Smart meters are digital display, electric utility meters that transmit information wirelessly to the utility companies using RF (radio frequency) signals.
Analog meters are the "old style" of meter (with the small dials on the front) and do NOT transmit or communicate wirelessly.
Some states have implemented an "opt-out" process that allows customers to continue using an analog meter on their homes.
Smart meters are harmful to humans and pets, and they also cause fires and explosions and can be used for surveillance.
This page focuses on the health effects of devices that transmit using RF (radio frequency) signals. Here is a partial list:
- Tumors and cancer
- Neurological damage, memory problems
- Genetic and hormonal changes, sperm damage
- Degradation of immunity
- Detached (or torn) retinas (seeing flashing lights in your eyes)
- Eye pain, vision problems
- Migraines, pressure in the head
- Agitation
- Damages DNA
- Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
- Nausea
- Disturbance of voltage-gated calcium channels
- Numbness
- Dizziness
- Pregnancy complications, miscarriages
- Damages the blood-brain barrier
- Heart palpitations
- Inability to sleep, insomnia, fatigue
- Tingling, burning skin, rashes
- Involuntary muscle contractions, spasms, cramps
Note:
A more complete list of health effects can be found in the next column under the 1971 report by the Naval Medical Research Institute.
The following information is from an article titled "Smart Meters--Not So Smart; How Dangerous and Expensive Became "Smart"--An Expose' of the Smart Grid."
Across the U.S. installers continue to replace comparatively safe analog (mechanical) utility meters with digital “smart” meters for electrical, gas and water services. Most of the new meters are wireless two-way transmitters that pulse signals to communicate continuously between your home, school, or workplace and utility companies miles away. The new meters are part of a nationwide project dubbed Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Most folks call this evolving make-over the “smart grid.”
The AMI “smart” meter records electrical consumption data and sends the information wirelessly to energy system managers. “Smart” meters can be programmed to read and transmit data monthly, or up to every fifteen seconds. Data may be relayed by systems similar to mobile phones or Wi-Fi.
AMI is nested within the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, and the federal government has shoveled an estimated eleven billion dollars into incentive programs for utilities that participate.
To see a chart showing the total federal grant awards for every state, click here.
AMI is calibrated to expose all Americans to three new and powerful sources of microwave radiation: “smart” meters, “smart” appliances, and a ubiquitous network of antennas on utility poles and cell towers in urban and rural neighborhoods. Neither the federal government nor grid profiteers have undertaken a single public health study about the long-term health effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from “smart” meters. Yet medical literature is now loaded with peer-reviewed studies about the non-thermal biological effects of exposure to EMR.
Peer-reviewed studies report DNA damage, abnormal genetic and hormonal changes, sperm damage, pregnancy complications, weakening of the blood-brain barrier, disturbance of voltage-gated calcium channels (for example, in the heart), degradation of immunity, and certain types of cancers.
Especially worrisome, says AAEM, is mounting evidence that inescapable electromagnetic fields exposure from smart meters places children at particular risk for altered brain development and for impaired learning and behavior. These concerns are corroborated by the blockbuster BioInitiative Report 2012. Produced by twenty-nine medical and public health experts from ten countries, the BioInitiative Report offers a meta-analysis of over eighteen hundred new scientific studies showing that chronic exposure to both ELF and microwaves poses a serious health hazard.
In addition, some residents within AMI mesh networks may also have “Medusa” meters on their property. One investigator reports: “A utility whistle blower told us about a special smart meter—a mini cell phone tower. This collection device receives data and more radiation from five hundred to seven hundred surrounding meters and uses the customer’s premises to serve as a relay station to transmit other neighbors’ data along the mesh network to collection points. These Medusa meters are deployed upon properties without the owner’s knowledge or consent. The utilities select a property for this meter based upon easy meter access to the street, no locked gates or dogs and good customer payment history. . . Utilities reward good customers with a Medusa meter and bathe their homes with additional toxic radiation.”
Source: January 19, 2015, report titled "Smart Meters--Not So Smart; How Dangerous and Expensive Became "Smart"--An Expose' of the Smart Grid. Click
here.
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) lists radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as a Class 2B carcinogen.
This is the first time in history that a known carcinogen has been mandated (by the government) to be placed on all homes, schools and buildings.
