Is 5G harmful to the environment or your health?

The world of technology is advancing by leaps and bounds. So much so that, sometimes, we do not understand exactly what is behind all the innovations that occur. Therefore, when something is not understood, theories begin to emerge, which are often conspiracies, something that could be perfectly appreciated with the pandemic.

For example, the Clarín newspaper mentions that recently, a “strange theory” emerged that links the coronavirus pandemic with the 5G networks. From this point of view, there are people who blame the new communication networks for the health crisis, even if they have not been fully implemented yet. 

The La Vanguardia website even continues to focus on this theory, where it is assumed that the coronavirus, in fact, would not have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan. On the contrary, this city was the first to install 5G networks, leading to a massive deterioration in people's health due to the 5g waves. Let's see, then, what 5G technology is and if it involves any danger to the environment and people.

What is 5G technology?

As we mentioned, there is some skepticism regarding 5G technology and its future implementation. For example, the La Nación website mentions that, in Argentina, there was a march against the quarantine, in which you could see posters accusing this new technology in telecommunications as being responsible for the spread of Covid- 19.

Although it can be entertaining to know about these theories, the scientific news seems to disagree with these statements, although you will first have to know what 5G technology is and what it is for. According to the National Geographic website, this new mobile technology "will increase the connection speed", reduce latency and multiply the number of connected devices.

Now, the fact that more and more devices come out with this technology (especially smartphones) only fuels mistrust by a certain sector of the population. In other words, the fact that they justify their innovations in technological terms still does not seem to explain whether it involves any risk for the population.

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Well, in the face of this demand for data, there is also a lot of misinformation that generates paranoia in the population. For example, the ABC media highlights that many viral messages emerged on social networks that demonstrated a supposed "danger" to health and the environment. However, the European Union warned that these are false messages.

In addition, they mentioned that mobile networks are regulated at maximum levels of exposure, which are 50 times lower than those that can cause damage to health. Therefore, any potential effect against life or against the environment itself is avoided, since the waves, with that power, are not harmful to anyone or anything.

Knowing that, according to what the El Tiempo website highlights, Colombia will be receiving pilot tests of this technology by Claro and then surely it will spread throughout Latin America, it is better to understand what 5g is and to avoid conspiracy theories than to add unfounded information to this crisis.