Germany: Parliament committee debate on anti-5G petition

W/S German Parliament's Committee on Petitions, Berlin
SOT, Wilfried Kuehling, Professor, German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) (German): "The main issues are that the government introduces this technology without a technical consequences' evaluation, without an environmental study of the impact on people's health, on the biosphere and especially on climate, flora and fauna, insects and animals are affected too. We expect to have, without regulation, a whole new form of digital surveillance [operating] by collecting extensive data, a potential danger identified due to non-regulation from the federal government."
M/S Committee on Petitions *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Eduard Messmer, European Citizens' Initiative 'Attention 5G (EBI) (German): "Until now it has been scientifically proven, in Germany, with repeated tests by Pr. Lerchen from Bremen that mobile radiation has an amplifying impact on a tumour, it can already be verified today through tests on animals. So we are concerned - it doesn't mean that we are able to say now how many people of the entire population could develop cancer - but we have evidence of effects from which we should keep population away. That's why the issue is not to add more to this existing question, but rather to interrupt the 5G, until we can prove the harmlessness [of it]. And the potential is in other technology not based on high-frequency radiation and for example on visible light, LED. We should replace these technical aspects, we need to improve digitalisation using other technologies that could also bring Germany forward in innovations. We don't need to stick to this high-frequency [technology] from China."
W/S Committee on Petitions *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Andreas Mattfeldt, CDU Parliamentarian (German): "If we don't establish this 5G in Germany basing on health concerns, how can we have a chance to remain an industrial nation in the long term?"
W/S Committee on Petitions *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Florian Pronold, Parliamentary State Secretary in Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (German): "This is not a completely new technology, but a further development of current mobile communication standards, that's why we have a very safe scientific environment and we can rule out healthy risks, as long as we can say it with scientific certainty, and that's why from the side of the federal government there was no concern on taking the 5G route, and also related to the question about the future developments of the digital applications in the various areas, including issues that we have discussed before about climate protection and communication, I consider the 5G standard very important."
C/U Parliamentarian taking notes *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Eduard Messmer, European Citizens' Initiative 'Attention 5G (EBI) (German): "I don't have the goal to stop the 5G in the first place, we want to stop the harmful impacts from the mobile system and 5G so that they won't occur, that's all. And we have talked about alternatives, they exist and it would be reasonable to put money into the research of these alternatives."
W/S Committee on Petitions *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Wilfried Kuehling, Professor, German Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) (German): "The message here is that the legislators should take urgent actions to either ensure precautions or also not only to observe these known health impacts but to stop it upfront, meaning only to apply the new technology when it's clear that it is harmless."
W/S Audience
W/S Committee on Petitions
SCRIPT
A petition reportedly signed by over 50.000 people against the introduction of 5G technology was discussed by the German Parliament's Committee on Petitions in Berlin on Monday.
Those against the technology based their fears on what they called "health risks", saying that the long-term effects of 5G technology weren't properly studied.
"It has been scientifically proven, in Germany, with repeated tests by Pr. Lerchen from Bremen that mobile radiation has an amplifying impact on a tumour," said Eduard Messmer from European Citizens' Initiative 'Attention 5G'.
Parliamentary State Secretary Florian Pronold in turn said: "This is not a completely new technology, but a further development of current mobile communication standards."
He added that the health risks can be ruled out.