The news came after it was revealed that the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (Bafu) had said that it was unable to provide a new 5G benchmark for measuring safe radiation exposure levels until it had carried out more testing, that it then admitted would “take some time,” to put in place.
It means that most of the country’s 5G towers will now be unable to be licensed.
There has been widespread disquiet amongst the Swiss population, fed by social media, as to the risks associated with 5G and regular demonstrations against its roll-out have been taking place.
Switzerland’s laws on radiation levels are similar to most other European countries but it does have a set of exposure guidelines that are roughly 10 times stricter than those set by the World Health Organisation to cover the use of radio in residential zones.
The Swiss Medical Association has refused to give 5G a clean bill of health, noting that it is not yet clear what impact it may have on the body.
5G networks do expose people to more intense radiation and that has raised fears in a country that has been leading the rollout of 5G in Europe.
The issue has become so big in that it has its own name, what the Swiss now call electrosmog!
So it will be interesting to see what impact the news that 5G has been deemed safe, according to an international body in charge of setting limits on exposure to radiation, will have on attitudes in the country.
The International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) has released updated guidelines that it believes will help put people at ease, but it has suggested that there is a need for new guidelines for millimetre-wave 5G.
Higher frequencies that are used with 5G tend to interact with organic tissue differently and dissipate more energy at the surface, while penetrating less, so the revised guidelines have paid more attention to the power absorbed by the body.
Whether the evidence its compiled that 5G is safe for the public is accepted will be a different matter.
We live in a time when social media works hard to stoke fears, despite the science suggesting otherwise.
