1) In the UK, smeter fires are blamed on poor installations. Maybe, but did anyone check the smeter itself to see if it had any of the design flaws that many smeters being used in North America have? Perhaps some of the fires in BC were due to BC Hydro using inexperienced, poorly trained people off the street who were installing smeters with only a few hours training. A terrible combination – unqualified installers and poorly designed smeters.
(click on photos to enlarge)
“But consumers are questioning whether these installations are taking place safely, amid fears the Government’s roll-out target is unrealistic.
Claire Osborne, energy expert at uSwitch.com told the Sun Online: “Smart meters have the potential to revolutionise how we use energy and will make bills cheaper in the long run.
“But poorly installed meters could be potentially dangerous. Government and suppliers are responsible for ensuring that smart meters are installed by qualified engineers who are not under pressure to install too many too quickly.””
https://www.thesun.co.uk/money/4112372/bbc-investigates-smart-meters-safety-house-fires/
2) Groups in Hawaii are becoming concerned about plans to begin to install smeters. Asking for comments. If you know anyone living in Hawaii, please share.
From: “Debra Greene, PhD” <noreply@list.moveon.org>
Sent: July 28, 2017
Subject: Smart Meters: Action Needed Now!
**Ooops! Forgot the date!
Wednesday, Aug. 2 at the J. Walter Cameron Center Auditorium (95 Mahalani Street, Wailuku, Maui).
5p presentation, 6-7:30 public Q&A. Hope to see you there!**
Aloha ,
Hawaiian Electric is seeking public comments on their “Grid Modernization” plan that calls for smart meters to be deployed “strategically rather than system-wide.” and for “expanded use of sensors and automated controls” at neighborhood circuits, among other things. With language so vague it’s hard to know what this means. Makes one wonder if it’s a ploy to pave the way for a full smart meter rollout down the road to avoid public backlash now and secure PUC approval?
Points You Can Use for Your Questions:
1) Smart meters are a public health hazard, according to Dr. Samuel Milham (physician, epidemiologist), author of Dirty Electricity, as well as over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications. The World Health Organization has declared EMFs, such as those emitted by smart meters, as a Class 2-B carcinogen (in the same category as DDT, lead and chloroform). What are you going to do to ensure the health and safety of those with smart meters?
2) Hundreds of fires, several explosions, and two deaths have been linked to smart meters. What are you going to do to ensure the health and safety of those with smart meters?
3) Swiss RE, the second largest insurance provider in the world, lists “unforeseen consequences of electromagnetic fields” as the highest risk category and EMF devices are now excluded (i.e., not insured) across markets. Why do you want to take on this liability and what are you going to do to ensure the health and safety of those with smart meters?
4) Smart meters will not make for faster grid restoration. BRIDGE recently released their 2015 Outage & Restoration Management Survey Results Summary. Over 20,000 utility employees – executives, managers, and engineers – from 90 utilities across North America were surveyed. 81% of the surveyed utilities had installed “smart” meters, but only 16% use “smart” meters as their primary source of power failure alerts. Customer calls come first. Well before “smart” meters – utilities rely on SCADA systems for outage alerts. SCADA stands for Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition. It is technology employed by utilities for decades and does not involve metering but operates at the transformer and substation level. Why are you installing expensive smart meters when they are not going to improve outage response?
5) In an official report, one of New England’s largest utilities, Northeast Utilities, criticized smart meters in detail, saying there was “no rational basis” for their implementation, and that smart meters did not reduce outages or “modernize” the electricity grid. Why are you installing expensive smart meters, that we will have to pay for when they are unnecessary for grid modernization?
6) Data collection by smart meters violates privacy and constitutes in-home surveillance. The Hawaii Civil Liberties Union has cautioned against the use of smart meters due to the potential violation of our Fourth Amendment Right to Privacy. What are you going to do to protect the privacy of those with smart meters?
7) Wireless smart meters make our electrical grid vulnerable to hacking by petty thieves and rogue nations. When even governments and global corporations are regularly hacked, what are you going to do to ensure the security of smart meter data and of our “modernized” power grid?
8) Smart meters have been shown to cost customers more by forcing people to reduce consumption and pay higher prices. What will you do to keep needy families from being penalized by these meters?
Comment by email until August 9:
gridmod@hawaiianelectric.com
Attend the meeting on Maui:
Cameron Center, Kahului. At 5 p.m. an overview of the plan will be presented, followed by a question and answer session from 6-7:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.
Public opinion gathered from this meeting and others held on O‘ahu and Hawai‘i Island will be included in the final plan to be submitted to the PUC at the end of August.
The draft plan and related documents are available at https://mauielectric.com/gridmod.
Mahalo,
Debra Greene, PhD
on behalf of www.KeepYourPower.org
3) There is significant evidence that RF can and does cause biological effects of all sorts. Why isn’t that enough for the government to demand that the public be warned, that the Precautionary Principle be implemented re. cell phones, for example? Many people are getting brain cancers but no agency is tracking. The old saying seems to apply: If you don’t look, you can’t find.
“Cellphones have been in mainstream usage for under two decades, and yet “radiation-induced brain tumors normally take about 10 to 15 years to develop,” wrote M. Nathaniel Mead in a 2008 essay for the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Yet an astronomical spike in incidences of malignant brain tumors—the kind you might look for if cellphones really do cause cancer—hasn’t been recorded.” (Emphasis is mine. Notice the word “recorded”.)
