RFK Jr. 's Campaign Unlikely to Spur FCC Action on RF Radiation
High-profile RF safety skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s entry in the 2024 Democratic primary is likely to draw more attention to the debate over RF radiation, but that’s not likely to mean FCC action on the item, according to interviews with academics and wireless attorneys. “I don’t think his candidacy will have a practical effect” on the agency, said Best Best attorney Tim Lay. The agency might get more pressure from the public, but “they have enough other things on their list,” he said. The agency “tends to take a long time” to act in RF radiation proceedings, said wireless attorney David Siddall.
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FCC chairs have historically had little appetite to delve into RF radiation, and the current commission appears similarly disposed, wireless attorneys said. The agency still hasn’t acted on a 2-year-old remand from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit of the commission’s 2019 RF rules (see 2108130073), noted Lay.
Kennedy "is just raising a concern," his campaign emailed us, along with links to a meta-analysis study claiming a correlation between mobile phone use and glioma, a type of brain tumor, and another review claiming electromagnetic field exposure causes free radical issues in various tissues that could result in fatigue, headaches and cognitive impairment. "His eventual policy is still under consideration, but it will take this concern seriously," Kennedy's campaign said.
Kennedy founded and chairs Children's Health Defense, which was lead plaintiff in 2020 litigation against the FCC's 2019 rules. "You can’t see, hear or smell electromagnetic fields and most people don’t feel them -- but they’re associated with systemic inflammation and mitochondrial dysfunction thought to be a root cause for many of today's chronic diseases," he tweeted in 2022.
There's no scientific evidence of a definitive link between wireless device use and cancer or other illnesses, the FCC maintains.
Kennedy’s stance on RF matters may not lead to pressure on the FCC because he could seek to downplay it, attorneys and academics said. Kennedy's campaign manager, former Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, worked on mobile device RF radiation while in the House, but "I doubt that anyone, even someone like Kucinich, would seriously elevate policy stances on RF radiation or 5G to the top of the list of issues to push on the campaign trail," emailed Jacob Neiheisel, University at Buffalo political science associate professor.
Kennedy's campaign website lists various environmental policy priorities, including shifting agricultural subsidies "to encourage regenerative practices," incentivizing "the transition of industry to zero-waste cycles and clean energy sources," and "curbing mining, logging, oil drilling, and suburban sprawl." RF matters don't come up, but Kennedy discussed his belief that Wi-Fi radiation is dangerous in a highly publicized appearance on Joe Rogan's podcast earlier this month.
Because Kennedy is so visible, it also gives attention to advocacy groups interested in RF, and they in turn would have more leverage to push Congress for hearings, said Robert Blendon, Harvard University health policy professor emeritus. Kennedy's candidacy also comes as public interest and activity in RF radiation seems to be on the rise, said Venable wireless attorney Laura Stefani. She said localities and states are growing more active in such matters (see 2305020033), also citing ongoing litigation in that area. Kennedy himself is reportedly part of the plaintiff’s legal team in one such case, Walker v. Mototola Mobility in U.S. District Court for Western Louisiana (see 2210180078).
The rise in public interest in RF safety has been driven by the FCC-enabled push to roll out 5G, said Theodora Scarato, executive director of Environmental Health Trust, the entity that challenged the FCC’s 2019 RF order in the D.C. Circuit. When companies start looking to build more cell towers in communities, residents start “packing town halls” and learning about how many local controls over such construction are federally preempted, she said. She wouldn’t comment on whether Kennedy’s candidacy could boost EHT’s cause. “We are not a political organization; we are focused on the science, and the scientific evidence is clear,” Scarato said. CTIA didn’t comment.
Kennedy's advocacy on the issue "is hopeful for those of us who truly understand," said Cecelia Doucette, director-Massachusetts for Safe Technology: “It would be lovely to think all the candidates would be the type of public servant to say we need to put public interest before corporate interests." A Kennedy presidency could mean "cleanup of our captured federal agencies," she said.
“The media doesn’t like to cover this issue” unless it can be sensationalized and marginalized, said Joel Moskowitz, director-University of California Berkeley Center for Family and Community Health. Given how Kennedy "seems to be portrayed as a conspiracy theorist, you can predict" how RF exposure might get coverage during a campaign.