Smart Meter Detractors Question Health Risks Part 1

In the moments before an independent consulting firm was set to present its findings on the accuracy of Pacific Gas & Electric Co. smart meters, presenters lined up at a microphone to voice their 3-minutes-or-fewer opinions to the California Public Utilities Commission about the conflict-arousing devices.

But rather than rail against the reportedly higher electricity bills that had prompted the CPUC to commission the report, presenter after presenter talked instead about health risks.

In PG&E's case, smart meters use 1-watt radios to transmit energy data over wireless networks. Those radios emit low levels of radio waves and some studies have linked radio waves, like those that transmit cell phone communications, with illnesses including cancer while some studies have not found a connection between low levels of radio waves and illnesses. To be clear, the long term health effects of waves from smart meters specifically have not been studied, as far as I know.

At the CPUC meeting however, several women approached the microphone to say that they had suffered serious symptoms and illnesses including ringing in the ears, nausea, fatigue, and worse after their smart meters were installed. One woman said she would soon be forced to move from her home since, even though she had her electricity turned off, her neighbors' smart meters were making her sick. Another woman said her husband was dying of cancer that was connected to the radio waves from cellular phones and that she had documentation to prove it.

Doctors and a UCSF researcher questioned the health effects of the meters and said they had studied cases where the meters made some "electrically-sensitive" people sick. One woman said there are 120,000 "electrically sensitive" people in California alone.

All were concerned that putting smart meters in nearly every home in the state would amplify these problems for the afflicted. Most called directly for a moratorium on smart meters until any possible health affects can be thoroughly studied. And a petition to enact such a moratorium has been filed with the California Public Utilities Commission.

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