Source: World Health Organization press release issued May 31, 2011. Click here.
Smart Meters Cause Massive Changes to the Heart. July 25, 2018.
An expert in smart meter microwave transmission power has published new research showing that, contrary to the official government narrative, the radiation emitted from smart meters directly interferes with normal heart function.
To come to this conclusion, Warren Woodward connected himself to an EKG monitor while lying near an Elster smart meter, which was connected to a high-frequency analyzer that measures microwave frequencies.
As it alternated between normal readings of 00.1 and 00.2, a monitor display showed that Woodward’s heart patterns were normal and symmetrical. But during times when it spiked to 139.3 – this being the time when the smart meter initiated data transmissions – Woodward’s EKG pattern changed dramatically in response.
In other words, when the smart meter was not sending high amounts of power, Woodward’s EKG readings were normal and natural. But when it kicked into higher output mode, the changes were “massive.”
Brief periods of alteration to normal heart rhythm aren’t much to worry about. But when these irregularities are ongoing, the heart can end up working too hard, resulting in fatigued cardiac function.
Dr. Gilberto Leon, a holistic medicine doctor from Chandler, Arizona, warns about this. He says that changes to the heart caused by smart meters are anything but symptomless or “silent,” and that major damage can take place without people even realizing it.
The constant bombardment of microwave radiation from smart meters represents “an unnatural sequence of events that we’re not programmed to respond to,” he says. Long-term exposure to smart meters, he says, can be extremely damaging to normal myocardial function.
Source: July 25, 2018, article published on newstarget.com. Click here.
Comments from Dr. William Rea, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon, Environmental Medicine
Dr. William Rea shares insights about electrical hypersensitivity gleaned from nearly thirty years of working with environmentally ill patients.
Rea opened by saying that human beings are all antennas with different levels of sensitivity.
He has observed a high correlation with sensitivity to metals like zinc, copper, stainless steel, titanium, molybdenum, manganese, and magnesium.
Metal implants like dental fillings, metal jaws, shoulder joints, etc. will contribute to electrical sensitivity, because they act as antennas.
Source: WEEP News article, January 31, 2012. Click here.
Wireless smart meters typically produce atypical, relatively potent and very short pulsed RF/microwaves whose biological effects have never been fully tested. They emit these millisecond-long RF bursts on average 9,600 times a day with a maximum of 190,000 daily transmissions.
Imagine what is happening to the human body!!
(See Myth #6 from the utility companies in the right-hand column.)
American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM). July 12, 2012. Recommendations regarding Electromagnetic and Radiofrequency Exposure.
The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) has published a paper titled "Electromagnetic and Radiofrequency Fields Effect on Human Health" (includes smart meters). Here is an excerpt:
Because Smart Meters produce Radiofrequency emissions, it is recommended that patients with the above conditions and disabilities be accommodated to protect their health. The AAEM recommends: that no Smart Meters be on these patients’ homes, that Smart Meters be removed within a reasonable distance of patients’ homes depending on the patients’ perception and/or symptoms, and that no collection meters be placed near patients’ homes depending on patients’ perception and/or symptoms.
Source: American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM), July 12, 2012. Recommendations regarding Electromagnetic and Radiofrequency Exposure. Click here.
Genetic damage, reproductive defects, cancer, neurological degeneration and nervous system dysfunction, immune system dysfunction, cognitive effects, protein and peptide damage, kidney damage, and developmental effects (from RF exposure) have all been reported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
Source: American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) position statement titled Electromagnetic and Radiofrequency Fields Effect on Human Health. Click here.
Comments from Jerry Flynn, a retired Canadian Armed Forces captain with specialized training and 22 years of experience in Electronic Warfare and Signals Intelligence.
Flynn has worked with U.S. and NATO armies in this specialized capacity. He writes:
“Pulsed non-thermal radiation, which is emitted by smart meters, is far more damaging at the body’s cellular level to all life forms than any other technology ever devised by man. Militaries of the world have known for more than 50 years that RF/microwaves are the perfect weapon. Today, democratic governments are knowingly and callously authorizing untested (for safety) smart meters to operate (emitting pulsed non-thermal radiation) at the most lethal frequencies known to man.”
Source: April 20, 2016 article titled "Smart Meter Dangers, Who Knew and Did Not Sound the Alarm?" Click here.
