Sept 2019 Smart Meter Hearing Update MA

Smart Meter Hearing Update

Thanks so much to those who sent in testimony for the three Massachusetts utility smart meter bills!

(If you haven’t had a chance, there’s still time and every voice counts — here’s the template to make it easy.)

Yesterday nine constituents testified before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. We hope to have video to share soon.

Some highlights:

• The legislators heard personal experiences, the science, and what other states and countries are already doing to protect their citizens.
• They also heard details on National Grid’s fraudulent smart grid pilot program in Worcester, MA.
• Senate Chair Michael Barrett stopped to ask good questions about the science.
• We laid out solutions and handed both the House and Senate Chairs the roadmap to safe, sustainable technology: the policy book Reinventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and Networks.
• Industry representatives were in the hearing chamber so we got to educate them too; they chose not to testify.

We are so grateful for the tireless work of our world scientists, health care professionals, educators, advocates — and a growing number of public servants tuning into the wireless radiation issue. We know it is on your shoulders we stand as we work together to move the needle toward safe technology.

The public policy process in Massachusetts is a long one — this session goes until December 2020 but perhaps our legislators will move more swiftly now that New Hampshire and Oregon have passed wireless radiation bills into law.

The Next Bills: October 7

We just found out the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure has scheduled two more of our bills for public hearing:

Monday, October 7, 1-4 p.m.
Massachusetts State House, Gardner Auditorium

Senator Julian Cyr’s S. 129 and S. 130 seek, respectively, to:

• Form a special commission to research the impact of electromagnetic (EMR) and radiofrequency (RFR) radiation on consumer protection, public health, and technology
• Emulate the Berkeley, CA ordinance to notify the public of the fine print radiation warnings

I’ll create a template soon and ask for testimonies to be sent in again. If folks can make arrangements to testify in person too, these are perhaps our two strongest bills this session.

Geneva Switzerland moratorium on 5G

The Geneva Switzerland Cantonal Parliament has submitted a motion on Wednesday evening for a moratorium on 5G antennas in the cantonal area. The motion requires independent scientific evidence of any damage to health prior to the moratorium being lifted.

In Geneva’s Grand Council it was said that many mobile operators would explain to consumers that 5G was the same as 4G. However, the environment is increasingly burdened by electromagnetic waves and nobody knows about the health effects. The canton parliament also wants to know about the effects on animals.

With 58 to 28 votes, the council referred the motion to the government, which is now to turn to the World Health Organization for independent research.

If you love bees and trees – hate 5G

This is important for you to be aware of. Utilities are putting up 5G radiofrequency units on poles throughout the world and even President Trump wants to see it rolled out all over the USA. While you may think this will help your connectivity, it has been shown not to be that beneficial over 4G and there are numerous safer alternatives to supply service in remote areas. We don’t need an ugly group of hundred-pound units on the top of every so many poles on our street. Plus the radio-frequencies have proven to have a negative effect on not only our health but the health of nearby trees, birds and bees.

Currently, 5G technology is effective only over short distances and doesn’t penetrate through solids—requiring numerous antennae with unobstructed paths between transmitters and receivers. Wireless antennas emit microwaves – non-ionizing radiofrequency radiation – and essentially function as cell towers. Each installation can have over a thousand antennas that are transmitting simultaneously. They increase electromagnetic radiation near homes. Property values drop after a cell tower is built near homes and this ugly units will do nothing for curb appeal. Health effects to people and animals include:

• Increased Wireless Exposure– Since this new standard will require extensive towers, Users will be subjected to more cell tower radiation as it will be nearly impossible to escape wireless radiation as more wireless-enabled devices will appear on the market.
• Increased Number of Electromagnetic-Sensitivity (ES) Cases – ES is the condition in which people develop intolerances to radiation from wireless technology devices such as cell phones, cell towers, Wi-Fi, smart meters and antennas. Symptoms range from tingling and headaches to sleep disturbances, nausea and memory problems. With the increased radiation associated with 5G, we can expect to see a drastic uptick in the number ES cases. For more information on EHS go to www.safehelpsyou.org
• Negative Environmental Impacts– Wildlife is expected to be affected by the introduction of widespread 5G. It is theorized that the navigation of birds and insects (especially bees) will be disrupted and more research is required to explore the exact repercussions of Wi-Fi radiation on our environmental surrounding. According to a study by Wageningen University in the Netherlands, radio frequency signals could very well be responsible for the diseased trees, which exhibited bark tears, bleeding and leaves prematurely dying. Trees with closest proximity to Wi-Fi networks suffered from telltale indicators of radiation sickness, including a “lead-like shine” on their leaves, which is caused by the deterioration of outer-cell layers — leading to premature death of the foliage.
• *bulleted text and photo taken from the Canadian website http://c4st.org

