1) Various governments are trying to address a major concern with the digital internet of things – who owns the data? All of our personal data?
“…the next wave of technology change is about to break all over us. The Internet of Things has the potential to change our lives more fundamentally than any innovation since electricity. Like electricity it is an enabling technology, only the enabler is not electric current but data. Your data. And we have no idea who ‘owns’ it. Take smart meters, an IoT innovation. Who owns the data about your home, when you start making the tea, what time your children go to sleep, when you lock the back door? Amber Rudd certainly didn’t know when she was Energy Secretary, and I doubt she knows now she’s Home Secretary. It is not only the private sector where confusion reigns. The Digital Economy act proposes to make it easier for public sector entities to share your data without your explicit permission even though care.data, the scrapped NHS data-sharing proposal, has already demonstrated what a mess that is.
Data is the new property. We need a progressive ownership framework for it. We need that to be debated and discussed by everyone but particularly citizens, including those not on line. Without that, the digital economy will be hamstrung by peoples’ fears and companies’ confusion. The Government’s Digital Economy Bill says nothing about this. It is up to Labour to ensure we have a bill that gives data back to the people.”
2) Lithium batteries are exploding and various devices and toys are being recalled as a result. These are all lithium ion batteries, and I cannot say that the lithium metal batteries in the smeters are just as prone to explode or not. I do know that they too should not be overheated or exposed to moisture or else they will explode and can cause fires If any can share info about this, I would appreciate it.
3) I have told the BCUC that I wish to appeal their decision regarding the fire issue, in which I asked for an independent review of the system in place as well as the safety of the meters themselves. Over the next couple of weeks, I will devoting most of my time to preparing a “persuasive” argument (even though I have no idea what they mean by that. This really is up to the individual to decide… ) But in looking over some prior files I’ve prepared, I came upon this one which is on our website under “FIRES”. Since we have many new members in the Coalition, I am providing the link.
The report is 2 years old now so there has been more data collected (although I admit that since I made my official complaint last July, I haven’t gathered as much or as regularly as I was before. I naively expected/hoped that BCUC would see that a major problem exists – no monitoring, no tracking, laws being broken – to ask for the independent investigation.). This report was sent to every MLA in the province, so the info is out there. It is just being ignored.
https://stopsmartmetersbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/TruthAboutFires-TheReport.pdf
4) In the UK, where statistics are kept and made available, the incidence of cancers, especially in young people, is increasing dramatically due, primarily, to environmental factors, including EMR.
Letters:
From: X
Sent: September 2, 2016
To: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca; Hon.jane.philpott@parl.gc.ca
Cc: Elizabeth.May.C1@parl.gc.ca
Subject: Fwd: Why WiFi Must be Banned from Schools
Dear Right Honourable Justin Trudeau:
As a parent of school children and a former BC teacher, I think you will be very interested in the battle that EHS teachers here in BC and other provinces have been fighting to have WiFi removed from schools. Right now Canadian teachers and students need your help and support – to follow HESA ‘s 12 Recommendations from their June 2015 Report, “Radiofrequency Radiation and the Health of Canadians” by immediately removing WiFi from our schools to prevent more of our school populations from falling ill to radiation exposure effects.
Many teachers and students are enduring painful and frightening severe health effects while “imprisoned” inside classrooms surrounded by strong WiFi radiation. Symptoms may include, as I have experienced, sudden loss of balance, visual disturbances, stabbing eye and ear pain, ear ringing, vertigo, facial rash, scalp numbness, heart palpitations, and short-term memory loss, to name a few. Furthermore, teachers who are unable to tolerate the strong signals all day long and unplug their classroom WiFi router are reprimanded and served Letters of Discipline by the School Board.
If even the teachers themselves are unable to pull the plug on WiFi, then who will??
This situation is occurring in every public school across this nation. Even worse, doctors are untrained in radiation exposure health effects and they and other specialists are giving false diagnoses of ANXIETY (this is a common one!), genetic heart defects, MS and Meniere’s disease (also common), causing further damage to EHS patients through misdiagnosis!
It is not widely known and understood, even by parents of students, that the daily exposure at school to strong WiFi systems and signals is overexposing our children and teachers, no matter what Health Canada or Safety Code 6 says about this. At my school work site, signals are making teaching staff light-headed, dizzy and sick by the end of a workday, and this worsens by the end of the week due to the cumulative and additive nature of RF radiation exposure. And if the WiFi in our schools is too strong for teaching staff, then it is definitely too strong for our students and children.