Letters:
Subject: Citizen submission re 5G [http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/sf11300.html]
Ladies & gentlemen;
As an electro hypersensitive senior woman, who already suffers diagnosed health Issues (cardiac and neurological ones) from various electro magnetic fields, which limit where I can go, and what I can or cannot do, I am horrified at the prospect of the 5G technology getting rolled out!
Where are the safe zones reserved for electro hypersensitives like me, and an estimated 5% of Canadians?
What about the health of my children and grandchildren, as well as yours? Are they all to be sacrificed on the altar of corporate profits? Isn’t greed a sin? Well it certainly is unethical!
HERE are just a few REASONS why I am concerned about this new 5G technology:
Many radiation emitting antennae within meters of homes and schools – Intensive infrastructure will be required because 5G technology is effective only over short distances, and is poorly transmitted through solids. This requires unobstructed paths between transmitters and receivers. Thus, many antennae are necessary, preferably line-of-sight. As a result, full-scale implementation could result in “small” yet powerful antennae every 2 to 10 houses in residential areas.1
1. Concern regarding health effects – There is strong scientific evidence that the radiation we are now being exposed to from 3G and 4G has serious adverse effects on human health.2 The new spectrum proposed to be licensed has undergone very little research on human health effects. Neither Health Canada nor Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada can point to any peer-reviewed evidence-based science that shows 5G technology is safe.3 What we do know is of concern.
2. Cancer concerns – All radiation from wireless devices has been designated a Class 2B, possible human carcinogen by the World Health Organization.4 Lead and DDT are in the same category.
3. Skin will be most affected – 5G radiation is chiefly absorbed by the skin, the largest organ of the body. 5,6,7,8 The importance of an informed, precautionary approach is magnified due to interactions between wireless radiation and chemical toxicants.9 As one example, some toxicants can concentrate in the skin, and interactions with wireless radiation may be one reason for increasing incidence of skin cancers on non-sun-exposed skin. 5G may magnify and accelerate this issue.
4. Adverse effects demonstrated in military applications – We simply do not know the full effects of the 5G pulsed frequencies. As outlined by the Environmental Health Trust, we do know for frequencies just above 5G that “…the U.S., Russian and Chinese defense agencies have been developing weapons that rely on the capability of this electromagnetic frequency range to induce unpleasant burning sensations on the skin as a form of crowd control. Millimeter waves are utilized by the U.S. Army in crowd dispersal guns called Active Denial Systems. 10 This is exploiting the fact that sweat ducts may act as antennae for sub-millimetre wavelength radiation, that can cause point heating and pain.11
5. Treatments with millimetre wave frequencies in trials have effectively treated headache, arthritic, neuropathic and acute postoperative pain.12
6. Inadequate safety standards – Over 224 scientists from 41 nations, who have published peer-reviewed papers on the biological or health effects of non-ionizing radiation13, made the following statement on May 11, 2015: “These findings justify our appeal to the United Nations (UN) and, all member States in the world, to encourage the World Health Organization (WHO) to exert strong leadership in fostering the development of more protective EMF guidelines, encouraging precautionary measures, and educating the public about health risks, particularly risk to children and fetal development. By not taking action, the WHO is failing to fulfill its role as the preeminent international public health agency.”14
7. While Innovation, Science and Economic Development is trying to sort our licensing issues, Canadian companies are implementing 5G pilots:
8. We should learn from past public health disasters. In Canada, our track record of protecting Canadians in a timely manner is not exemplary when you consider the ongoing delays regarding asbestos, cigarette smoking and bisphenol-A (BPA), as well as thalidomide and urea formaldehyde insulation in the past. The growing scientific evidence indicates that exposure from wireless device emissions are becoming a public health catastrophe of comparable magnitude.
9. More uncertainty – Dr. Cindy Russell’s article “A 5G Wireless Future: Will It Give Us a Smart Nation or Contribute to An Unhealthy One? ” asks good questions challenging the North American industries’ plans to roll out 5G technology.15
There are others, if one were to consider a citizen’s democratic rights to live in a healthy environment, for example. Where is the provision being made for safe non-radiating zones?
Are we to be told by some bureaucracy (friendly to the industry bottom line) what is or is not safe?
Are we to be judged by doctors who are not well informed of the thousands of independent studies showing harm, that it is all in our heads, and therefore totally safe to be irradiated 24/7/365 for years?
Who will pay for the future class action suits when this becomes another tobacco or asbestos type certainty? Us taxpayers?
Please be sensible and compassionate! Remember that in almost every major religion there is a teaching like the following Buddhist scripture:
“Remember that all creatures are like unto you; do not cause them pain and fear”. And the Torah says: “That which is hateful to you do not do to others”, and the familiar Bible teaching: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you!”
We can look upon these teachings both as spiritual but also as good common sense, teaching us how to live on this earth in harmony and good health!
Just imagine yourself being electro hyper sensitive! It is estimated that in the next 2 decades, 20% of us will be! It may include you! Would you prefer to live in a healthy world or one that is like a war zone of EM weapons (which do exist).
Sharon Noble
Director, Coalition to Stop Smart Meters
“The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.”
~ B.F. Skinner