Will PG&E’s SmartMeters make you sick? Critics of the devices — which are currently being installed throughout the state — say they’re hazardous because they emit electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) and radio frequencies (RF) in sufficient quantities, they claim, to cause nausea, headaches, dizziness … even brain tumors. Last week, citing such fears, the Marin County Board of Supervisors made it a crime to install the meters in some parts of the county.
But a report issued Tuesday by the California Council on Science and Technology finds little to no basis for those worries. The project team, which was chaired by HSU President Rollin Richmond, found that “Wireless smart meters, when installed and properly maintained, result in much smaller levels of radio frequency exposure than many household electronic devices … .” (See the graph below.)
Nonetheless, the report allows that there are still unanswered questions about the long-term impacts of non-thermal RF emissions (p. 14). (Guidelines from the Federal Communications Commission address only thermal effects of RF.) Again, “There is currently no conclusive scientific evidence” that such emissions are harmful, the report states, but it suggests that more research might be “prudent.”
The CCST is accepting public comments on the report through Jan. 31.
This article appears in The Daycare Drought.
I see two issues.
People may be sleeping on the other side of a wall adjacent to the meters. That’s 6 to 10 hours of continuous exposure every day.
The following phrase makes a big assumption: “when installed and properly maintained.” Will meters be inspected by PG&E on an annual basis?
In our home, the smart meter is under 10 feet away from beds in two rooms and it can’t be avoided unless we move the beds under windows (an earthquake shattering-glass hazard) or have a really awkward room arrangement.
The low dosage doesn’t bother me, but the always-on does.
Why can’t the meters phone home once per month, once per week or once a day? Why must they be always on?
Entire neighborhoods of non-stop ultra high frequency emissions can’t be good for anything. It’s common sense; no charts or graphs or science classes required. Is it any wonder why bees are disappearing? It’s an outrage. There’s no reason or excuse to install these with so much negative feedback.
The people upset about this do not have any sense of relative risk. If you want to live a long time drive less and more carefully. The chart above would suggest at the very least you should be on campaign against cell phones not smart meters. But then again one wouldn’t have the fun of throwing a public tantrum in front of elected official about the action of some evil corporation.
Richard, my life isn’t based on guaging the “relative risk” of every new risk thrown at me. This is an immediate and individual issue, nothing relative to it. I’m not in favor of cell phones all over the place either, but that’s not what this is about now, is it?
Electrons are being pushed back and forth in your home’s wires 60 times per second, every hour of every day. Lots of electrons. Billions and billions of them.
It’s not just the meters, it’s the electricity itself. And it’s close to your head, scrubbing your neurons this way, then shoving them that way just one sixtieth of a second later. Back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over again.
If you’re worried about the meters, you should be terrified of those electrons. Have the courage of your convictions. Banish PG&E from your home — tell them to take their electrons and shove it.
You should then call someone in to remove the stray electrons from your home. It shouldn’t take long, and the price is reasonable.
Anonymous 5:42, your reasoning is that because 9 fingers have already been cut off, removing the tenth won’t matter. It matters to many.
Relative risk is not a good defense of smart meters. That thinking goes, so long as there are more dangerous things in the world, I should not worry about less dangerous things (even if the lesser things present a valid danger).
Smart meters differ from microwave ovens in that they are always-on and can be located directly next to sleeping areas.
I don’t buy the not-supported-by-research claims of nausea, headaches, etc., but do wonder about a growing child sleeping within 3 or 4 feet of a smart meter for 18 years. I’ve not heard an argument for why the smart meters must be kept in an always-on state rather than phoning home on a less dramatic schedule.
If the risk of EM radiation from smartmeters is unacceptable to you, just put on a tinfoil helmet and STFU already. Maybe some tinfoil undies too.
It’s comforting to know there are people like you out there, Third Eye, who choose to side with corporate mandates over public concerns every single time an issue is thrown at us without choice.
The study above focuses only on radiation, not the broadcast signal itself, which is of big concern to many. Like infrared and ultraviolet light, just because we can’t see or hear it doesn’t mean our senses aren’t absorbing it. This is literally more noise pollution in addition to other obvious concerns.
…and how is the study above supposed to be comforting anyway? It compares a smart meter @ 3 feet vs. a microwave oven @ 2 feet, so obviously the smart meter’s output is even more comperable to the microwave when 33% closer than the study gives due. How are we supposed to believe hundreds of thousands of microwave ovens stuck to the sides of people’s homes, always on, are to be of no concern???? RIdiculous!
And you represent the public, “Right?” Which part of the public do you represent, other than neurotics and professional complainers?
If Dumb Reader can perceive the data sent by electronic signals, that is some major talent. Wi-fi hotspots must bring Dumb Reader to their knees because of the sensory overload.
And who do you represent, Third Eye? If a person chooses to use a microwave oven for a pillow, that’s their choice. It’s another issue entirely to force the decision upon everybody.
It takes little looking to see you heavily participate in blogging, Third Eye, and that you spend an inordinate amount of time ridiculing people in this manner, complaining about people’s legitimate concerns.
Third Eye represents trolls everywhere. While I know many Humboldt blogs embrace anonymous trolling (insults meant to spark arguments rather than honest debate), knowing that it’s embraced (permitted) here means this is my last post.
You know AJ, the Times Standard just introduced measures to stop anonymous comments on their site. The trolls had to go somewhere.
Holy moly, so I was able to read the report above, I encourage everybody to do so. It’s a giant commercial for smart meters, starting with the statement that the “energy crisis” during 2000-2001 led to this supposed necessity. This is the same crisis that was later determined to be manufactured BY PG&E THEMSELVES. Why no mention of that at the beginning of this report???
This report also repeatedly states that the health risks from the signals themselves, as I’ve mentioned above, are UNDETERMINED. Also, there is NO data on the effects of combined meters over an area or, as in an apartment buildings and commercial areas, clustered together. There is also no data whatsoever on the signal relay boxes to be installed on telephone poles all over areas where these meters are to be installed.
The stated benefits include new high tech jobs??? In what, reparing broken meters that pose an even greater health hazzard? It’s not mentioned that people in areas where the smart meters have already been installed are reporting no cost savings.
Rollin Richmond is a non-profiteer. HSU students would do themselves proud to grill him on the new dorms being built on campus as well. After celebrated hype over HSU’s new “green” building, these dorms are penny-pinching abominations in the face of demand for smart development.
The study above isn’t for our benefit, it’s a commercial for smart meters.
I have no affiliation with the following site, and have only read amounts of it myself. Most of what I’ve read about them is from print media. Again, these are the interference concerns NOT ADDRESSED WHATSOEVER in the study above. Please read…
http://stopsmartmeters.wordpress.com/category/interference/
Would any of these self-appointed experts on smart meters care to guess the levels of EM radiation they are absorbing from their computers?
TROLL ALERT! This one has three eyes!
Hmm… The “graph” featured in this article is really poorly made: Someone needs to take lessons in how to present data efficiently.
The graphic insults our intelligence, and really proves their misleading intentions. In their previous study, did they make cellphones seem safe by placing the sun at the high end of their chart? PG&E should pay a portion of everybody’s rent for installing a device that one has to clear an effective 6 foot diameter from, or risk the equivelant of loitering next to a microwave.
Dr. David O. Carpenter, expert on wireless technologies and public health, condemns the CCST report as poorly done.
Click https://www.schoolmoldhelp.org/content/view/2145/65/ to read the original, signed report by Dr. Carpenter as a pdf.