Across the United States and Canada, utility companies are forcing the installation of the Smart Meter, a digital device to monitor electric, gas and water consumption, upon a seriously uninformed public. In areas where the meters are located outside the house, they are installed without the owner’s knowledge.
Once installed, these meters emit dangerous carcinogenic electromagnetic field radiation, and they also invade our privacy in that they monitor all electricity use in the household.
The Federal Wiretap and the Stored Electronic Communications acts state that informed consent is legally required for installation of any activity-monitoring device and that authorization for sharing of personal and private information may be given only by the originator and subject of that information.
In addition, the U.S. Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 says that a digital time-based rate Smart Meter is to be provided to customers who request it, thus indicating that this is purely an opt-in program. The utilities are portraying this act to be a mandate when it is not. Legislators in several states are informing their citizens of the right they have to opt out of having this meter installed.
Most importantly, in May 2011, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified EMF radiation as a Group 2B potential carcinogen, along with lead, DDT and chloroform.
The strongest defense against these meters is to send via certified mail a letter to your utility company saying it does not have permission to install this carcinogenic surveillance device in your home, citing the reasons and legal rights as outlined above, and emphasizing that you forbid any such installation at your address.
Some citizens in California, who have had the meter installed without their knowledge and are experiencing serious health effects, are having the meters removed and returned to their utilities. They have discovered that analog meters are available on the Internet.
More information about the Smart Meter and the dangers of EMF can be found at stopsmartmeters.org and citizensforsafetechnology.org.
Carol Scherick
Jamaica
