the ICNIRP limits would be slightly lower (100 times lower as in Switzerland, for example). Another indication of the importance of the ICNIRP limits for telecom companies is the GSM Association, an international organization representing the world’s largest telecom operators led by Swede Mats Granryd, has published a promotional brochure promoting the ICNIRP limits.
Two members of the European Parliament commissioned an investigation into ICNIRP’s links to the telecoms companies in an investigative report published in 2020.
Some references in this article:
Hardell, Koppel: Spots with Extremely High Radiofrequency Radiation After Deployment of 5G Base Stations in Stockholm, Sweden. pdf
Hardell, Nilsson, Koppel, Carlberg. Aspects on the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) 2020 Guidelines on Radiofrequency Radiation. pdf
Hardell, Nilsson: “Summary of seven Swedish case reports on the microwave syndrome associated with 5G radiofrequency radiation” Reviews on Environmental Health, 2024. pdf
