A wrote to me recently to remind me of the perils of the new smart meters we are all supposed to welcome into our homes. You may recall I wrote about the issue to alert you back in 2011: Shocking: Smart Meters. Follow the link there to Michelle’s piece on the subject from the point of view of an electro-sensitive, as she is one herself.
Did you know this, for example:
Wireless ‘Smart’ Meters, when activated, emit intense, pulsed bursts of non-ionising, RF microwave radiation. More than 5,000 studies have shown that non-ionising microwave radiation/RF EMF is harmful to humans, animals and plants.
On 6th May 2011, the Council of Europe issued a report titled “Potential dangers of EMFs and their effect on the environment” in which they called for an IMMEDIATE reduction in exposure to EMFs by children. The Council advocates a precautionary principle be applied to wireless emissions to prevent public health disaster akin to “tobacco, leaded petrol and asbestos”. ‘Smart’ Meters will increase – not decrease – the EMF exposure to members of a household and their neighbours.
On 31st May 2011, the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorised RF EMFs as a possible CARCINOGEN (Class 2b) – the same as lead, DDT, chloroform & methylmercury.
So, want one in your house? Thought not.
Here is A’s impassioned reminder and plea. Please act for all our sakes. I honestly dread to think of the hurt they will cause to sensitive people and, as he illustrates, the figures suggest we stand to save diddly-squat, even having to pay for the meters ourselves, whilst the utility companies’ shareholders will benefit by millions.
I have not checked out this info specifically, but I promised I would pass it on, and here it is. Note specifically that these meters are not compulsory in the UK – yet – so you can refuse to have them. I suggest you do refuse and ask your neighbours to do the same as A suggests:
I thought the information about smart meters in the two attachments might be of interest. They came from www.StopSmartMeters.org.uk.
One attachment is for a leaflet giving lots of information [click on the leaflet pages to open and print] and the other is a letter you could amend appropriately and send to your utility companies, M.P. etc. This also includes a lot of information which is worth reading – more information than is in the leaflet. On the website there’s also a link to a petition that goes to numerous organisations. I signed this and got about 18 automated responses but nothing significant.
From the internet I’ve discovered some interesting information. First, in the U.K. smart meters are not compulsory. This was agreed in Parliament February 1 2013 – and outraged numerous interested parties. In France and some other countries they’re mandatory – the French authorities ordered 35 million of them at a cost of 4.3 billion euros. This is big money we’re talking about.
In the U.K. consumers have to pay for their own meter, at a cost (I believe) of £340.00 (the leaflet says this amounts to £9 billion nationwide but the letter says £11 billion – if enough people buy them). The potential savings per household are a mere £25.00 p.a. – if any – after the initial outlay of £340.00 – but the smart meters only have a 10 year life span, after which they’ll have to be replaced at further cost. This of course means that you won’t get your money back.
So smart meters are of no benefit whatsoever to the consumer, but they are of huge financial benefit to the utility companies. They’ll be able to lay off thousands of meter readers and call centre staff, saving a lot of money which you can be sure isn’t passed on to the consumer. It will go instead to the senior executives and the shareholders. Smart meters are also a boon to the IT industry. Making millions of the things will make a lot of companies very, very rich.
As for the poor consumer, they’ll probably be landed with more health problems. How about this for starters:
List of Common Symptoms:
- Sleep Problems: Sleep disorders are the most common symptom reported. This includes insomnia or the inability to go into deep sleep. Many people report that their sleep problems began the night the SmartMeters were installed in their neighbourhood.
- Headaches: Many people experience mild to severe headaches when they are in the presence of SmartMeters. Many people have reported that as soon as they left their home on vacation, their headaches vanish. But upon returning to their home or SmartMeter installed area, the headaches come back immediately.
- Ringing in the ears
- Confusion or difficulty concentrating
- Fatigue
- Increased stress and agitation
- Heart palpitations
- Tingling sensations throughout the body
- Difficulty breathing or heaviness in the chest and lungs
It seems that 5%-10% of the populations may immediately experience mild to severe symptoms within days of the SmartMeter installations.
You may also find this document of interest. (It covers cell phones and wifi as well as smart meters.)
http://maisonsaine.ca/smart-meters-correcting-the-gross-misinformation/Approximately 40 international experts contributed to this rebuttal that smart meters, cell phones and wifi are safe.
Even if we ourselves have no smart meter, if our neighbours do we’ll also be exposed to the radiation from their meters – the equivalent of passive smoking.
The government has no doubt been under pressure from Brussels, who have decreed that 80% of Europe will have smart meters by 2020 and 100% by 2022. Brussels is, of course, a magnet for lobbyists and I expect the interested parties had hundreds of them. However, there will be a backlash. This has already begun in the U.S. and Canada, where they already have smart meters and where many people have suffered health complaints as a result.