Audience: The audience for this article is people who are concerned with their health and how the environment around them affects their health. Also,  people who are researching on the health implications that using 5g network which consist of electromagnetic fields can bring to people. The people reading this article would be a scholarly audience looking to learn more about the subjects since this article goes in depth about the subject. Everything mentioned in the article is thoroughly explained along with complex vocabulary to help the reader learn more about the subject.

Genre: Non-fiction/ Science

Article: Towards 5G communication systems: Are there health implications?

Year of publication: 2018

link:https://www-sciencedirect-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/science/article/pii/S1438463917308143

    The article “Towards 5G communication systems: Are there health implications?” by Agostino Di Ciaula dives into the possible health effects that 5g communication systems can have on humans at cellular levels and other ways. Agostino Di Ciaula, the author, is an internist and medical doctor who works in a department of medicine in Italy. The author focuses on talking about EMF( Electromagnetic fields), how it is rapidly growing in our environment, how it is part of our everyday lives whether you want to or not, and how there is little research done surrounding the possible effects that it has on humans. Adding on, the article mentions the possible health effects that EMF can have on humans such as oxidative stress, cancer onset, vascular homeostasis and neurological effects. Throughout the article the author uses many rhetorical devices to get his point and credibility across to the reader. The different rhetorical devices that the author uses are tone, ethos, logos and more. The sole purpose of this article is to inform the audience on the health effects that electromagnetic radiation can have on people and to teach the audience that “underrating the problem could lead to a further rise in noncommunicable diseases” as stated by the article.

    Throughout the article many of the health effects that EMF’s can have on people are mentioned, one of them being onset cancer and brain tumors. In the article the author talks about a study that led to evidence that mobile phone users, which are being frequently exposed to electromagnetic radiation because of the wireless function, have an increased risk of  developing glioma(type of brain cancer) and developing other brain tumors. The author uses logos to convey this idea, since the author is using many facts and evidence to show the correlation between wireless communication and cancer as shown in the following citation: “After the IARC statement, a case-control study has documented an increased risk of brain tumor in mobile phone users or after cordless phone use” (Di Ciaula). The author is using logos by referring to studies using evidence to prove his point, making his point more credible. Also, while talking about how EMF’s can cause cancer the author keeps a very serious tone to appeal to the audience a lot more, For example the author says “a significant positive association (glioma, meningioma) was evident in the heaviest users when considering life-long cumulative duration and number of calls” (Di ciaula), by using vocabulary that it’s related to the topic and using evidence from certain studies the author is able to get his point across in a precise manner. Also, the author mentions oxidative stress as one of the other health implications that come with the use of electromagnetic fields around you. Oxidative stress is the stress that is put on your body cells that negatively affect your antioxidants balance which can speed up the aging process and damage DNA. The author says “A number of studies with positive findings in humans have been paralleled by recent animal studies documenting, following RF-EMF exposure, oxidative and nitrosative stress-mediated DNA damage resulting in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in spermatogenic cell lines, reduced testosterone levels with shrinkage of testicular size and an increased loss of cell viability in experimental blastocysts” (Di ciaula) again using many ethos with a serious tone to convey his point and the correlation between EMF’s and oxidative stress which can lead to many other health implications.

    The article also talks about the negative neurological effects that exposure to electromagnetic radiation can bring to the human body. The article states that “Animals showed reduced long-term memory as a consequence of the RF-EMF-induced astrogliosis” (Di ciaula). These animal studies were done with white lab rats which are done because these animals are similar to us genetically. With that being said, these studies show how EMF’s can impair the human brain. There were also other studies mentioned in the article that showed a positive correlation between exposure to electromagnetic radiation and different behaviour in rats which are genetically similar to humans, meaning that there is a positive correlation between EMR and different human behaviour. When the author is talking about these studies and facts, he is constantly using the serious and formal tone to convey his point. The author is also using ethos to thoroughly convey his point.

    In conclusion, the author concludes in his concluding paragraph that there are correlations between EMF’s exposure and many health effects that negatively impact us. However, he makes it clear that there are still many studies to be done since there are more controversial points that are not clear to us yet. Additionally, the way the author presented information about the studies was very clear, he backed everything he talked about with clear evidence from the studies or outside sources which made his word credible and even more credible with the rhetorical devices that he used to get his point across to the audience. Also, in the conclusion of the article the author starts giving suggestions about how knowledge on RF-EMF exposure to health risks can be useful in current clinical practice. The purpose of this article was to alarm people about the health risks we are all facing due to electromagnetic radiation and with that being said the article’s main message throughout the whole article is to not underrate the problem, since in the future it can get so big that it would be beyond fixing.

Work Cited

• Ciaula, Agostino Di. “Towards 5G Communication Systems: Are There Health Implications?” International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, vol. 221, no. 3, 2018, pp. 367–375., doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2018.01.011.