What Happens When Insects Meet 5G? ETAIN New Study Takes a Closer Look

Insects are at the heart of our ecosystems. Bees, flies, butterflies, and many other species pollinate crops, recycle nutrients, and keep natural systems in balance. With climate change, pesticides, and habitat loss already putting pressure on insect populations, scientists are now also exploring a newer question: could our telecommunications networks, from 3G to 5G, have any biological impact on insects?

This question matters because insects are increasingly exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) emitted by antennas. Their small size means they may absorb these fields differently than larger organisms. Understanding this interaction is essential not only for biodiversity, but also for food security and planetary health.

This is exactly where ETAIN’s latest research contributes important new insights. The team has recently published a pioneering study titled “Behaviour and reproduction of Drosophila melanogaster exposed to 3.6 GHz radio-frequency electromagnetic fields.” The research focuses on Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly, an ideal species for scientific studies because its biology is extremely well understood.

The scientists tested whether exposure to 3.6 GHz, a frequency commonly used in 5G networks, could affect fruit fly behaviour or reproduction. These two aspects are particularly important because changes in movement, daily rhythms, or fertility can indicate stress or potential health impacts. The results? In this particular study, they appear crystal clear and reassuring for this frequency range: the researchers observed no changes in behaviour, even after five days of exposure. They also found no effects on reproduction, even when flies were exposed to levels much higher than what they would normally encounter in their natural environment. In short, the study shows that, under the conditions tested, 3.6 GHz, RF-EMF exposure did not lead to any detectable effects in adult fruit flies.

This study is an important piece of the larger scientific puzzle ETAIN is working on: understanding how modern telecommunications influence insects, pollinators, and ecosystems. While this particular experiment found no impact at 3.6 GHz, not all frequencies interact with insect bodies in the same way. In fact, using advanced modelling, the researchers showed that fruit flies absorb much more RF energy at much higher frequencies (around 90 GHz), frequencies expected to appear in future generations of telecom networks.

With this in mind, the ETAIN team has already started investigating what happens at higher frequencies and across all developmental stages of fruit flies. These next steps are essential, as different frequencies may interact differently with insect bodies, and younger life stages can sometimes be more sensitive than adults. By expanding the research in this direction, ETAIN aims to build a more complete picture of how RF-EMF exposure may affect insects and, ultimately, planetary health.