We believe the responsible course of action is to defer 5G deployment until the full biological and environmental effects are understood. To protect our health, more research must be undertaken. Additionally, there should always be an option to opt-out from 5G technology from devices like appliances and cars—ensuring the safety of those with electromagnetic-sensitivities, the elderly and the young. – the AntiAgingLady

.During the recent years over 240 scientists from more than 40 countries have expressed their “serious concerns” , via EMF Scientists Appeal, regarding the ubiquitous and increasing exposure to EMF generated by electric and wireless devices – already before the additional 5G roll-out. The over 240 scientists refer to the fact that ”numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines”. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plants and animals.As of March 31 2019, 229 scientists and medical doctors have signed the appeal. The 5G Appeal is still open for endorsement for scientists (PhD, professor) or medical doctors (MD. Please contact professor em. Rainer Nyberg or ass. professor Lennart Hardell.  (Contact.)

Stop 5G

5G will result in a massive increase in inescapable, involuntary exposure to wireless radiation

Ground-based 5G

In order to transmit the enormous amounts of data required for the Internet of Things (IoT), 5G technology, when fully deployed, will use millimetre waves, which are poorly transmitted through solid material. This will require every carrier to install base stations every 100 metres^[1] in every urban area in the world. Unlike previous generations of wireless technology, in which a single antenna broadcasts over a wide area, 5G base stations and 5G devices will have multiple antennas arranged in “phased arrays” ^[2],[3] that work together to emit focused, steerable, laser-like beams that track each other.

Each 5G phone will contain dozens of tiny antennas, all working together to track and aim a narrowly focused beam at the nearest cell tower. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted rules ^[4] permitting the effective power of those beams to be as much as 20 watts, ten times more powerful than the levels permitted for current phones.

Each 5G base station will contain hundreds or thousands of antennas aiming multiple laser-like beams simultaneously at all cell phones and user devices in its service area. This technology is called “multiple input multiple output” or MIMO. FCC rules permit the effective radiated power of a 5G base station’s beams to be as much as 30,000 watts per 100 MHz of spectrum,^[4] or equivalently 300,000 watts per GHz of spectrum, tens to hundreds of times more powerful than the levels permitted for current base stations.

Space-based 5G

At least five companies^[5] are proposing to provide 5G from space from a combined 20,000 satellites in low- and medium-Earth orbit that will blanket the Earth with powerful, focused, steerable beams. Each satellite will emit millimetre waves with an effective radiated power of up to 5 million watts^[6] from thousands of antennas arranged in a phased array. Although the energy reaching the ground from satellites will be less than that from ground-based antennas, it will irradiate areas of the Earth not reached by other transmitters and will be additional to ground-based 5G transmissions from billions of IoT objects. Even more importantly, the satellites will be located in the Earth’s magnetosphere, which exerts a significant influence over the electrical properties of the atmosphere. The alteration of the Earth’s electromagnetic environment may be an even greater threat to life than the radiation from ground-based antennas (see below).

Harmful effects of radio frequency radiation are already proven

Even before 5G was proposed, dozens of petitions and appeals^[7] by international scientists, including the Freiburger Appeal signed by over 3,000 physicians, called for a halt to the expansion of wireless technology and a moratorium on new base stations.^[8]

In 2015, 215 scientists from 41 countries communicated their alarm to the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO).^[9] They stated that “numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF [electromagnetic fields] affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines”. More than 10,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies demonstrate harm to human health from RF radiation.^[10] [11] Effects include:

• Alteration of heart rhythm^[12]
• Altered gene expression^[13]
• Altered metabolism^[14]
• Altered stem cell development^[15]
• Cancers^[16]
• Cardiovascular disease^[17]
• Cognitive impairment^[18]
• DNA damage^[19]

• Impacts on general well-being^[20]
• Increased free radicals^[21]
• Learning and memory deficits^[22]
• Impaired sperm function and quality^[23]
• Miscarriage^[24]
• Neurological damage^[25]
• Obesity and diabetes^[26]
• Oxidative stress^[27]

 

Sign the petition to stop 5G

Click Here

Boston Globe article on cell phones and 5G

Many scientists say exposure to electromagnetic fields may pose a health hazard. They’re especially concerned about cellphones, because of their position close to the user’s head.

 

By Hiawatha Bray GLOBE STAFF  JANUARY 17, 2019

A California health activist says the Massachusetts Department of Public Health may be withholding information about possible health risks posed by cellphones and other wireless technologies.

Joel Moskowitz, director of the Center for Family and Community Health at the University of California Berkeley, said the state agency is refusing to release fact sheets about the health effects of electromagnetic fields, or EMF, that it began drafting two years ago.

