{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-2481","number":"2481","name":"Kathryn Osborn","organization":"","posted":"2026-10-13T04:00Z","received":"2026-10-10T04:00Z","body":"\nI am writing regarding the FCC’s response to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ remand concerning its decades-old radiofrequency (RF) radiation exposure guidelines.\n\nThis issue matters to me personally because:\n\nI am a 34 year old woman whose life has been profoundly affected by a chronic, debilitating health condition, and who has spent nearly two decades searching for answers. \n\nMy chronic migraines began when I was 15 years old. Around that time, a cell tower was constructed approximately 0.2 miles directly behind my family’s home. I cannot claim that this tower caused my illness, but the timing of these events has remained significant to me throughout my health journey. \n\nMy symptoms quickly became so severe that I had to reduce my high school schedule. I woke up nearly every morning with debilitating migraines and vertigo, often unable to function. At one point, I missed more than 30 consecutive days of school. My family and I went from doctor to doctor, desperately searching for the underlying cause. I was prescribed countless medications in an effort to manage my symptoms, many of which came with adverse effects. My education suffered, my grades declined, and what should have been a formative, exciting period of my life became a daily struggle to get through the day.\n\nRather than improving with age, my condition became progressively more severe. By age 26, I was experiencing symptoms that I associated with exposure to wireless devices and infrastructure. My arms would go numb while using my phone. I experienced stabbing pains in my head and stomach when people with cell phones came near me or when I was in areas near cell towers. As newer wireless technologies were introduced, I became increasingly concerned about the relationship between these exposures and my symptoms.\n\nMy family went to extraordinary lengths to try to help me. We invested significant money in completely hardwiring our home and removing all wireless devices in an effort to reduce my potential exposure and find some measure of relief. This was not a casual lifestyle choice; it was a response to the debilitating reality of my daily life and our desperation to find answers. My family has had to make significant adjustments to our home and way of living because of the severity of my condition. The fact that my health concerns have required these kinds of sacrifices speaks to just how profoundly this has affected not only my life, but the lives of the people who love and support me.\n\nAlso, when 5G technology was introduced in stadiums, attending sporting events became extraordinarily difficult for me because of the debilitating migraines I experienced. Travel became another challenge. Wi-Fi on airplanes, Bluetooth connections, and the wireless devices used by people around me became sources of concern as I struggled to manage my symptoms. Activities that most people take for granted; attending a game, boarding a plane, going into public spaces, or simply being around other people, became obstacles I had to weigh against the possibility of becoming severely ill.\n\nThe consequences have extended far beyond physical pain. This condition has isolated me from experiences, relationships, opportunities, and the independence that most adults work toward building. I have struggled to maintain the health necessary to work consistently and support myself. Today, at 34 years old, I remain financially and physically dependent on my parents in ways I never imagined would define my adult life.\n\nI would give anything to have the freedom to attend a sporting event without fearing the consequences, travel without anticipating debilitating pain, work toward financial independence, and participate in everyday life without having to calculate the potential cost to my health.\n\nNo one should have to spend nearly two decades fighting to reclaim a life they feel they have lost, while wondering whether an environmental exposure could be contributing to their suffering. People deserve answers. They deserve rigorous science, transparency, and a regulatory process willing to examine difficult questions.\n\nI urge the FCC to give meaningful consideration to the experiences and evidence before it and to fully address each of the issues identified by the court.","attachments":[],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-2481","tags":["health-experiences","exposure-places","policy-standards","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"5ade502cad785744fb28853bf37027c47b3367b1b25b7b231fc92157cd562de9","slug":"health-experiences-comment-2481","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-2481","body_sha256":"86f1ec1e8317af95a1f256c11e17e136e7e75cef2881f32983df30e4eaaabca0","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"neurological","topics":[{"id":"neurological","evidence":"des searching for answers. \n\nMy chronic migraines began when I was 15 years old. Around that time, a cell tow"},{"id":"access","evidence":"yself. Today, at 34 years old, I remain financially and physically dependent on my parents in ways I never imagined would define my adul"},{"id":"optical","evidence":"nvested significant money in completely hardwiring our home and removing all wireless devices in an effort to "},{"id":"infrastructure","evidence":"I was 15 years old. Around that time, a cell tower was constructed approximately 0.2 miles directly behind my "},{"id":"standards","evidence":"e to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ remand concerning its decades-old radiofrequency (RF) radiation ex"},{"id":"research","evidence":"g. People deserve answers. They deserve rigorous science, transparency, and a regulatory process willing to examine "}],"summary":"Describes migraines beginning during adolescence and later symptoms around wireless devices, severe restrictions on daily life and reliance on family; requests rigorous science and regulatory reconsideration.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-14T13:55:48Z","review_method":"Source-based AI review of complete published comment bodies; exact evidence passages; attachments and external links not reviewed.","review_source_sha256":"67cdc63a2126c368cee38391f1cae1e00192c634e6c476455bd1fd95d1db70f6","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["neurological","access","optical","infrastructure","standards","research"],"primary_topic":"neurological","forum_title":"Describes migraines beginning during adolescence and later symptoms around wireless devices, severe restr…"}