The commenter invokes Robert Becker's bioelectricity research to argue for nonthermal-effect studies, ind…

Comment to HHS: RF Radiation and Public Health I am submitting this comment in response to HHS's Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields, Radiofrequency Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. The Science Behind This Comment One of the most important, and most overlooked, scientific foundations for this RFI is the research of Robert O. Becker, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon and bioelectricity pioneer, detailed in his landmark 1985 book The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life. Becker's central finding: living organisms are fundamentally electrical systems. Bioelectric signals govern growth, healing, and regeneration, and these systems evolved in concert with Earth's natural electromagnetic environment. When artificial electromagnetic fields interfere with those signals, biological harm can follow. His key findings: Non-thermal biological effects are real. Current FCC standards assume only heat-generating exposures cause harm. Becker demonstrated biological responses to electromagnetic fields at intensities far below thermal thresholds — overturning the very framework on which U.S. safety standards rest. Bioelectric mechanisms govern healing. His research showed that bone healing is electrically regulated, and that low-level electrical stimulation could trigger regeneration where conventional medicine had failed. If the body is this sensitive to electromagnetic signals, it cannot be indifferent to the artificial electromagnetic environment we now live in. Industry influence corrupts safety standards. Becker documented how experts setting U.S. pollution limits were influenced by the industries being regulated, and drew a direct comparison with Eastern European nations where more independent scientists arrived at far stricter exposure limits. Whistleblowers are punished. After testifying that power line fields posed documented health risks, Becker's NIH grants were canceled, his VA funding was blocked, and his laboratory was shut down in 1980. This is not fringe science — it is science that threatened powerful interests. Why This Matters Today Becker published his warnings in 1985. The FCC's RF safety standards were last meaningfully updated in 1996 — predate smartphones, ubiquitous WiFi, and 5G densification. They were built on a thermal-only framework that Becker's research had already scientifically undermined before those standards were written. Children are particularly vulnerable. Thinner skulls and developing nervous systems mean they absorb RF radiation at significantly higher rates than adults — yet towers continue to be sited near schools and playgrounds. What I Am Asking HHS to Do Commission independent, longitudinal research on chronic low-level RF exposure, with priority given to children and vulnerable populations. Apply the precautionary principle where exposures are involuntary — near homes, schools, and playgrounds. Evaluate the full body of peer-reviewed literature on non-thermal biological effects. Create a formal mechanism to document and study experiences of individuals reporting RF-related health effects. Recognize that the FCC — a communications regulator — is not equipped to be the final word on human health risk. The science exists. What has been missing is the institutional independence to act on it. HHS is the right agency to change that. Thank you for this opportunity to be heard.