Scientists Warn the FCC: Fast-Tracking Cell Towers Risks Public Health and the Environment

Press Release of ICBE-EMF

Washington, DC — The International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF), an international consortium of physicians and scientists, has formally cautioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that U.S. cell tower and wireless radiation guidelines are outdated, scientifically unsupported, and fail to protect public health.

In comments submitted to the FCC in response to its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, “Build America: Eliminating Barriers to Wireless Deployments” (WT Docket No. 25-276), which proposes a series of measures to override local city and state governments to speed deployment of cell towers and wireless infrastructure across the United States of America.

ICBE-EMF stated that it is “challenging the safety of the FCC’s wireless radiation exposure limits and is calling for an independent evaluation before the FCC moves to fast-track cell towers and wireless infrastructure across the nation.”

ICBE-EMF warned of cell tower health risks, stating that “cell towers, 5G and wireless infrastructure should not be fast-tracked as this will increase public exposure to RF radiation, an environmental exposure that decades of scientific research has associated with numerous health and environmental harms.”

Regarding the FCC limits for human exposure, ICBE-EMF stated, “U.S. limits on allowable exposures to RF radiation, unchanged since 1996, are not science-based and do not protect the public.”

According to the filing, “the outdated 1996 limits are based on scientifically unsupported assumptions, focusing only on short-term heating effects while ignoring the extensive peer-reviewed published scientific evidence of biological harm at lower, non-heating levels.” ICBE-EMF further stated that FCC limits “do not account for long-term health effects, children’s vulnerability, cumulative exposures, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, or the documented impacts on wildlife and ecosystems.”

Citing large bodies of peer-reviewed scientific research, ICBE-EMF explained that “many studies have demonstrated oxidative effects associated with exposure to low-intensity RF radiation, and significant adverse effects including cardiomyopathy, carcinogenicity (brain and thyroid cancer), DNA damage, neurological disorders, increased permeability of the blood-brain barrier, and sperm damage.”

The filing also referenced a recent World Health Organization-commissioned systematic review, stating that it reported “high certainty” evidence linking radiofrequency radiation exposure to cancer in laboratory animals, and concluded that “the long-standing assumption that current government limits are based on — that cell phone RF radiation can only cause harm through tissue heating — is wrong.”

ICBE-EMF warned that the FCC’s proposal to fast-track cell towers would also harm the environment, stating that “The FCC’s plan to proliferate cell towers would put flora and fauna at risk. The FCC has not established guidelines to protect non-human species from RF radiation even though there is a large and growing body of evidence that demonstrates the biological effects of RF radiation on animals and plants.”

The Commission further criticized the FCC for failing to comply with a federal court mandate, stating that “to date, the FCC has not complied” with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ 2021 order requiring the agency to justify its refusal to update wireless radiation limits and to examine long-term health and environmental effects, particularly for children.

ICBE then addressed the FCC’s proposals to preempt local rules that are RF related based on Section 704 of the Telecom Act stating, “The FCC’s reliance on Section 704 of the Telecommunications Act to preempt local consideration of environmental and health impacts is unjustified because the Commission has not conducted any meaningful review of RF radiation effects, nor ensured that any federal agency is doing so. Without updated safety limits, NEPA analysis, or an up-to-date current scientific evaluation, the FCC cannot continue to claim that health and environmental impacts may not be considered by local governments. Because the Commission has failed to perform the very scientific and environmental oversight that Congress presumed when enacting Section 704, it cannot lawfully claim that state and local governments are barred from considering impacts the FCC itself has never reviewed.”

This came at the same time the organization submitted a letter to members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ahead of the December 17, 2025, FCC oversight hearing, urging lawmakers to question the FCC’s continued reliance on its 1996 wireless radio-frequency (RF) radiation exposure limits for cell towers and wireless networks. 

Download PDF of the ICBE-EMF Submission to the FCC

Source of the original press release article: https://icbe-emf.org/scientists-warn-the-fcc-fast-tracking-cell-towers-risks-public-health-and-the-environment/