Construction is underway on a 5G cell tower in Etobicoke despite concerns from residents and politicians about potential health hazards from electromagnetic fields 鈥 fears spread on social media that Health Canada says are unfounded.
About 100 tower opponents rallied Saturday beside a new platform and thick wiring in the parking lot of a plaza at Renforth Drive and Rathburn Road. They urged the City of 色色啦 and federal government to order a halt to construction of the skinny 25-metre tower, citing fears it could cause everything from cancer to brain impacts to a drop in the value of their homes.
The rally against the cell tower on Saturday took place beside a new platform and thick wiring installed in the parking lot of a plaza at Renforth Drive and Rathburn Road
David Rider/色色啦 StarAfter leading the crowd in a chant of “No tower here,” area resident Dwight Anderson told the Star that Oakville-based Shared Tower got city and federal permissions to build the tower, to boost cellphone coverage in the area, in a process that didn’t follow the rules and ignored neighbours’ concerns.
“How is it that our 1,800-signature petition can be outweighed by the signature of one city planner, or by the head of a corporation?,” Anderson said. “We go to these (plaza) businesses daily, we sleep nearby and there’s going to be an 80-foot cell tower? It’s like living in a hydro field聽鈥 it doesn’t make any sense to us.”
, an Ottawa-based group that promotes decision-making rooted in scientific evidence, said the tower controversy highlights growing public , often fuelled by misinformation, as well as the need for governments and scientists to to be completely transparent about how decisions are made.
“When people (misrepresent) or suppress scientific evidence, it leads to poor policy outcomes for everybody,” said F茅lix Proulx-Giraldeau the non-profit’s interim executive director. “But we have to recognize how these residents are feeling, it is valid, they don’t want to get sick ... and the scientific community has to find ways to explain science and evidence for people, not from a place of superiority but from a place of community and engagement.”
Earlier this year, Shared Tower asked Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISEDC)聽鈥 the federal agency that regulates telecom installations聽鈥斅爁or permission to erect the tower at 460 Renforth Drive to host equipment for at least three cellular service providers.听
The application triggered a requirement for Shared Tower to submit to the city a land-use plan and consult local residents. A city-hosted meeting in July saw many residents strongly oppose tower construction, citing fears that 5G radiofrequency electromagnetic fields could harm people including students in nearby schools and seniors’ home residents a block away.
They cited research linking 5G (fifth generation) radiation to ailments including cancers, headaches, attention deficit, disorientation, insomnia, irregular heartbeats and skin rashes.
Health Canada, however, says that 鈥渂ased on the available scientific evidence, there are .听
鈥淭housands of scientific studies have evaluated the safety of radiofrequency EMF. Evidence from these studies has established only two adverse health effects that can occur at levels above the Canadian limits 鈥 tissue heating, such as the warming of your skin; nerve stimulation, which can cause a tingling sensation in your skin.鈥
Shared Tower said the tower’s signal emissions will be far below maximums allowed under Health Canada’s guidelines.
Residents, however, got support from politicians including local city councillor Stephen Holyday. He told the Star he can’t say if a tower could sicken people聽鈥 noting he was surprised to learn how many 5G towers already exist in the area聽鈥 but that governments should heed residents wishes.
Yvan Baker, Liberal MP for the area, vowed to try to stop his government from giving Shared Tower construction approval, calling the plaza parking lot “completely inappropriate because it鈥檚 in close proximity to a number of sensitive sites that accommodate some of the most vulnerable people in our community.” Still, approvals were granted.
The city recently issued to ISEDC a letter stating the tower conforms with land-use requirements. The city did, however, flag tower opposition “so that you may directly respond to the issues raised by the public and the ward councillor.”
ISEDC, however, told the Star that once the city issued its “concurrence” letter, Shared Tower could start construction. It did.
Residents are accusing the city and ISEDC of paying lip service to the requirement for consultation, and the city of not following that discourages new tower construction near “neighbourhood centres.”
Proulx-Giraldeau of Evidence for Democracy said authorities need to listen and respond to citizen concerns about technology.
But he also warned that attempts to replace scientific evidence with disinformation in government decision-making are “a direct threat to democracy”, citing聽false U.S. government statements undermining the safety of mRNA vaccines and potential after-effects, including the recent outbreaks of measles in the U.S. and Canada.
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