CONCERN is growing for the safety of telecommunication workers amid a rise in 5G conspiracy theories being shared across Glasgow. 

Police have launched an investigation after a series of sites were deliberately damaged by fire in the city last week. 

This included copper cabling underground in Croftspar Drive, in Springboig, which was destroyed overnight between Thursday and Friday. 

The rise in attacks mirrors trends across the UK, which have seen engineers verbally abused and even told they were going to be murdered by people who mistakenly believe 5G is linked to the spread of Covid-19. 

While there is no single theory blaming the installation of the next-generation mobile network on the worldwide pandemic, many are now being increasingly shared on social media groups. 

This includes “5G – Glasgow Under Attack” on Facebook, which has nearly 5000 online members and frequently spreads misinformation from the likes of conspiracy theorist David Icke.

An analysis of the page’s membership and admins suggests many are not from the city, but telecoms engineers and academics are increasingly worried about the impact these “baseless” suggestions are having. 

Craig Anderson, Scottish regional secretary for CWU, a union representing thousands of telecoms workers across the UK, told us: “Around 99.5 per cent of the work of our members has nothing to do with 5G and it is very rare that it is. 

“It would be an absolute miniscule fraction of the work going on at the moment in Scotland.

“The priority for our members is actually to provide connectivity for the public during lockdown. We are providing for hospitals, chemists, and for phone lines for an awful lot of vulnerable people in the community.

“We are effectively trying to keep the nation connected so people can work from home, call their relatives and use the technology available to them. 

“I haven’t seen any legitimate scientific evidence that in any way proves the theories that are circulating about 5G.” 

Mr Anderson’s worries are shared by Muhammad Ali Imran, Professor of Communication Systems and Dean at University of Glasgow UESTC, who has frequently debunked 5G and Covid-19 myths. 

Prof Imran said: “People hear words like ‘microwave’ and ‘radiation’ and they immediately try to associate it with their own experiences. 

“Some people worry if they are using microwaves to communicate, then they must be hurting us.

“That is not true and microwaves have been used for a long time and even back to 3G. 

“We are using these to connect different data stations, which connect to your mobile handset. 

“There is no credible scientific link or study which proves 5G is dangerous to human health. 

“The myth of 5G and Covid-19 is more baseless than these. That is a physical impossibility. 

Glasgow Times: Prof Muhammad ImranProf Muhammad Imran

“The reason is electromagnetic radiation is a wave and it is not a physical thing. It cannot carry material things. We cannot use this technology to share viruses or spread them. 

“As soon as pandemic came, people started to share conspiracy theories about it and there were existing ones about 5G. People seem to have just started to put them together to create another one.

“One simple example to dispel this nonsense is looking at a country like Iran, which has been badly impacted by Covid-19. Iran has no 5G base stations of their own and hasn’t deployed any 5G frequencies yet.”