“The higher-ups are very nervous about letting any of this information out to the public,” said Moskowitz. In California, Moskowitz fought a successful seven-year court battle to force that state to release guidelines for consumers on safe cellphone use.

Ann Scales, a spokeswoman for the Massachusetts agency, said the DPH plans to release the guidelines within six months.

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Moskowitz and some other activists assert that exposure to EMF, the energy given off by countless modern devices, causes a variety of health problems, ranging from sleep loss to brain cancer. They say state and federal agencies have a duty to warn the public to reduce their exposure to EMF.

But both the World Health Organization and the US Centers for Disease Control and Preventionhave said that evidence of health risks from EMF is inconclusive.

Moskowitz has joined forces with Cecelia Doucette, an Ashland resident and EMF activist who persuaded her town’s school district to set limits on student exposure to Wi-Fi radio waves. Doucette said she worked with Mass. DPH officials in 2016 to develop a fact sheet showing people how to shield themselves from Wi-Fi waves, as well as electromagnetic radiation from cellphones, cell towers, and high-voltage electric power lines.

But more than two years later, the fact sheet has yet to be released. “I don’t know why,” Doucette said. “They have not given me a reason aside from the fact that it is still under review.”

Moskowitz filed a public records request for the fact sheets with the Mass. DPH, but it was denied. Public records liaison Carolyn Wagner wrote that the document in question is exempt from the state’s disclosure law because it’s still in draft form.

Scales said that until the DPH releases its guidelines, consumers can find out about safe cellphone use from the National Institutes of Health’s National Cancer Institute, which has a Web page devoted to the subject.

Many scientists agree that EMF exposure may pose a health hazard. They’re especially concerned about cellphones, because of their position so close to the user’s head, thereby increasing the brain’s exposure to the phone’s electromagnetic field.

“The evidence that prolonged use of cellphones increases the risk of brain cancer is extremely strong,” said David Carpenter, professor of environmental health sciences at the University at Albany, State University of New York.

Carpenter pointed to recent large-scale studies in the United States and Italy that found that exposure to cellphone radio waves caused brain tumors in rats, as well as earlier studies that found evidence of increased cancer rates among heavy cellphone users.

“The degree of risk is debatable,” Carpenter said. “However, that there is a risk is really pretty clear.”

Richard Clapp, professor emeritus at Boston University’s School of Public Health, agreed. He recommended that consumers use wired earbuds to make calls instead of holding the handset to their ears.

“There’s good reason for being cautious,” Clapp said. “If you don’t have to expose yourself or you can reduce your exposure, do that.”

The World Health Organization states on its website that “to date there is no evidence to conclude that exposure to low level electromagnetic fields is harmful to human health.” Yet the WHO also lists electromagnetic fields as a “possible carcinogen.”

The controversy is likely to intensify in the years ahead with the deployment of next-generation 5G wireless systems, which operate at higher frequencies than today’s cellular systems and will require a far more transmitters.

“5G is going to put an antenna every several hundred yards in cities,” Moskowitz said. “The exposure will be substantial.”

The nation’s wireless companies plan to spend billions on 5G networks, and the Trump administration considers quick deployment of the technology a matter of national security. But Markowitz and other health activists want a moratorium on 5G technology pending more research on health risks.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at hiawatha.bray@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeTechLab.

 

Analog meter not really..

We did a test of an analog meter in Housatonic MA Nov. 2017. It obviously had an AMR chip in it as it was emitting RF frequency that we measured with our Acoustimeter. Just because it looks like an analog, don’t assume it is one. National Grid told us that some AMR’s actually look like analogs.

MA Bill to cover potential injuries from cell phones, microwaves

BOSTON (WWLP) – Devices found in and around your home, like cellphones and microwaves, emit non-ionizing radiation. Some people are concerned this could cause health problems, cancer and insomnia.

We are exposed to low levels of radiation every day and too much exposure could damage your tissue, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lawmakers are considering a bill that calls for the state to increase medical awareness and insurance coverage of injury from non-ionizing radiation: radiation that comes from sources like power lines, microwaves, cellphones and wifi devices.

Westfield State Senator Don Humason filed the bill on behalf of Holyoke resident Kristin Beatty.

“Nobody knows if cellphones are safe or wireless is safe,” Pepperell resident Keith Marciniak said. “Me, I want to protect my children. I’m a parent; I want to do my best. If you’re using this technology, you don’t know it’s safe. Well, guess what? You don’t get to use it.”