Imagine a small child sitting under that WiFi router all day long, with no medical vocabulary or body awareness to express their symptoms except perhaps “headache” “stomach ache” or “dizzy.” Parents and doctors are likely to dismiss these symptoms or misdiagnose as stress, anxiety, vision or hearing problem, or stomach flu. Even more confusing, the symptoms from radiation exposure are similar to a variety of illnesses. Except for this dangerous difference: RF is a class 2B Carcinogen, and “wireless radiation health effects are equitable to the same disease and latency as that of nuclear radiation exposure.” (Merry Calaghan, speech to Portland Public Schools 2013).
Proximity, duration, and signal strength are key to cautious, “safe” use of radiofrequency radiation from wireless devices used in schools today. As Dr. Devra Davis warns, “Distance is your friend.” But right now these three key factors are all in the RED zone in our classrooms. I have proof, both through my own EHS reactions with increasing illness while at school, and from the measurements on my RF meter when I measure signals in my classroom. I also arranged a meeting in 2014 with our District Health and Safety for a WorkSafe BC Injury Prevention team to come in and measure RF at our school, and all they would concede was that their measurements were within Health Canada limits. Yet many Canadians will feel health effects several orders of magnitude below Safety Code 6 limits, including children, people with chemical and environmental allergies, pregnant teachers, or anyone enduring prolonged exposures (Safety Code 6 measures only effects of 6-minutes of exposure)!
When I am within proximity of a device or signal source in my classroom I become dizzy, nauseous, lightheaded, and experience scalp numbness, chest and facial rash and excruciating eye pressure. After about ten minutes, such as during a staff meeting when I can’t move around, I get a vice-grip hammering headache and my field of vision will start to “cartwheel” rapidly. This is a sign that my CNS (central nervous system) is in electrical overload, and I need to exit fast. These excruciatingly painful symptoms take a full 24 hours to subside. And of course my EHS symptoms and sensitivity become elevated, because radiation is cumulative in the cells and systems of the human body.
Below is the link to the 2014 article I submitted for publication by BCTF magazine and website. I have been imploring the BCTF Executive, in my many subsequent emails until I was forced to retire in March this year due to my inability to work under WiFi and earn an income as a teacher, to circulate this information widely in order to prevent other teachers and students becoming chronically ill as I had. In fact, Worksafe Law demands that I report this workplace hazard!!
Today I am now severely handicapped by EHS symptoms from overexposure to WiFi at my school in Delta BC, where the school district told my administrator (principal) that they were “experimenting with the WiFi configuration” at my school. (Isn’t it against our Human Rights Code to experiment on humans?).
Forced early retirement among teachers is a common story that is unfolding in our school districts.
Below is the article that I had submitted to the BCTF Teacher Magazine, which I am now free to circulate to magazines, newspapers, and the media:
= = =
March 22, 2016
“Wi-Fried”???
But WiFi is safe, right?
Not according to Canada’s prominent leading physician and cardiologist, Dr. Hugh Scully. Teachers and students are at risk from Wi-Fi, he warned in a letter to Toronto City Council strongly opposing WiFi in public parks and spaces.
And not according to a recent report given to federal parliament from the Standing Committee on Health (HESA) in mune 2015 entitled Radiofreqeuncy Radiation and the Health of Canadians, with 12 Recommendations to protect Canadians and reduce our exposure.
If only we had been given the truth from the beginning. Instead, we were given lies and media blackout and industry cover-up. If only there had been safety protocols in place to prevent overexposure to staff and workers when WiFi systems were installed. Maybe then, myself and the other several million Canadians living with EHS would have known to take necessary safety precautions near WiFi in their workplace.
If only I had known then that the WiFi router in the school hallway15 feet from my classroom desk emitted constant RF radiation that dropped off rapidly with distance – I could have moved my desk! If only I had been warned that prolonged exposure to daily WiFi over several months would cause irreversible changes and damage to my health, career, lifestyle, and livelihood – I would have taken my marking and prep home, instead of working 10-hr days near WiFi routers.
This is not a safe technology. Wireless technology is unregulated and has never been tested for safety in the classroom.
