I’m long fan of #EuropeanUnion European Citizens Initiative mechanism and occasionally following notifications from their website if I see something interesting. Now, after supporting an initiative for planning of high-speed rail network between EU capitals, I’ve found this one:

Stop #5G - stay connected but protected:

https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2021/000009_en

Everything is wrong about this project: it’s 100% based on manipulated research, conspiracy theories, pseudo-science and misrepresentation of actual scientific research.

Yet, they were able to submit this initiative and gathered ~80k signatures, at which stage they failed short of  the required 1m.

And I believe this is perfectly OK that even such fringe initiatives were able to register, because behind each signature there’s a person probably honestly convinced about the harm imposed by 5G who should have a chance to be heard. ECI reduces chances of their marginalisation, radicalisation and resorting to extremist methods, such as destroying mobile towers etc.

I’ve also checked initiatives that passed the 1m threshold and they were all answered by EC and subsequently reflected in EU legislation. There’s a few about treatment of animals (vivisection, slaughter of horses, finning), water rights, rights of asylum seekers etc (there’s just one which I personally consider pseudo-scientific, on the ban of glyphosate).

For an example of how the water rights initiative was answered by EC you can check - essentially, the initiative was used to influence a number of EU directives and international initatives:

https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-register/detail?ref=COM(2014)177&lang=en 

 @kravietz 🦇 oh. Glyphosate. 

The "cancer" issues seem to be in the same ball park as 5G...

The loss of biodiversity is the more pressing (and real) concern IMO.

But there is also big a problem with land use and set up of fields as such, indirectly related to glyphosate (erosion...).

But I am digressing.