SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- As the march to install superfast 5G wireless service continues across the country, advocates for patients with electro-sensitivity are questioning the technology's safety.

Noah Davidson of Sacramento began lobbying to have 5G antennas moved away from people's homes and offices because his five- and seven-year-old nieces got sick for two months straight, right after Verizon installed a 5G box on a light pole next to their home.

The family hired an expert to measure the radio-frequency levels.

"He conducted some measurements and told us it was the highest indoor measurements that he'd ever recorded," Davidson claimed. "So, we ended up installing some shielding in the home, moving the kids into a back room. And within a few days, their symptoms went away."

Verizon's website quotes the Federal Communications Commission's guidance that there's no scientific evidence linking radiation from cell phones to health problems in humans. And 5G boxes do meet all legal standards.

Davidson wants the decades-old standards updated, saying the technology hasn't been proven safe.

Cell antennas for 3G and 4G signals are typically mounted on towers 50 to 200 feet above ground. But the 5G small cell boxes are more localized, generally placed every seven or eight houses, about 30 feet off the ground.

Dr. David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany and an expert on RF radiation, said some people do fall ill when exposed to non-ionizing radiation from cell phones, smart meters, and components of the 5G cell sites, boxes that are now being installed across the nation.

"There are a lot of people that get ringing in their ears or get headaches, and feel fatigued and their brain isn't working quite right, that never think about the fact that it may be coming from the Wi-Fi in their house, or the smart meter on the outside door," Carpenter explained.

A recent study from UC Irvine in the medical journal Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders finds extreme RF exposure can produce severe illness that mimics MS.

It looked at the case of 47-year-old Rick Garwood, a former cell phone tower technician from Southern California. He was exposed to massive radiation amounts in 2011, when a Verizon worker switched the towers back on after they'd been shut down for maintenance.

Garwood said he's now on permanent disability, suffering with nodules on his lungs and painful lesions on his brain, kidney and spinal cord.

"The person I was, is gone," Garwood said. "I mean, I've lost everything in life. I had to move back to my parent's home. I'm on permanent disability; I went from an $80,000-a-year career to all of a sudden, I was on worker's comp for four-and-a-half years. And then they finally said, 'You're not going to get any better.'"

Garwood sued, went to mediation, and received about a year's pay.


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A new report on lung cancer by the American Lung Association showed Maryland has quite a bit of room to improve diagnoses and treatment but experts said the state has taken some big steps in tackling it.

The report showed almost 17% of Marylanders at high risk for lung cancer were screened, a little less than the national average. Maryland fared better in other metrics, including lower rates of adult smokers and people unable to access treatment.

Aleks Casper, Maryland director of advocacy for the American Lung Association, said to improve the state's standing, Marylanders at risk of lung cancer need to be screened at higher rates.

"If we can get people screened, our chances of impacting all the other metrics improve," Casper explained. "If we get people screened and we can find it early, then we can connect them to treatment and we can connect them to surgery, which impacts outcomes."

The report also noted Latinos in Maryland are the least likely group to be diagnosed early.

Casper pointed out certain policies in Maryland have removed barriers to diagnosis and treatment. Just this year, Maryland became one of 15 states to require insurance to cover biomarker testing, including for lung cancer. The National Cancer Institute described biomarker testing as using a sample of tissue, blood or other fluid to look for genes or chromosomes which could increase a person's likelihood of developing certain cancers, which Casper emphasized is critical.

"Being able to test and determine what the best type of treatment for that person's disease, that kind of really individualized care and giving people access to that, is really important," Casper added.

Those who want to find out if they're eligible to be screened for lung cancer can take a quick test at savedbythescan.org.


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By Kyla Russell for WISH-TV.
Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Collaboration

Walking pneumonia cases in central Indiana have seen a steep increase in recent weeks, local physicians say.

"But what we've seen this summer, starting in July and August, was an explosion in the number of cases," said Dr. John Christenson, associate medical director of infection prevention at Riley Hospital for Children. "Some require admissions to intensive care units. Children die, adults die .. sometimes it invades the brain and it can cause an infection there."

Walking pneumonia is generally considered less severe than pneumonia, but can have lasting impacts if not caught early on. The disease is caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, which can damage the lining of the respiratory tract, according to the CDC.

It is spread through droplets released when someone coughs or sneezes.

"Symptoms can begin mildly with sore throat, cough, or chest pain," Christenson said.

About two million people are diagnosed with the disease each year. This year is different, though.

While it's common for young children and adolescents to be impacted, small children born during the Covid-19 lockdown are seeing a surge in cases.

The CDC said diagnoses in kids between two and four years old jumped from 1% to 7.2% over a six-month time span this year.

"We saw a rebound after Covid," Christenson said.

During lockdown, people were wearing masks, staying home, and were not at school and work.

"What happened was a lot of people who could acquire an infection around that time, didn't," Christenson said. "So, now they're all susceptible. You bring in a new germ or an old germ into an environment and it spreads like wildfire."

Several local schools have seen an increase in students, asking parents to be on the lookout for symptoms and to take their child to a physician if needed.

As holiday gatherings begin, Christenson is heeding a similar call, especially in severe cases.

"That's when you need to take them to their healthcare professional to have them seen, and in some cases, get X-rays," Christenson said.

Additionally, Christenson said it is important to make sure families are up-to-date on all vaccinations.


Kyla Russell wrote this article for WISH-TV.


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More than one in three children is now overweight or obese, according to new research published in the Lancet medical journal.

The study found while Kentucky and other southern states are forecast to continue seeing rising levels of childhood obesity, some other states, such as Utah, will experience even higher spikes.

Ben Chandler, CEO of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, said the Commonwealth is struggling to address health care and quality of life for kids.

"I think we're 45th in being overweight," Chandler observed. "It leads to a shorter life expectancy. It leads to tremendous spikes in the odds of getting any number of diseases and it has a huge cost attributed to it. "

Almost half of teens and young adults now are either overweight or obese, compared with 29% in 1990. The number is expected to jump by between 31% and 50% for adolescents, and by 29% to 33% for kids ages 6-11.

Chandler argued the state should increase funding for physical activity programs in schools and address the persistent lack of access to healthy and affordable fresh food. He added the issue cannot be tackled solely through individual behavior changes.

"There are a lot of environmental factors that are involved here," Chandler pointed out. "There's a lot of money, quite frankly, being spent in advertising for things that are bad for you."

The study also found among U.S. adults, if the current pattern continues, more than 250 million people will be overweight or obese by 2050.