NZ OUTDOORS PARTY PRESS RELEASE:
25/01/2020
5G NEWS: REQUEST FOR REGULATIONS REVIEW OF “NESTF” REGULATIONS WHICH EXEMPT CELLTOWERS AND OTHER RFEMR EMISSIONS FROM
RMA
The Outdoors Party has formally requested a review of regulations (attached) that allow new celltowers to be installed
around New Zealand without any consultation with affected communities. The request has been made to coincide with the
Global Day of 5G Protest on 25 January 2020: “Say No to 5G”.
Co-leader of the Outdoors Party and emerging issue lawyer Sue Grey says “communities around New Zealand and around the
world are extremely concerned about the way new 5G microwave technology is being forced on communities without any
consultation. There are numerous health and security concerns about 5G and important questions about whether we need it
at all, especially in New Zealand where our government has spent considerable public money on ultrafast broadband”.
Sue is part way through a tour of New Zealand from Kaitaia to Alexandra, New Plymouth to Gisborne raising awareness
about 5G, concerns about its effects on community and environmental wellbeing, and the loss of democracy.
“People are very concerned about new celltowers being placed immediately outside homes, schools, hospitals and
workplaces, usually without any consultation” says Sue Grey. “People feel threatened and disempowered having celltowers
placed outside their homes and children’s bedrooms, often without any consultation. In addition to the obvious health
concerns, many communities are very unhappy about the secretive way the Telcos and government have gone about 5G
rollout. Councils and local communities have been excluded form the process by regulations which nationalise decision
making. People come home from work one day shocked to find a new celltower meters from their bedrooms, with no prior
discussion. It’s a serious threat to public rights and democracy.
Sue first became involved in challenging inappropriately placed celltowers in 2008 as part of the Atawhai Playcentre
community that lodged a petition with Parliament’s Local Government and Environment Committee. That resulted in a
unanimous recommendation that the New Zealand Standard and the quality and independence of advice given to the Minister
of Health should be reviewed. However the then Minister for the Environment Nick Smith rejected the Parliamentary
Committee’s report.
Since then the problem has escalated with a rash of new celltowers around NZ as Telcos prepare for the rollout of 5G
(fifth generation) microwave technology. 5G is a new and untested. Its being developed as it is rolled out
internationally, without any safety testing” says Sue Grey. There are already many red flags, including reports from
around NZ of serious health effects being suffered by many who have the new towers outside their homes.
The applicable NZ Standard (NZS2772:1 1999) was written in 1999. It was designed to protect only again the heating
effect of RFEMR. There is no protection against damage to DNA, protein and enzyme function, mental health effects or
other “biological effects”.
Sue Grey says “5G and the way new celltowers are being rolled out throughout New Zealand without consultation has become
a human rights issue, in addition to a health and safety issue. RFEMR was classified as a Class2B carcinogen by the WHO
in May 2011.
During a recent speaking tour in New Zealand, world expert and member of the 2011 WHO advisory panel Professor Dariusz
Leszczynski said steps are underway for a review of the WHO classification, and he expects it will be reclassified at
least as a Class 2A carcinogen. Many world experts are already recommending RFEMR be reclassified as a Class 1 (known
carcinogen)