Comments from Dr. David O. Carpenter and 50 International Experts
We, the undersigned are a group of scientists and health professionals who together have coauthored hundreds of peer-reviewed studies on the health effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs). We wish to correct some of the gross misinformation found in the letter regarding wireless “smart” meters that was published in the Montreal daily Le Devoir on May 24. Submitted by a group Quebec engineers, physicists and chemists, the letter in question reflects an obvious lack of understanding of the science behind the health impacts of the radiofrequency (RF)/microwave EMFs emitted by these meters.
The statement that "Thousands of studies, both epidemiological and experimental in humans, show no increase in cancer cases as a result of exposure to radio waves of low intensity… " is false (1). In fact, only a few such studies — two dozen case-control studies of mobile phone use, certainly not thousands, have reported no elevations of cancer, and most were funded by the wireless industry. In addition, these reassuring studies contained significant experimental design flaws, mainly the fact that the populations followed were too small and were followed for a too short period of time.
Non industry-funded studies have clearly demonstrated a significant increase in cancer cases among individuals who have suffered from prolonged exposure to low-level microwaves, transmitted notably by radio antennas. The effects were best documented in meta-analyses that have been published and that include grouped results from several different studies: these analyses consistently showed an increased risk of brain cancer among regular users of a cell phone who have been exposed to microwaves for at least ten years. Children and youths are especially vulnerable (2). For example, the 2009 Hardell-Carlberg study reported a consistent association between use of mobile or cordless phones and two types of head tumors, astrocytoma grade I-IV and acoustic neuroma. The authors found an especially high risk for persons that started use of mobile or cordless phones before the age of 20 years, although based on low numbers."
Source: June 11, 2012, article titled "Smart Meters: Correcting the Gross Misinformation." Click here.
Comments from Dr. William Rea, Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon, Environmental Medicine
Dr. William Rea shared insights about electrical hypersensitivity gleaned from nearly thirty years of working with environmentally ill patients.
Rea opened by saying that human beings are all antennas with different levels of sensitivity, and finding safe places for sensitive people is like trying to "reinvent the cave."
He has observed a high correlation with sensitivity to metals like zinc, copper, stainless steel, titanium, molybdenum, manganese, and magnesium. Metal implants like dental fillings, metal jaws, shoulder joints, etc. will contribute to electrical sensitivity, because they act as antennas.
Source: WEEP News article, January 31, 2012. Click here.
Comments from Dr. Vini G. Khurana, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery
Adverse neurological effects have been reported in people who sustain close proximity to wireless meters, especially under 10 feet (3 metres).
A wireless smart meter produces radiofrequency microwave radiation with two antennas in approximately the same frequency range (900 MHz to 2.4 GHz) as a typical cell tower. But, depending on how close it is to occupied space within a home, a smart meter can cause much higher RF exposures than cell towers commonly do. If a smart meter is located on a common wall with a bedroom or kitchen rather than a garage wall, for example, the RF exposure can be the same as being within 200 to 600 feet distance of a cell tower with multiple carriers. With both cell towers and smart meters, the entire body is immersed by microwaves that go out in all directions, which increases the risk of overexposure to many sensitive organs such as the eyes and testicles. With a cell phone, people are exposed to microwaves primarily in the head and neck (unless using speaker mode), and only when the device is turned on or in standby mode.
Wireless smart meters typically produce atypical, relatively potent and very short pulsed RF/microwaves whose biological effects have never been fully tested. They emit these millisecond-long RF bursts on average 9,600 times a day with a maximum of 190,000 daily transmissions and a peak level emission two and a half times higher than the stated safety signal, as the California utility Pacific Gas & Electric recognized before that State’s Public Utilities Commission. Thus people in proximity to a smart meter are at risk of significantly greater aggregate of RF/microwave exposure than with a cell phone, not to mention the cumulative exposure received by people living near multiple meters mounted together, pole-mounted routers or utility collector meters using a third antenna to relay RF signals from 500 to 5,000 homes.
A technical study performed by Sage Associates in California indicates that RF levels from various scenarios depicting normal smart meter installation and operation may violate even the out-of-date US public safety standards which only consider acute thermal effects. This can happen when a person stands close to the meter to read the power consumption, or touches it, or shades the meter face with a hand to better read it. Emissions are also increased by reflective materials, such as stainless steel, other metals and mirrors, which can re-radiate stronger that the otherwise unaltered background. Microwaves are absorbed and dissipated by partially conductive materials, such as cement and special RF shielding paints and fabrics.
