To the Editor:

Several months ago, Peder S. Schaefer interviewed me, and my colleague Claire Stadtmueller, for an article for the Cranston Herald: “5G wireless is coming, but health questions remain.” Since that time, we have worked with other Cranston residents to form 5G Free RI. (Our website, 5Gfreeri.com is now live.)

We are convinced, after doing a significant amount of investigating – reading scientific/medical reports, listening to lectures, and participating in webinars – that the current rapid rollout of small cell antennas in Cranston and across Rhode Island is an assault on the population and the environment, and must stop.

To that end, we have reached out to numerous public officials: our representatives in Congress, members of the Rhode Island General Assembly, city officials in Cranston, the Cranston School Committee and superintendent of schools, the Executive Board of the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, Lt. Gov. Daniel McKee, and the Rhode Island Department of Health. We have submitted a formal Cease and Desist Notice to Mayor Fung and all the Cranston City Council members. From all of this outreach, only several individuals have even replied to us. Those individuals have expressed verbal support for our efforts, but in only one case, Councilmember Lammis Vargas, has there been any attempt to constructively respond to our strenuous objections to this rollout.

In a phone conversation with me, Jason Pezzullo, the head of the Cranston Planning Department, patiently explained that this was out of the city’s hands and there was nothing to be done. As a citizen of the city of Cranston, the state of Rhode Island, and the country of the United States of America, I do not accept that we are powerless to protect our residents, and the interdependent web of life of which we are a part, from the deleterious effects of noxious electromagnetic/microwave radiation.

This is an election year. Therefore, we are presenting a Candidate Pledge on our website, 5Gfreeri.com. Please visit the website, look into the information and resources we have provided, and contact the candidates for office in your community for their response on this urgent issue. Any candidate for office in the city of Cranston and across the state of RI should realize that this is an issue that is of utmost importance to voters. We look forward to thoughtful and serious responses from the candidates.

Sheila Resseger

Cranston