Doctors Warning: “Avoid Smart Meter Radiation”

Posted on July 14, 2012 by Josh Hart

Avoid smart meters- Doctor's orders!!

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), an “international association of physicians and other professionals interested in the clinical aspects of humans and their environment,” have released recommendations for patients with a broad array of illnesses and symptoms to avoid exposure to digital smart meters now being deployed internationally by governments and utilities.

The recommendation, which includes reference to 20 peer-reviewed studies showing biological harm from wireless technologies, indicates that patients with neurological, neurodegenerative diseases, genetic defects, cancer, and other conditions would benefit from avoiding pulsed RF radiation from smart meters.  The recommendation says:

“Physicians of the American Academy of Environmental Medicine recognize that patients are being adversely impacted by electromagnetic frequency (EMF) and radiofrequency (RF) fields and are becoming more electromagnetically sensitive.

The AAEM recommends: that no Smart Meters be on these patients’ homes, (and) that Smart Meters be removed within a reasonable distance of patients’ homes…”

This medical testimony is yet one more arrow in the quiver of those fighting the smart grid on medical disability and accessibility grounds.  For those who suffer pain or ill effects from smart meter microwave radiation, the very least accommodation that the utility must provide is a zone of safety around one’s home.  Any less can constitute forcible eviction and is a clear violation of human rights.

There is no “opt out” or “free choice” when the meter on your neighbor’s house 10 feet away is blasting you 24/7 and you are in agony in your own home.  The AAEM’s medical recommendation asserts this basic fact and will now enter into play in state commission proceedings on the smart meter health issue nationally and internationally.

Because wireless can also cause illnesses and sensitivities, those who are healthy also have the right to avoid exposure.   And of course no one- sick or healthy should have to pay a penalty protection racket fee simply to protect their own safety.

The Center for Electrosmog Prevention suggests that people consider filing a discrimination complaint with the federal government if utilities fail to accommodate these medical requirements.

For more on the increasing medical consensus around wireless biological harm, debate about smart meters in the Quebecois press, and a statement for MD’s to sign on to, see here.

For a California briefing that makes a good argument about smart meter opt out fee ADA violations, download this pdf: SMARTMETERS-ADA_Smart_Meter_Briefing_PDFA[1]

Posted in AAEM, Cancer, Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity, EMF Mitigation, Environmental Concerns, health effects, Health studies, Physicians, radio-frequency radiation, Safety | 20 Comments

Texans Fight Back: March on the Capitol Tomorrow

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Josh Hart

This just in:

AUSTIN, Texas–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Texans are gathering tomorrow for their freedom to choose to have “Smart Meters” installed or removed on the steps of the Austin’s capital tomorrow from 9:00 a.m. until the state takes up item 14 on Project 40404. Over 1 million Smart Meters were installed in Texas by a silent force. Now Texans are fighting. Consumers never had a right to choose and were smacked with additional fees. The electric monopolies like Oncor Energy and Centerpoint Energy used scare tactics, such as threatening to shut off power and fines for tampering if customers did not succumb, according to Ban Texas Smart Meters. The Austin protest today is in response to Devvy Kid, Journalist and Activist getting repeatedly refused a trial by the PUC because of technicalities. This is just another instance of Texans standing up for their freedoms.

Utility companies are swapping out electric, gas and water analog utility meters and replacing them with pulsed microwave radiation (RF) Smart Meters, which are costing consumers more money, privacy, and there has been numerous health and safety issues documented. The new Smart Meter network is a 2-way data collection system with collection points on some consumer homes or businesses that may serve up to 5000 customers’ meters. The collection points are assigned to certain customer homes or businesses without customers’ knowledge or consent; the customer is exposed to higher levels of continuous radiation. Additionally, it is unlawful to use one customer’s premises to service another customer.  After consumer and state officials push back to the utility companies outside of Texas, some utility companies allowed opt-outs, including California, Maine, Nevada and Oregon. Smart meters got a big boost in 2009, when the Obama administration devoted $3.5 billion of its $787 billion economic stimulus package to grants to help utilities install the new technology. Most states with opt-outs can charge fees for not switching over. In addition to the health and the freedom to choose controversy, people are wondering why the extra fees when the labor is smaller, the systems are “more energy efficient” and their tax dollars paid them to make the transition.
The march is being led by a web based organization called Ban Texas Smart Meters. Their goal is to halt further installation, ban the product all together or force utility companies to add opt-outs.