In addition to the erratic bursts of modulated microwaves emitted by wireless smart meters transferring usage data to electric, gas and water utilities, wireless as well as wired smart (powerline communication) meters are also a major source of ‘’dirty electricity’’ (electrical interference of high frequency voltage transients typically of kilohertz frequencies). Some scientists, such as American epidemiologist Sam Milham, believe that many of the health complaints about smart meters may also be caused by dirty electricity generated by the « switching » power supply activating all smart meters. Since the installation of filters to reduce dirty electricity circulating on house wiring has been found to relieve symptoms of EHS in some people, this method should be considered among the priorities aimed at reducing potential adverse impacts. Indeed, the Salzburg State (Austria) Public Health Department confirms its concern about the potential public health risk when in coming years almost every electric wire and device will emit such transient electric fields in the kilohertz-range due to wired smart meters.
Source: June 11, 2012, article titled "Smart Meters: Correcting the Gross Misinformation." Click here.
Effects of Non-ionizing Radiation on Mold
The research is fascinating on this topic. At the forefront is Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, MD., PhD., noted for his successful treatment of neurological illness and chronic pain. In his video, Dr. Klinghardt talks about a mold plate experiment which compared a mold plate shielded from electromagnetic fields to an unprotected mold plate exposed to ambient electromagnetic fields.
The unprotected mold plate showed a dramatic increase in the number of biotoxins produced – more than 600 times. Dr. Klinghardt concludes that indoor mold contaminants as well as other biotoxins are highly sensitive to electromagnetic fields. EMFs therefore easily step up neurotoxin production and have a major impact on the immune system.
Dr. Thomas Rau, medical director of the Paracelsus Clinic in Switzerland, shares his assessment of the microbial connection with EMFs in an interview featured on the website Electromagnetic Health. Not only do the artificially produced electromagnetic waves cause toxic mold to grow faster, they suppress the production of beneficial microbes.
Toxic mold in homes grows much faster under the load of high electromagnetic loads. They grow much faster in a disturbed milieu.
There are other studies that highlight the connection between electromagnetic radiation and microbial multiplication.
- Researchers at NYC’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University found evidence that certain types of fungi have the ability to use radioactivity as an energy source for growth.
- Russian scientists report that EMR induces growth in a certain yeast strain. (See Effect of Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Radiation on Psychological Features of Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Strain UCM Y-517.)
- A completely different study shows a similar relationship between this strain and EMR. (See Preliminary Results on the Non-Thermal Effects of 200-350 GHz Radiation on the Growth Rate of S. Cerevisiae Cells in Microcolonies.)
Source: July 10, 2015, Article by It-Takes-Time. Click here.
2013 Documentary film by Josh del Sol titled "Take Back Your Power"
Josh del Sol’s award winning documentary investigates so-called “smart” utility meters, uncovering shocking evidence of in-home privacy invasions, increased utility bills, health & environmental harm, fires and unprecedented hacking vulnerability… and lights the path toward solutions.
Excerpts from the website:
Based upon my review of peer-reviewed literature over the past few years, one of the studies that helped convince me that exposure to low-level electromagnetic fields (EMFs) could indeed be harmful included “Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: Evidence for a Novel Neurological Syndrome.” One of the authors of that study was Andrew A. Marino, Ph.D.
The authors concluded that “EMF hypersensitivity can occur as a bona fide environmentally inducible neurological syndrome.”
The abstract of this paper by Dr. Marino can be found here.
Recently, it is my understanding that Dr. Marino submitted an “expert report” as part of a case before the Pennsylvania PUC. In this proceeding several consumers have alleged that their health is being negatively affected by smart meters installed by PECO Energy Company .
The conclusions reached by Dr. Andrew Marino and presented in his expert report (dated August 8, 2016) are as follows:
“First, [there] is a reasonable basis in established science for the Complainants’ concern regarding risks to human health caused by man-made electromagnetic energy in the environment, including the type of electromagnetic energy emitted by smart meters. These health risks are heightened in the very young, the very old, and in those with preexisting diseases or disorders.