I am a BCTF member with 25 years as a classroom teacher in my district. Last year, myself and two other colleagues who were delegates from BC locals could not attend the BCTF AGM, although we had submitted important Resolutions that could positively affect the health and career of our colleagues. Due to high levels of RF exposure in the workplace, the three of us had been afflicted with a severe WiFi allergy/sensitivity condition called EMSD (Electromagnetic Sensitivity Disorder) or EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity), which has been recognized as a disability by the Canadian Human Rights Commission since 2007. EHS is a newly-emerging condition which is a potential risk for students and teachers. Dr. Hugh Scully, a prominent cardiologist and leading Canadian physician, has stated that teachers and nurses are at greater risk because they are continuously exposed to WiFi in schools and hospitals (Scully, 2013).
Indeed, many teachers are on medical leave right now due to untreatable conditions and puzzling symptoms caused by working near strong school WiFi systems. These systems are claimed to be a hundred times stronger than your home WiFi (AAEM – American Academy of Medicine). But there is no prognosis for those who become electrohypersensitive to RF signals, because Canadian medical doctors are not trained to recognize and diagnose radiation illness or EHS symptoms. By license they are not allowed to voice their suspicion that illness could be WiFi- or RF- related. Many common symptoms triggered by RF (radiowave frequency) radiation exposure from WiFi signals and wireless devices are currently being misdiagnosed by doctors and specialists. This is an even more serious concern. Symptoms such as severe WiFi stabbing migraine, vertigo, ringing ears or tinnitus, extreme fatigue coupled with insomnia, loss of balance, intestinal disruption, heart palpitations, and even cardiac arrest are being attributed to other diseases and causes.
So this is a very strange time in education, when solitary teachers – some who are very ill from EHS symptoms – are in a position where they must speak out against their employer as they fight for their careers and health and risk certain disciplinary action for speaking against schoolboard policy. They warn staff members during meetings and endure disbelief and ridicule trying to protect students, themselves and their colleagues. Worksafe law and their guiding moral compass compels EHS teachers to take a leadership role at their AGM’s by setting Resolutions to implement safe protocol for using wireless teaching tools and WiFi in their schools, district, and province. This crusade is being led by single teachers in districts across Canada. Those in BC districts necessarily remain unnamed here or they could be disciplined for speaking against schoolboard policy. One such Alberta teacher, Marcey Kliparchuk (ATU), published a brief article in Canadian Teachers Magazine last year reporting warnings from the Canadian Teachers Federation. Cautionary warnings were also issued by OECTA (the Ontario English-Speaking Catholic Teachers Association) in their position paper against WiFi and radiation health concerns.
You will also find Resolutions recommending WiFi safety in the BCTF AGM Resolution handbook 2013 and 2014 from locals of Greater Victoria, Nicola Valley, and Delta. Unfortunately, by 2015 these teachers were too ill to attend the BCTF AGM in Victoria due to exposure to ferry WiFi and an explosion of wireless devices at conference sites. These teachers have neccessarily taken the role of pseudo-scientist/doctor as well, researching current scientific studies on RF (radiofrequency) radiation to diagnose unusual symptoms from RF. Many of these teachers are imploring that Health Canada and School Boards implement safety procedures. They have also purchased expensive personal meters to measure RF emissions, and have alerted Work Safe BC to protect staff and students from RF radiation exposure caused by industrial-strength (commercial-grade) school WiFi installations.
Fortunately for BC teachers, our past BCTF Executive has understood the complex nature of this illness and had supported members who are our EHS canaries. But most teachers have been ridiculed and humiliated when they have spoken out about health issues related to school WiFi and presented information and Resolutions at meetings of their staff or to their union locals.
When our teaching staff became aware of RF health concerns and began noticing lightheaded dizziness near WiFi routers, we voiced our concerns at a Staff Meeting. Our principal formally submitted our request that the district install switches to turn classroom routers off when not in use. The reply from district Health and Safety was that the installation of switches was “impractical at this time.” Not impossible; just impractical. Our health concerns were dismissed. Eventually my own symptoms increased after 4 months of cumulative exposure during the busy fall school term. My doctor could only recommend Work Accommodation with Medical Leave, so I very reluctantly agreed to work half-time, relinquishing control of my classroom and curriculum for the first time in my career. My pension contributions would be affected now, and saving a sizeable chunk for retirement would not be impossible working reduced hours.