Contacts: http://www.bantexassmartmeters.com.
Ban Texas Smart Meters
Cindy Carriger
Cindy@BanTexasSmartMeters.com
KEYWORDS: Smart Meters, Texas, fighting, marching, freedoms, right to choose

Posted in Citizen rebellion, Democracy, Federal Government, neighborhood organizing, Smart Grid, Texas | 5 Comments

PG&E Attempts to Muzzle Incriminating Details Emerging from Widening Smart Meter Spy Scandal

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Josh Hart

PG&E's proposed redactions in the CPUC investigative report make it fairly obvious that their entire senior management team- at the very least- knew about the identity falsification and spying and did nothing to prevent it

 CPUC Investigation Reveals that Senior Execs Knew About- and Condoned  Spying on Stop Smart Meters! and EMF Safety Network

SAN FRANCISCO – While public anger continues to simmer over the imposition of illegal[1] and extortionate smart meter ‘opt out’ fees that continue to be hotly disputed at the California Public Utilities Commission, a CPUC Administrative Law Judge is set to decide this Friday July 13th how to respond to a Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) protective order attempting to seal details of how the head of PG&E’s entire SmartMeter program- along with the top management of PG&E- infiltrated and spied on health advocacy groups opposed to the new meters nearly two years ago.

In the Autumn of 2010, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the largest utility in the country, was rolling out the first major U.S. smart meter deployment in California, and facing a tsunami of public opposition.  Responding to widespread reports of health issues following installation, overcharging, and alarm about privacy violations, local governments were scrambling to pass laws prohibiting smart meters[2], and protest groups were successfully blockading installation yards in Sonoma and Santa Cruz Counties. It appeared that what was going on in California might be putting the utility industry’s entire “smart grid” plans at risk (and by many accounts- it is).  Executives responsible for the program were under an incredible amount of pressure to derail growing protests, cover up flaws in the project and prevent the facts about cheap, untested meters, electrical fires, health damage, privacy violations, and inaccurate billing- from spreading, putting at risk billions of profits to utility shareholders.

Instead of working with community groups to identify and correct hazards, top PG&E executives decided to spy on their “opponents.” William Devereaux was the Senior Director of PG&E’s smart meter program and the public face of Smart Meters in California between October 2009 and November 2010.  He appeared at many community and local government meetings throughout PG&E’s service territory, vouching for the safety and benefits of PG&E’s smart meters.   According to the CPUC’s Investigation on the Commission’s Own Motion into the Operations and Practices of Pacific Gas and Electric Company regarding Anti-Smart Meter Consumer Groups[3], Devereaux posed as Ralph Florea, an anti-smart meter protester.  He began to spy on anti-smart meter groups in September 2010, forwarding private e-mails from activists and suggesting to other PG&E executives that they sign up for the private discussion lists as activists also.  Finally, on Nov. 4th, 2010 Devereaux’s deceit was discovered when he tried to join a state-wide anti-smart meter coalition e-mail group, and his e-mail program betrayed his true identity.   At the time, Devereaux was attempting to access a private forum dedicated to discussing strategy surrounding the EMF Safety Network’s legal proceeding- opposing SmartMeters on public health grounds at the CPUC, a position that has been backed up by physicians groups such as the American Academy of Environmental Medicine[4].  Devereaux admitted to the spying, resigned from his position at PG&E, and now works for Oracle as VP of Industry Strategy, where spying on the customers is apparently considered a career boost.

PG&E also hired the Edelman Group- a corporate security firm- to spy on activists including Josh Hart Director of Stop Smart Meters!  PG&E employees and contractors referred to these community groups in e-mails as “slackers” and “insurgents.”  Another said, “This is fun.  No one said espionage in the job description.”  After a smart meter installation yard was shut down by mass protests in Santa Cruz County for more than a year after PG&E shied away from ordering arrests, one executive comments:

“no coffee and donuts.” (apparently police and arrests) “We will give them the platform they are looking for if we do that.”

The last thing that PG&E wanted was more press coverage to be given to anti-smart meter protesters, because of the evidence they possess that smart meters pose an urgent health and safety hazard.  Ironically, that’s exactly what PG&E has handed them by infiltrating their groups.

Many of the executives who were found complicit in the spying continue to occupy top management positions within PG&E, a fact the company is seeking to suppress with its protection order.  PG&E’s lawyers are arguing that the safety of the executives will be put at risk if they are publicly identified in the CPUC report.  The company’s motion for protection order states:

“Throughout the roll-out of PG&E’s SmartMeter™ program, PG&E’s employees, contractors and some customers have been subjected to escalating threats and particular threatened or actual acts of violence by anti-SmartMeter™ protestors….Based on…the history of hostility and risk of harm, the public interest in the safety of PG&E employees outweighs the public interest that would be served by public disclosure of individual names.”

