Skip to main content

The FCC says 5G is safe, again

The FCC says 5G is safe, again

Share this story

The text “5G” on a green background.
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Federal Communications Commission officials said today that 5G is safe and the rules regulating radio emissions for safety don’t need to be changed in order to accommodate it.

FCC chairman Ajit Pai is proposing small changes to the way the commission determines whether radio wave emissions are safe, but those changes are only designed to make the rules more consistent across technology types, the commission said. They aren’t being made any stricter, as the current limits are already “among the most stringent in the world.”

FCC says it’s no different than 3G or 4G

There has never been compelling evidence that 5G radio waves are dangerous. While they’re higher frequency than the radio waves used for 4G, they remain in the part of the radio spectrum that doesn’t damage human DNA — what’s known as non-ionizing radiation. Even the higher-frequency emissions used in 5G remain less energetic than visible light.

On a call with reporters, FCC officials said that there was no sign 5G airwaves would be any less safe than the airwaves used for 3G or 4G.

The commission has made similar statements before on calls with reporters, albeit with less clarity. It’s also implicitly acknowledged 5G as safe by approving the use of devices that support it.

But today’s gesture is its firmest acknowledgement yet that the FCC believes 5G is safe to use. By leaving emissions standards unchanged, the commission says that its existing standards are already strict enough to determine when radio emissions become problematic. A properly functioning 5G device still falls within those standards.