2024-10-29 Genell Mikkalson Testimony Bill 194

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From:Genell Mikkalson To:WPCtestimony Subject:Support Bill 194 Date:Tuesday, October 29, 2024 2:05:25 PM To the honorable Director and Planning Committee of Hawaii County, I am writing this email in reference to the Support of Bill 194 as introduced by council member Cindy Evans. I am writing as an advanced nurse practitioner who has taught at the University of Hawaii- Manoa and as a Clinical Professor at the University Of Vermont who now resides in your district. I am writing to request that more time, attention and research be given to a cautionary approach in assuring the safety and well-being of our communities instead of the wholesale adoption of incriminatory cell tower construction for the telecommunications industry on the Big Island. Especially concerning that the revised bill has no provisions to protect us against 5G small cells and freely allows schools, playgrounds, and daycare centers to be cell phone construction sites, exposing our most vulnerable populations to unknown effects. As a nurse practitioner who notices patterns of changes through decades of service work, I have noticed the dramatic increase of anxiety, depression and mental dys-regulation with concomitant social consequences since the exponential increase of individual daily usage of cell phones, especially during and since the pandemic. I don’t believe that we have enough knowledge, information or research of the effects that these devices and cell towers have on our personal health and well-being to inform our decisions on the effects of cell towers. I am not a proponent of extrapolating false or misleading information to dramatize my position, but I am requesting that for the good of our communities, citizens and personal well- being that you do your due diligence in making sure that the consideration of our health is primary instead of benefiting the profit of the cell tower industry by giving them an in- discriminatory thumbs up for implanting our island with unknown health consequences due to the lack of research and due diligence on our part. Thank you for considering this written testimony, Genell Mikkalson MSN, APRN-CNM Sent from my iPhone