No evidence to back up these claims was provided by PG&E or their lawyers.  In response, Joshua Hart, Director of Stop Smart Meters! stated: “PG&E is attempting to distract from the illegal and deceitful acts of its top executives, people in public positions who are relied upon to provide safe and reliable utility service. The only violence has been carried out by PG&E and other utilities, who have threatened, coerced, lied, trespassed, and assaulted the residents of this state with unwanted, invasive and badly designed technology.  PG&E’s executives have more to fear from the smart meter on the side of their home than any peaceful protestor. Though we hear that many PG&E employees are in fact opting to keep their analog meters- for free.  An apparent company perk.”

Privacy and civil liberties advocates are watching this case and asking if we can’t trust the utility industry not to read our e-mails and spy on us, how can we trust them not to share details of our private lives that they acquire from the smart meter?”

Consumer groups and those opposed to smart meters say they will be watching carefully to see whether the CPUC releases full, unredacted copies of e-mails showing misconduct, particularly those that reveal how CPUC staff were involved with the spying, what they knew and when. To date, only heavily redacted documents have been released to the public by the utility and the regulatory agency.  The documents did include private e-mails that PG&E obtained through their spying, further angering the victims of the infiltration.

A hearing at the CPUC is scheduled for this Friday, July 13th 2012 at 1:30pm. ALJ Vieth will decide whether to approve PG&E’s “protection order” sealing the executives’ identities and details of the spying activities. California Public Utilities Commission 505 Van Ness Ave. San Francisco  The Public and Press are free to attend.  Following the hearing, representatives of the anti-smart meter groups which were affected by PG&E’s infiltration will make a statement to the press.

Update July 14th: At the hearing yesterday, a documentary filmmaker as well as PBS Newshour were denied the right to film the proceedings.  Judge Vieth pressured PG&E’s lawyers to withdraw their redaction requests and the name of Greg Kiraly, Devereaux’s former boss, was made public.  Kiraly knew about the spying and appears to have been directly involved.  No wonder he looked pale when we had lunch with him a couple of months after the scandal broke in the news!  Stop Smart Meters! demands that Kiraly, and all executives involved in this deceit, resign immediately.  Judge Vieth indicated that she and Commissioner Florio will rule on PG&E’s protective order in writing, shortly.  We will report that decision on this website as soon as it is announced, and continue to cover these hearings as they continue into the fall.

New evidence of PG&E’s wrongdoing is sure to surface.

More info:

PG&E Protection Order and Redacted CPUC Investigation

PG&E’s Lying and Spying May Cost Them

https://stopsmartmeters.org/2012/04/26/pges-lying-and-spying-may-cost-them/

PG&E Opt Out Fees “Suspended”

https://stopsmartmeters.org/2012/04/25/cpuc-pge-smart-meter-opt-out-fees-suspended/

San Francisco Chronicle Coverage

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/28/BUHI1O944E.DTL

San Jose Mercury Coverage

http://www.mercurynews.com/pge/ci_20481577/pge-employee-who-spied-activists-support-management-cpuc

Posted in California, Citizen rebellion, CPUC, health effects, Installer Threats and Assaults, PG&E, Privacy, San Francisco, Santa Cruz County, Smart Grid | 15 Comments

‘Electro-Sensitive’ or ‘Electromagnetically Aware’?

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Josh Hart

I was speaking with Josh del Sol from Vancouver the other day.  Josh is the Producer of the forthcoming documentary feature film Take Back Your Power about the Smart Grid deployment and growing global resistance to it.  He mentioned that he believes there is beginning to be a shift in how people view the relationship between EMF electrosmog pollution and what’s been called “electro-sensitivity,” both of which are being significantly increased by the so called “smart” grid- a bloated, dangerous and invasive beast being paid for by our taxes and utility bills.

We are literally being microwaved- and then billed for it. 

Perhaps a better term for the ability to feel the waves- Josh suggests- is ‘electromagnetically aware.’

The effects of wireless technology- even on doctors- can no longer be reasonably denied by industry.  The question is- what is an effective policy response?  Does it include placing millions of pulsing microwave emitting antennas throughout every community?

While those who have been injured by cell phone or smart meter radiation often wish to “get over” their symptoms as soon as possible and be able to live their ordinary lives without pain in the thick of the electrosmog, a growing understanding categorizes “electro-sensitivity” or EHS- as a sort of ‘ability’- the sensory capacity to recognize when one is being exposed to a toxic agent, which enables an effective response measures (avoidance, adaptation, activism, etc).  The simple act of using a cord instead.

The demise of canaries warned coal miners when there was a gas leak, so they could evacuate the mine. The miners who called the bird a 'paranoid tin foil hat crazy' afraid of something completely harmless, invisible and odorless like natural gas- didn't typically last too long.

A living nightmare for many, the ability to detect- and often suffer from- wireless signals may ironically end up saving your life.  As we reported in November, the ability of biological organisms to interpret- and interact with electrical field data- is actually widespread in nature.  And we are- lest we forget (and it appears that the executives responsible for this debacle have) – all biological organisms.

