Sheila Resseger and Claire Stadtmueller are regulars at City Council meetings. The two are founders of 5G Free Rhode Island (an organization that educates community members and public officials on microwave radiation’s harm to people’s health and the environment), and they have been providing council members with information on the dangers of microwave radiation from cell towers and wireless connections for the past two years. Resseger has also brought the issue to Cranston’s School Committee which has borne little fruit. The two women say if they do not receive response or action from elected officials, they plan to take additional measures.

“Our frustration is that we are active constituents and our attempts, and our efforts, and our sharing are met with so much resistance and ignoring us,” said Stadtmueller. “I don’t enjoy reading about microwave radiation, but I do it as a commitment to helping people be healthy and safe and our pollinators and our nature.”

Resseger and Stadtmueller met three years ago after small 5G cell towers made their way to Rhode Island. 5G stands for fifth generation of wireless technology. According to Verizon’s website, 5G provides higher speed, lower latency and greater capacity than 4G LTE networks. The company lists benefits such as better coverage, a safer alternative to public Wi-Fi, video chatting with less frozen faces and console-quality gaming on the go. According to Verizon, “5G Ultra Wideband could make drone delivery, cloud-connected traffic control and other applications live up to their potential. From emergency response to global payments to next-level gaming and entertainment….”

“The telecommunication’s industry doesn’t want anybody to know those words ‘microwave radiation’ because that sounds dangerous and 5G sounds fast and new,” said Stadtmueller.

Resseger reached out to her council member, Steve Stycos, to see if he had any information on the 5G cell towers. Stycos informed Resseger that several other constituents contacted him and suggested the three women – Resseger, Stadtmueller and Kendra Morales – get together, see what they could find and share the information with him.

Resseger and Stadtmueller made inroads with the City Council two years ago when they were given the opportunity to present their information before the City Council on Aug. 24, 2020. Five 5G Free Rhode Island members spoke – followed by a presentation by Cecelia Doucette; Doucette is the Education Services Director for Wireless Education and provides free presentations on the impact of microwave radiation.

Since the meeting, the two have emailed City Council members studies on the issue and have given public testimony at meetings. The two women have submitted information on training courses that exist for first responders and physicians, so they are trained to recognize the signs of microwave radiation. More recently, the Resseger and Stadtmueller said they submitted a binder filled with one-way communications to the record which were added through a difficult process. They have gotten little or no response from elected officials.

“We’ve gotten advice to keep our emails very short,” Resseger said. “That apparently something that’s too long or has attachments is not going to be looked at.”

Resseger said if she sent a short email explaining the issue but not providing evidence, the message would not hold much weight. Stadtmueller said the only council people who have been receptive to receiving information on the subject are Robert Ferri and Jessica Marino.

“This is a lead, cigarette, and asbestos waiting to happen,” Statdmueller said. “We do some research, save them a lot of time and legwork and they’re just willfully ignorant except for two of them,” Stadtmueller said.

They added that there have been several court rulings acknowledging the negative impacts of 5G technology. One was from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where a cell tower caused individuals to become ill. Another was in the United Kingdom, where a court determined that, because a student had Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, the school needed to provide accommodations for the child. Stadtmueller added that Wi-Fi has been banned in French and Russian elementary schools.

Resseger noted a landmark decision from August 2021 where the Environmental Health Trust (EHT) and other organizations brought a suit against the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) because the organization considered its 1996 safety guidelines for wireless radiation sufficient and not needing adjustments; she added that this decision came after several years of people submitting documentation that these guidelines were not safe for humans or the environment.

Stadtmueller said she and Resseger are trying to protect the liability of the city – questioning who would held be responsible when people believe they’ve been impacted by microwave radiation.

5G Free requested that the city use some of its $42.6 million American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for broadband – making sure it’s fiber to the premises. Resseger added that fiber to the premises is future proof – lasting longer than small cell towers which would have to be upgraded more frequently.

“So even if the upfront cost seems less with the small cells, in the long term it’s more economical to go with fiber to the premises,” Resseger said.

In addition to the City Council, Resseger started reaching out to the School Committee just over a year ago to explain why wireless radiation in the classroom is harmful and what can be done to mitigate it. In a document shared with School Committee members, Resseger wrote that the result of increased exposure to wireless radiation in classrooms is an “epidemic of neurological and behavioral problems in schools today, caused by or exacerbated by exposure to wireless radiation.” She contacted School Committee Chair Dan Wall and provided him with information. He responded, appreciating the research and planned to have a discussion with the technical department head and Superintendent Jeannine Nota-Masse. Resseger said she sent several reminders to Wall, emailed the entire school committee and superintendent but did not receive a response.

Over this past winter, when Resseger and Stadtmueller found out that Cranston’s school district would receive roughly $30 million in ESSER monies from three rounds of funding, Resseger wrote the School Committee again – saying that the money could be spent on wiring the classrooms and getting rid of routers, cell phones and handheld tablets.

“The children can still use the internet but through safe, wired connections,” Resseger said.

In spring of 2022, Resseger became the Cranston contact person of a national group called TechSafeSchools that has a project which is “designed to provide school officials, teachers and parents with legal, technical and scientific information to help create the safest learning environment possible,” according to the organization’s website. Other Rhode Island communities with contacts include North Kingstown, Narragansett, West Warwick and Wakefield. Resseger said TechSafeSchools provides excellent materials which explain the risks and the legal responsibilities of school administrators.

TechSafeSchools sent materials to Nota-Masse’s office in April of 2022. After several attempts to find out if the district received the materials, Resseger received a call from Deborah Hayden, who works in the superintendent’s office, and informed Resseger that they never received this material. Resseger then emailed the information to Hayden which was forwarded to the school’s legal counsel and is still under review.

Resseger said it was important that the legal counsel was involved because one of the materials was a letter from lawyers explaining the harms and fiduciary responsibilities of school administrators. She added that Doucette would also be available for a free workshop for staff members.

Resseger and Stadtmueller are part of national and international Zoom calls with people who have the same interests. They said other people have expressed not being taken seriously by their school committee or city council.

Tech companies have addressed 5G claims on their websites since it’s become such a big topic. According to AT&T’s website, “the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the federal agency responsible for regulating wireless carriers’ RF emissions, has adopted conservative, science-based RF exposure limits for carriers. These limits apply to all wireless carriers and technologies, including current 4G and new 5G services and devices.”

AT&T’s wireless sites, including small cells and 5G, comply with FCC safety standards. The website includes quotes from the World Health Organization which said there are “no obvious adverse effect of exposure to low level radiofrequency fields has been discovered.” The American Council on Science and Health added that “If these waves were dangerous, we would have died from AM/FM radios, TVs, GPS, and garage door openers a long time ago.”

In the short term, Stadtmueller is reaching out to new City Council candidates to see which ones would be receptive to being provided with information on microwave radiation. She and Resseger will continue advocating against 5G.