Electromagnetic emissions from 4G and 5G base stations pose only minimal health risks, as they are far below the standards stipulated by the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) and the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), the National Communications Commission (NCC) said yesterday.
Since the auction of 5G licenses two years ago, more than 35,000 5G base stations have been built across the nation, covering 94 percent of the population, NCC Commissioner Wang Cheng-chia (王正嘉) told a news conference.
However, some people are still worried about potential health risks, Wang said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Some base stations had been removed after protests by local residents, only to be reinstalled after the residents realized they could not receive phone signals, Wang said.
To allay public concern, the NCC tasked National Yunlin University of Science and Technology with conducting a study of electromagnetic emissions by 4G and 5G base stations, he said.
The study involved 34 sites in the north, south and east of Taiwan, as well as the outlying islands, that had 4G and 5G installations, said Kuo Wen-chung (郭文中), a professor of computer science and information engineering at the university.
“The sites were chosen because they accommodate devices and antennas installed by a majority of telecoms, and the results we obtained from the sites would best represent all base stations,” he said.
Researchers measured non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation (NIEA) based on the rules stipulated by the EPA, Kuo said.
“We found that the highest NIEA value detected was only about 0.039 percent of the reference values stipulated by the ICNIRP and the EPA, which are close to those of European countries and the US. The average of the highest values detected was 0.0125 percent of the reference values,” Kuo said.
The results show that a base station is even safer than a microwave oven and an electric razor, he said.
The commission said that 50,000 microcell stations are to be installed on utility poles and traffic lights to further boost 5G coverage.
Although the NCC has been running an awareness campaign for more than 10 years, it has not been particularly successful in assuaging public fears. Aside from public protests, the commission has only managed to secure 685 government properties on which to install base stations from 2014 to last year.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
Taiwan is doing everything it can to prevent a military conflict with China, including building up asymmetric defense capabilities and fortifying public resilience, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said in a recent interview. “Everything we are doing is to prevent a conflict from happening, whether it is 2027 or before that or beyond that,” Hsiao told American podcaster Shawn Ryan of the Shawn Ryan Show. She was referring to a timeline cited by several US military and intelligence officials, who said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to be ready to take military action against Taiwan
RSS