Council in Gateshead had to debunk bizarre 5G conspiracies

A local council in the UK was forced to dismiss a number of bizarre conspiracy theories that took hold on social media this week, which claimed street lights were being used in a secret government trial that could lead to residents developing cancer.

Exactly how such conspiracy nonsense finds its legs if often very much a mystery. And this is what council workers at Gateshead, near Newcastle, must have been pondering this week after a number of absurd claims began to spread across Facebook.

The crux of many of the paranoid claims is that 5G technologies were being covertly implemented onto street lights in Gateshead in a secret government trial, and that this would lead to a higher chance of residents developing cancer. 5G is the latest mobile technology set to replace 4G that allows devices to connect to the Internet using transceivers. It’s how smartphones connect to the Internet without connecting to a Wi-Fi network. Despite assurances from health agencies, industry experts and government officials who assert the radiation levels from such technologies are safe, concerns about the potentially harmful effects of radiation have dogged mobile technology since the first mobile phones came out back in the 1980s.

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And it seems that such concerns have spilled out in bizarre fashion in Gateshead, leading to conspiracy theories asserting that the council is secretly implanting 5G technology onto street lights in secret government trials. According to such theories, the secret 5G technology trials would cause an increase in nosebleeds, insomnia and miscarriages. Theories also suggested that the secret 5G trials were also responsible for the deaths of local wildlife including birds and insects.

So prolific were many of theories that the council had to make the following post, that included the assertion that “Gateshead Council is NOT carrying out secret government trials in 5G technology via our street lights“…

It’s possible that conspiracy theorists picked street lights because of small antennae placed on top of certain lights. However, according to the council, these antennae work on the 2G/3G networks and allow the council to adjust the brightness of the lights.

It is a small transceiver which allows street lights to be adjusted or turned on or off. It uses the old 2G/3G mobile phone network. They transmit for the equivalent of 80 seconds a week at less than 1% of the safe exposure limit set by the authorities

Of course, despite the assurances, many conspiracy theorists continue to believe the council is flat out lying, and is undertaking dangerous and potentially fatal 5G trials in secret across Gateshead, because, well… why not?

Fortunately for the tin foil supplies across Gateshead supermarkets, it seems that judging by the comments on the council post above, most residents haven’t believed the nonsense and have taken the news in good spirits…

It uses the old 2G/3G mobile phone network” well what’s 2G plus 3G? 5G!!! CAUGHT YOU OUT!!!

– Robbie

Doubt if the council have any interest in controlling my mind. Now about that flying saucer I saw in Saltwell Park. Or it might have been a roundabout.

– Nicola

good to know, but can you answer my question about the Sasquatch being sighted in Leam Lane. My dog needs walked and I’m of a nervous disposition.

– Steven

Is it also true that the new Heworth roundabout is going to be a nuclear missile silo and the old underpasses transformed into command shelters

– Elliot

With all that said, if you do want to complain about streetlights in the UK, Public Health England noted this month that LED streetlights could be potentially harmful to eyesight and could disturb sleep. It’s a far cry from causing cancer and killing birds, but there you go.