Instead of medicating those who report pain and health damage from wireless communications, maybe we need to shift our focus to the source.

Let’s hear from those personally affected and now working toward a solution:

Angela Flynn, Green Evolution:

“It may be that we are all suffering from over reactive immune responses, but it also may be that we are creating a very toxic world and our adverse reactions are a blessing in disguise.

According to Gaia Health, the recent report from the CDC that the rate of autism is 1 out of 88 children is not a true accounting.  From their research they speculate that the rate may be as high as 1 out of 6 children.  This should be sounding alarms all over the world.  I do believe that my marked adverse reaction to toxic chemicals and EMF/RF is a valid response.  I don’t want to cure myself into getting cancer, etc.

For example, I am currently house sitting at a house that has a Smart Meter.  I cannot get decent sleep here.  I believe this is a healthy reaction to a toxic environment and that a healthy response is to change my environment.  If I retrain my brain to not react to toxins it seems likely to me that I will suffer the consequences of allowing increased exposures to toxins.”

Shane Gregory, SmartMeterHealthAlert.org:

“I so agree with your perspective on this.  Initially I cursed my body for being so reactive to EMF/RF.  It has caused me so much pain — the loss of my home, ongoing homelessness, and great sadness that I cannot live fully and freely in a world that was hospitable until one year ago.

Now I have a different viewpoint.  As inconvenient as it is being, I am thankful that I am a sensitive receptor.  I am thankful that my body knows when it is in the presence of something harmful.  I am thankful that I can share my “sensing” with others so that they, too, can become aware of what might be causing their recent health problems.

Prior to leaving Burbank, I checked in with my neighbors in the small bungalow complex where I lived.  EVERY person living there had begun to notice that they weren’t feeling normal after the smart meters were installed.  Examples:  The hale-and hearty-fisherman who lived across the garden from me said he hadn’t slept for more than an hour, the 20-somethings were having daily headaches and I couldn’t help but notice that they were arguing all the time, the 40-something woman living in the building next door suspected she was starting menopause because of increased irritability and insomnia (8 smart meters had been installed directly below her bedroom) that drove her into her living room, the little kids next door began to scream and cry all the time, the 30-something woman upstairs was having daily headaches and exhaustion, the writer across the way developed blood pressure problems, and I was only able to tolerate my apartment for 4 hours at a time.

I think this small sample bears out what some of us already know for sure:  our bodies were not designed to thrive in the presence of pulsed non-ionizing radiation no matter what the FCC and the corporate interests have to say!!

We are able to smell tainted food so that we will avoid that which will make us sick, pregnant women often experience a heightened sensitivity and aversion to things that will harm a fetus.  I think that those of us with EHS are receiving warning messages that ought not to be ignored; I think that our bodies are not in need of being healed or fixed.  It’s the poison that needs to go.”

What do you think?   Is electro-sensitivity a ‘minority’ issue that can be ‘cured’ or are we going to have to curtail- or even remove- the use of wireless technology altogether from society?  Are telecommunications and utility companies violating laws including the Americans with Disabilities Act and US Constitution- not to mention basic human rights- just for the sake of corporate convenience, profit and power?

How did we end up here?  How do we change course?

Posted in Cancer, Cell phones, Citizen rebellion, Electro-Hyper-Sensitivity, EMF Mitigation, Environmental Concerns, FCC, Federal Government, health effects, neighborhood organizing, radio-frequency radiation, Smart Grid | 9 Comments

EMF Safety Network to File Lawsuit Against CPUC

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Josh Hart

Is it just us or would the EMF Safety Network logo make a fantastic superhero outfit?

Yesterday, Sonoma County CA based EMF Safety Network, a close ally of Stop Smart Meters! announced it intends to file a lawsuit against the California Public Utilities Commission by July 11th for ignoring substantial evidence- in the record- of harm from smart meters deployed on  homes and businesses. According to the Network:

“The CPUC has NEVER addressed the health and safety impacts of Smart Meters.  They’ve only provided an opt out with a penalty.  The CPUC has buried it’s head in the sand and rubber stamped PG&E claims of Smart Meter safety!”

Lawsuits aren’t free.  Many people are working very hard– publicly and behind the scenes- to obtain justice for the growing number of smart grid victims out there.  We applaud the EMF Safety Network for sticking it out for nearly 3 years, fighting to obtain justice from a regulatory agency hopelessly intertwined with the industries it is charged with regulating. The Network is attempting to raise $25,000 for this legal challenge.

We will be donating to help meet that goal.  We hope you will too!

Click here to find out more and to make a donation today.

Posted in California, Citizen rebellion, CPUC, health effects, legal issues, PG&E, Safety | 9 Comments