Health effects of exposure to this kind of radiation are still being researched by scientists.

http://wwlp.com/2017/11/28/proposed-bill-would-cover-potential-injuries-from-microwaves-cellphones/

MASS forerunner in bills vs EMF radiation

RT America released the film Wi-Fi Refugees today and it is being viewed by millions all over the world on their live stream. It is a 52-minute documentary on what wireless radiation is, what it does to our bodies and our planet, and what life is like for the increasing number of citizens becoming ill from it. Several Massachusetts residents are interviewed in the film:

• The clown, Jonathan Mirin, and his wife, Godlieve Richard who portrays the physician in their play Innocenzo, are from Shelburne, MA.
• Ida Paredo is from Hopkinton and she shares what happened to her health after seven “smart” meters were installed on her condo wall.
• Patricia Burke is from Millis and we see her helping Pamela Steinberg from Worcester measure the EMFs in her home, and learn how Pam has to protect herself from wireless signals coming from outside her home.
• Patricia also joins me at Ashland High School where we measure the radiation from wi-fi systems which students and staff are exposed to daily in schools throughout the Commonwealth. We also discuss how other countries protect their citizens but in America the FCC is pushing more wireless into our society with 5G, even though the current U.S. National Toxicology Program study shows it causes DNA damage, brain and heart tumors.

I have cc:d each of these courageous MA residents if you would like to reach out to them directly with questions or comments.

 

I hope you will watch Wi-Fi Refugees with your loved ones so we can all learn together and do what we can to implement technology best practices in our homes, our towns and our society at large.

 

Technology is here to stay, so the message is not “no technology” but rather “safe technology”. This can be achieved through hard-wired Ethernet/fiber optic connections, by keeping mobile devices primarily in airplane mode, moving wireless infrastructure away from homes/schools/medical facilities, and encouraging industry to bring biologically safe mobile technology to market before we install any new infrastructure.

 

Massachusetts is to be commended for leading the nation with seven bills to begin examining the health impact of wireless radiation. Hopefully we can be the catalyst to help our nation turn the tide on this invisible ubiquitous toxin. Please include this submission as testimony for:

1. S.1268 Resolve creating a special commission to examine the health impacts of electromagnetic fields
2. S.1864 An Act relative to utilities, smart meters, and ratepayers’ rights
3. S.107 An Act relative to disclosure of radiofrequency notifications
4. S.108 An Act relative to the safe use of handheld devices by children
5. H.2030 An Act relative to best management practices for wireless in schools and public institutions of higher education
6. S.2079 An Act reducing non-ionizing radiation exposure in schools
7. S.2080 An Act increasing medical awareness and insurance coverage of non-ionizing radiation injury and reliance upon credible independent medical research

April 20 deadline for comments on NG cost overruns

Comment by 4/20 by Patricia Burke  re: Smart Meter Pilot Cost Overruns

April 20 is the deadline for comments to the Department of Public Utilities regarding surcharging ratepayers $15M for cost overruns for the $45M Worcester smart meter pilot.

National Grid’s pilot did not include health monitoring, but featured safety testimony from a tobacco scientist.  In Arizona’s current utility rate case, Dr. Sam Milham M.D. M.P.H. stated,  “It is my professional opinion that smart meters are a public health hazard.”

 

Expert testimony indicates that electrical noise due to the switch mode power and radio frequency transmissions being conducted along house wiring and re-radiated into the home are causing biological harm.  Sleep deprivation (recognized by the UN as torture) is a primary health complaint associated with smart meters.

 

As reported by Lynne Weycherly in the Ecologist, “they emit as many as 14,000 short bursts of intense microwave radiation a day, disrupting cellular electrochemistry and causing health symptoms from migraine to tinnitus, insomnia, dizziness, anxiety, chest pain, palpitations and memory loss.”

 

Michigan’s Senator Colbeck testified that smart meters are at risk from EMPs (electromagnetic pulses), fires, and hacking due to: no surge protection, no conducted emissions filters, no circuit breaker between the meter and power source, and the cyber security “back door.” He endorses analogues.

 

Ratepayers should not be on the hook for excessive costs. Instead, the pilot should be investigated for violating prohibitions on human experimentation without informed consent, misrepresentation, and as a case study in misguided decision-based evidence-making that manipulated community consent. Be heard. Please comment.

http://170.63.40.34/DPU/FileRoomAPI/api/Attachments/Get/?path=17-53%2fOrder_of_Notice.pdf

Maine rules smart meters safe

The State of Maine Public Utility Commission recently received what it thinks is the ultimate verdict in the issue of electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) when the Maine Supreme Judicial Court agreed with the PUC that utility companies’ smart meters are safe and not harmful to human health and safety.

Perhaps the judge who rendered that decision ought to reconsider what’s going on regarding EHS, especially at the United Nations and their conference where EHS issues were discussed.

See http://www.naturalblaze.com/2016/01/environmental-refugees-electromagnetic-hypersensitivity-ehs-sufferers.html