Wireless Estimator, a US trade publication covering the tower and wireless infrastructure industry, counted 1,519 submissions to the two open federal comment records on wireless radiation as of September 30: 1,155 comments to the request for information from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and 364 filings in the reopened radiofrequency exposure proceeding at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the US telecoms regulator.
That count is two weeks old and both records have kept filling since; comments close on October 21 at HHS and October 22 at the FCC. The publication's angle is that the record is dominated by personal symptom accounts rather than the science the FCC says it will weigh, and that one in five of the 146 comments it read made claims it found undocumented. No trade body, carrier, tower owner or federal science agency had filed by then.
Quotes
"Two federal agencies are asking the public what it knows about wireless radiation, and the public is answering—loudly. As of Sept. 30, the two dockets held 1,519 submissions: 1,155 published comments on the Department of Health and Human Services’ RF/EMF docket and 364 filings in the FCC’s reopened RF exposure proceeding."
"It seeks comment only on the three issues the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit remanded in Environmental Health Trust v. FCC in August 2021: testing procedures for phones and other portable devices; the effects of exposure on children, long-term exposure, device ubiquity and technological change since the Commission’s 1996 limits; and environmental impacts. Comments are due Oct. 22."
"In other words, HHS asked the public what it has experienced. The FCC asked what it can prove. The public has largely answered both questions the same way."
"much of that literature predates the FCC’s 2019 decision to keep its limits, and compilations of it are exactly what the Commission now says it will discount."
"As of Sept. 30, neither docket contained a filing from CTIA, the Wireless Infrastructure Association, NATE, a tower owner, a carrier, or a federal science agency. The American Institute of Physics reported that the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements will not respond to the HHS request but will respond to the FCC. Industry filings in FCC proceedings routinely arrive close to the deadline, so the absence may say more about the calendar than the stakes."
"Volume is not evidence, and 1,519 submissions won’t move an RF exposure limit."
Location
📍 United States
HHS Request for Information on EMF and wireless radiation
2026-09-17
📎 Also covered by