There is no medically accepted diagnosis for EHS in BC or Canada at the present time, and there is no hope of filing for medical insurance or WCB claims for toxic overexposure. Even though RF was re-classified as a carcinogen in 2012 by the World Health Organization, this fact is being ignored in Canada and our federal policy follows archaic “guidelines” outlined by Health Canada’s Safety Code 6. Yet Canada’s Human Rights Commission recognizes that teachers and workers who suffer from severe symptoms at work due to their EHS symptoms – including those who are pregnant and those who suffer functional impairments caused by RF interference with hearing implants, pacemakers, cochlear implants, etc. – deserve the same consideration as other disabled persons. It is discriminatory that their right to have their needs accommodated and be treated with the same respect as other citizens is ignored by non-compliant school boards. It is a basic right that we all have equal access to work and public spaces and facilities.
This hi-jacking and uprooting of teachers’ careers and lives is an alarming and growing trend. Our experience is similar to that of other labourers and professionals who work under strong commercial-grade WiFi: surgeons and hospital staff, airline crews, bank tellers, college and university professors; the list goes on. And we, the Electrically Sensitive whose immune systems are predisposed to chemical and RF sensitivities, will only be the first group to fall. The injustice is that we didn’t ask for WiFi, we didn’t agree to it, yet we will suffer the consequences while the telecom industry profits. We have no means to support ourselves in the future even though we may have paid health insurance contributions for decades!
Experts state that in this century alone, we are being exposed to a quintillion times the amount of microwave frequency (RF) radiation than at any other time in the history of our planet. EHS and many new health conditions are emerging due to the rapid expansion of wireless technology. Over the last two decades, illnesses and diseases such as ALS, MS, brain tumours, Alzheimers, leukemia, and autism are rising exponentially, paralleling the steep rise in cordless and cell phone use since 1997. Risks from exposure to electromagnetic fields are recognized by the whole scientific community. The latest statistics from Europe indicate that 10% of the population suffers from this syndrome of intolerance to EMF – and the numbers are growing. These people are totally handicapped in their lives. Statistics in peer-reviewed publications predict that in the next 50 years, from 25 to 50% of the population will be afflicted. In the UK, experts predict that by 2017, half of that population will become electrically sensitive. Renowned researcher Cindy Sage, co-author of The BioInitiative Reports (2007, 2012, 2014), has compiled over 3800 worldwide peer-reviewed studies by independent scientists showing harmful effects from EMF/EMR radiation which cannot be ignored. In a Berkeley, California radio interview (February, 2014) Sage refers to the common misconception that humans are like our Super Heroes, and will adapt to a wireless world. Her closing comment: “We’re adapting, all right – with cancers and tumours. We’re adapting by dying.”
In June 2015 Canada’s Standing Committee on Health (HESA) submitted a report to Canadian Parliament entitled “Report on Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Radiation and the Health of Canadians.” The report lists 12 formal recommendations to parliament. Recommendation 8 aims to protect “vulnerable populations from radiofrequencies in the school environment.” There is also a section called “Exposure in Schools” (page 16) which is of particular interest to teachers, school personnel, students, and parents. Another concern addressed in the Report (page 11) is the growing number of those suffering from electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Dr. Magda Havas states here that “As many as 3% of the population, one million Canadians, have EHS symptoms that are so severe they are unable to function in our modern world.” Dr. Riina Bray also states that the number of diagnosed cases of EHS has increased dramatically in the last 10 years.
The committee also agreed that children in schools should be protected from unnecessary exposure to wireless technology, particularly when alternative technologies exist, and that the potential risks of exposure to RF fields are a serious public health issue that needs to be brought to the attention of Canadians so that they have the knowledge to use wireless devices responsibly, and are able to make decisions about the use of wireless devices in a manner that protects their health and the health of their families.
Wouldn’t it be prudent at this point in time that Canada’s school boards who are entrusted with the care of young children implement the precautionary principle, heeding Dr. Magda Havas’ advice from page 16 of this report: “Safety Code 6 should follow example by protecting the most sensitive people within our population.”
To my great discouragement, Mr. Trudeau, I do not see school boards jumping on board to pull WiFi and change their policies or implement safety protocols anytime soon.
Mr. Trudeau, we need your help to circulate this vital information and to effect change in federal policy on WiFi now present in public spaces and places, in all public schools, parks, on public transit and ferries, and in office buildings. These locations are presently off-limits and toxic to the increasing number of Canadians becoming EHS. It will become epidemic if nothing is done to curb its expansion and use.
I thank you for your compassion and support.
My WiFi article can also be found at:
http://www.citizensforsafetechnology.org/WIFRIED-Teachers-At-Risk-from-WiFi,19,4380
Yours Truly,
X m– Teacher / BCTF Member
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“The more you research, the crazier you sound to ignorant people..”
~ Author unknown