OTTAWA — A petition earlier this year demanding cell towers and antennas not be built close to schools and playgrounds has been dismissed by Health Canada and ISED Canada.
Receiving more than 6,000 signatures, the petition asked for Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 to be updated to restrict the installation of cell towers within 305 metres of schools and playgrounds, creating a buffer zone. The petition claimed “Safety Code 6 has not had a major update in the last 30 years despite the number of new technologies created during this time.”
In its response to the petition, Health Canada said: “It is misleading to say that Canada’s guidelines have not been updated. Rather, Safety Code 6 was updated as recently as 2015, to take into account recent scientific data from studies carried out worldwide. When developing the exposure limits in Safety Code 6, our top scientists considered all peer-reviewed scientific studies and employed a weight-of-evidence approach to evaluate possible health risks from exposure to RF EMF [radiofrequency electromagnetic fields]. Canada’s Safety Code 6 limits are among the most stringent science-based limits in the world.”
The Safety Code 6 limits on human exposure to RF EMF are designed to provide protection for all age groups, including infants and children, on a continuous basis (24 hours a day/seven days a week) — meaning, if someone is exposed to RF EMF 24 hours a day, every day, within the Safety Code 6 limits, there would be no adverse health effects, according to Health Canada. The guidelines recommend limits for safe human exposure to RF EMF in the frequency range of 3 kHz to 300 GHz.
“Health Canada continues to monitor scientific research on this topic on a continuous basis. If new scientific evidence were to demonstrate that exposure to RF EMF below levels found in Safety Code 6 is a health concern, Health Canada would take appropriate action to help protect the health and safety of Canadians,” concluded Health Canada’s response.
ISED Canada added it requires all antenna systems, including cell towers, meet strict limits on the amount of energy that can be present and has adopted Health Canada’s Safety Code 6 (SC6) as the RF exposure limit for wireless devices and their associated infrastructure in Canada.
“The frequency bands being utilized by current radiocommunication technologies as well as those to be utilized by emerging technologies, such as 5G, are already considered within SC6 limits,” ISED Canada said.
“Due to the different designs and purposes of antenna installations, their RF energy levels can vary significantly. As a result, establishing a buffer zone at an arbitrary distance around them would be counterproductive to SC6. While there is no federal law specifying a minimum distance within which an antenna installation may not be installed relative to schools and playgrounds, all antenna installations in Canada must comply with Safety Code 6 at all times. Compliance is an ongoing obligation and ISED conducts regular audits to ensure antenna installations, are compliant with Health Canada’s SC6.”
To read the federal government’s full response to the petition, please click here.
