Transmitting Smart Meters Pose A Serious Threat To Public Health

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Category: Smart Grid & Smart Meters
Published on Saturday, 14 September 2013 22:48

Transmitting smart meters are being installed nationwide on gas, water, and electrical services, driven in part by funding for the Smart Grid Program approved as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

This is of great concern because the exposure to microwave and radiowave radiation from these meters is involuntary and continuous. The transmitting meters may not even comply with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) "safety" standards (see  http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/). However, those standards were initially designed to protect an average male from tissue heating (cooking) during a brief exposure. These standards were not designed to protect a diverse population from the non-thermal effects of continuous exposure to microwave and radiowave radiation. Therefore, these "safety" standards were not designed to protect the public from health problems under the circumstances which the meters are being used. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for a moratorium on the installation of transmitting utility meters on the basis that:

"Chronic exposure to wireless radiofrequency radiation is a preventable environmental hazard that is sufficiently well documented to warrant immediate preventative public health action."

and

"The current medical literature raises credible questions about genetic and cellular effects, hormonal effects, male fertility, blood/brain barrier damage and increased risk of certain types of cancers from RF or ELF levels similar to those emitted from “smart meters”. Children are placed at particular risk for altered brain development, and impaired learning and behavior. Further, EMF/RF adds synergistic effects to the damage observed from a range of toxic chemicals. Given the widespread, chronic, and essentially inescapable ELF/RF exposure of everyone living near a “smart meter”, the Board of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine finds it unacceptable from a public health standpoint to implement this technology until these serious medical concerns are resolved. We consider a moratorium on installation of wireless “smart meters” to be an issue of the highest importance."
The transmitting meters most often being used transmit continuously, every few seconds. This is picked up by a receiver and logged by the utility. You are exposed to the transmissions from all the meters within transmitting range. The meters often have a range of over 2 miles. Thus, the exposure is continuous and the "safety" standards the meters comply with are irrelevant to the situation. Please read this letter from the Radiation Protection Division of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the limitations of the FCC standards.

Some transmitting meters transmit at less frequent intervals, however, they still seem to be causing health problems. This could be due to the still elevated levels of radiowaves and microwaves in the neighborhood because of all the neighbors transmitters. Remember, many, many meters are transmitting at these intervals. (One person with a meter transmitting hourly reports waking at the time it transmits.)

The transmitting meters can also put high frequencies directly on home and building wiring. This can happen deliberately through signaling to electrical loads or inadvertently through poor engineering. Poorly engineered meters can cause electrical pollution by putting the transmitted signal directly on home wiring or by the way they draw power to operate. Signals in the range of 30 to 60 kHz have been measured and result from poor engineering in the way the meters obtain power from the electrical grid in order to operate. Taking the steps on the Solutions page can help alleviate symptoms being caused by the meters. Meters could be properly engineered so that they would not be highly electrically polluting. Whether deliberate or inadvertent, studies are finding high frequencies on building wiring is related to a host of health problems. Milham and Morgan found a dose-response relationship between high frequencies present on building wiring and cancer. Removing high frequencies on building wiring has improved MS symptoms, blood sugar levels, asthma, sleep quality, teacher health, headaches, ADD, and numerous other health problems. (Visit Research page to see papers.) Technical papers provide a solid electrical and biomolecular basis for these effects. A recent paper by Ozen, showed that transients induce much stronger current density levels in the human body than does the powerline 60Hz signal. A technical paper by Vignati and Giuliani discusses the authors' findings that high frequency communication signals on power lines also induce much stronger electrical currents in the human body than a low frequency signal of the same strength. The induced currents disturb normal intercellular communications. This causes harmful short-term and long-term effects. Please see the Technical page for information about properly measuring the high frequencies on building wiring that are causing health problems. There is also a simple meter that lay people can use to easily measure most high frequencies on building wiring.

The additional electrical pollution from the transmitting meters is also greatly exacerbating the ground current problem. Please see the Introduction page for more details about ground currents.

The objectives of the Smart Grid Program can be accomplished without transmitting meters and without using other technology such as high frequency communication over power lines, which are also harmful to human health. It simply requires that meters be selected that are properly engineered to meet the needs of the program without using dangerous technology. Multi-rate billing and other sophisticated metering options do not require that the meter transmit. Models are available that download periodically on phone lines, dedicated communication lines, or are read by a reader the meter reader carries. Dedicated communication cables can be used to shut off or allow on certain power consuming electronics such as air conditioners. It is essential that only meters that do not transmit or put high frequency signals on building wiring are approved for the Smart Grid Program. At this time, however, it is important to know that many new appliances are being outfitted with transmitters that transmit continuously and cannot be turned off. Be sure to ask detailed questions if you are purchasing new appliances.

The un-safeness of the "safety" standards for the continuously transmitting smart meters is apparent from the reports of health problems ranging from headaches to poor sleep to heart palpitations that begin after their installation.

Transmitted microwave and radiofrequency radiation also have the potential for causing serious long-term health consequences, even for those who do not notice overt symptoms. The majority of independent studies report similar results: impairment of cellular communication, DNA breakages, increased stress proteins, etc. Read about it in Disconnect Studies targeting cellphone and cordless phone usage are finding increased risk of brain tumors. Children seem to be particularly vulnerable. Exposure to radiofrequency radiation has also been linked to an increased risk for cancer, including lymphoma, leukemia, brain tumor (cellphones), melanoma, parotid gland tumors, and breast cancer RISKS OF CARCINOGENESIS FROM ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION OF MOBILE TELEPHONY DEVICES. A review of studies performed prior to 2007 is available at  http://www.bioinitiative.org. A recent public health study provides particularly strong evidence that we should be concerned about continuous exposure to transmitted microwave radiation. It can be found in a paper published in Pathophysiology (Volume 16, Issue 1, June 2009, Pages 43-46) Apparent decreases in Swedish public health indicators after 1997-Are they due to improved diagnostics or to environmental factors?. The authors looked at trend lines in data collected by the Swedish government and found that the introduction of cellphone technology nationwide in 1997 coincided with the beginning of an accelerating deterioration of several health indicators. Specifically, the rates of prostate cancer, brain tumors, melanomas and lung cancers in the elderly all increased dramatically. So did deaths from Alzheimer's disease, traffic accident injuries, sick leave rates, and percentage of infants born with heart problems. This paper is short and well worth reading. We should resolve the public health questions before introducing further public exposure to microwave radiation, particularly involuntary continuous exposure.

Radiowave and microwave radiation are not just a problem for people, they are causing serious problems for animals of all types and plant life as well. Please visit  http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/emr.php?id=bees and  http://www.hese-project.org/hese-uk/en/issues/ for more information.

I will be sending updates regarding the issue of transmitting smart meters out to my email list. You may join the list by typing "join email list" in the subject heading when you email the Webmaster at   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . I will also be updating the website.

If you do not have a transmitting smart meter and do not want one for health reasons, in addition to contacting your utility and Public Service Commission or Public Utility Commission in writing, please do the following:

(I am in the process of adding to this list. Please join my email list by typing "join email list" in the subject heading when you email the Webmaster at   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or check back for additional important actions you can take.) If you already have a transmitting meter and it is causing you health problems, please:

http://www.electricalpollution.com/smartmeters.html