Press Release March 30, 2020
On the pretext of the pandemic linked to the Covid-19 coronavirus, without any truly motivated reason (35% decrease in economic activity in March*), and by Ordinance No. 2020-320 of March 25, 2020, published on 26 March, the French Government has just given operators full powers to install new relay antennas: suspension of the obligation to transmit a file to the mayor or the president of an inter-municipality, decision to set up, without prior agreement from the National Frequencies Agency, exemption from planning permission for construction (building permit or declaration of works) by the town planning departments of the municipalities.
Reading the above-mentioned report and ordinance, therefore, leads us to ask some serious questions.
We understand the need to guarantee the continuity of electronic communications services and networks for the duration of the declared state of the health emergency, but on condition that the construction, installation, development or modification of a radioelectric installation within this framework is limited to cases of strict necessity.
We are obliged, however, to disagree on issues related to the health of the affected populations. Indeed, the construction, installation, development or modification of a radioelectric installation carried out within the legal framework of the Ordinance are subject to a subsequent regularization procedure but do not require any prior authorization. We therefore consider that, under the guise of a health emergency, this public health issue is clearly disregarded.
With this Ordinance, the government dealt the final blow to the law 2015-136 of February 9, 2015 known as the Abeille Law, “relating to sobriety, transparency, information and consultation on exposure to electromagnetic waves”.
Our experiences until recently have shown that it was almost impossible to have an installed relay antenna removed. We therefore do not believe in the assertion of the temporary nature of these antennas.
We expect the government to clearly explain the link between such an ordinance and its recent and repeated intentions regarding the deployment of 4G+ and 5G. At the same time, according to the Reuters press agency, the Chinese government has just announced, in order to combat Covid-19, an acceleration of the deployment of 5G relay antennas, reaching 600,000 by the end of 2020.
Our government, and even less, the Minister of Solidarity and Health, cannot ignore either the health effects of radiofrequency waves, or the widespread deception of the manufacturers that led to the “Phonegate” scandal, or the ANSES report of July 8, 2016 urging the reduction of children’s exposure to electromagnetic fields, or the WHO classification of electromagnetic waves as potentially carcinogenic, and even less, the publication by Santé Publique France on the increase in brain tumors and the role played by these waves in their etiology.
Our signatory associations, which have been campaigning for 20 years to have this public health issue recognized, therefore consider that:
“the government, in this field, seriously disregards, once again, all the rules of the precautionary principle and clearly affirms its major responsibility regarding the direct health effects that will result from these provisions, and particularly regarding the survival of electrohypersensitive people.”
The first signatory associations:
Alerte Phonegate; Robin des Toits; Independent Research and Information Centre on Electro-Magnetic Radiation (CRIIREM)
* source INSEE