Second, electromagnetic hypersensitivity is a documented neurological condition in which the affected person experiences musculoskeletal, immunological, and/or neurological symptoms that noticeably flare or intensify upon exposure to man-made electromagnetic energy in the environment. About 5-10% of the general public are self-reported to suffer from this disorder.
Third, the Complainants were forced into the almost impossible position of conducting experiment[s] on themselves to prove to PECO’s satisfaction that their claims of a link between their symptoms and electromagnetic energy from smart meters were sufficiently credible as to warrant some remediable action by PECO.
Fourth, there is no justifiable reason for PECO to doubt the reality of the Complainants’ symptoms, to question their intentions in seeking relief, or to not respect and implement the advice they received from their physicians that exposure to smart-meter energy should be avoided.
Fifth, chronic exposure to the electromagnetic energy from smart meters causes risks to human health that go far beyond the capability of the energy to trigger hypersensitivity reactions in sensitive persons. A large literature in experimental biology indicates that man-made electromagnetic energy, including that from smart meters, causes biological effects involving every essentially physiological process that occurs in living organisms. A large literature in nonexperimental biology shows that man-made electromagnetic energy, including that from smart meters, is associated with a plethora of human diseases. People who suffer from pre-existing conditions are particularly vulnerable, and all the Complainants suffer from such conditions.
Sixth, PECO’s claim that the FCC has pronounced smart meter safe is spurious because the FCC has made that statement only with regard to the heating and cooking effects of electromagnetic energy. The Complainants have made no claims that smart meters are like microwave ovens.
Seventh, PECO has claimed that expert committees have pronounced smart meters safe, but PECO has not acknowledged the blatant conflicts-of interests that infect such committees nor the serious limitations on their reports, such as the failure to address much of the relevant literature.
Eighth, PECO proposes to expose human beings to smart-meter electromagnetic energy over their objection under conditions that would not be acceptable to any institution in the United States where human experimentation can lawfully be performed. Consequently, coercing the Complainants to endure the risks and uncertainties of such exposure is unwarranted, unjustified, and would amount to involuntary human experimentation by PECO.”
Regarding the exposure guidelines of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Dr. Marino states that:
“According to the FCC, smart meters and cellphones are safe when manufactured according to the presently mandated emission levels. But the FCC defines an emission level as ‘safe’ if it doesn’t result in adverse biological effects caused by heating or cooking of the exposed subject. Nowhere does the FCC say that smart meters are safe with regard to physiological changes [caused] by physical processes other than heating or cooking. That claim is unsupportable and counter-scientific, and has not been made by the FCC.”
To the contrary:
“There is a very large data base of empirical studies in experimental biology that demonstrates beyond reasonable doubt that biological effects can occur at levels of man-made electromagnetic energy actually present in the environment.”
Source: 2013 Documentary by Josh del Sol titled "Take Back Your Power." Click here.
Expert Witnesses Used by Utility Companies
Utility companies used "expert witnesses" to support their claims that smart meters are not harmful. One of the organizations that provided "expert witness" testimony is a company called Exponent.
It is well known throughout the world that Exponent is a "bought and paid for" expert witness firm used by corporations to deny the health effects caused by their products.
To learn more about Exponent, read the book "Doubt is Their Product" by David Michaels.
Here are two excerpts from the book:
The practices perfected (by the tobacco industry) are alive and well and ubiquitous today. We see this growing trend that disingenuously demands proof over precaution in the realm of public health. In field after field, year after year, conclusions that might support regulation are always disputed. Animal data are deemed not relevant, human data not representative, and exposure data not reliable. Whatever the story—global warming, sugar and obesity, secondhand smoke—scientists in what I call the ‘‘product defense industry’’ prepare for the release of unfavorable studies even before the studies are published. Public relations experts feed these for-hire scientists contrarian sound bites that play well with reporters, who are mired in the trap of believing there must be two sides to every story. Maybe there are two sides—and maybe one has been bought and paid for.
Having cut their teeth manufacturing uncertainty for Big Tobacco, scientists at ChemRisk, the Weinberg Group, Exponent, Inc., and other consulting firms now battle the regulatory agencies on behalf of the manufacturers of benzene, beryllium, chromium, MTBE (methyl tertiary-butyl ether), perchlorates, phthalates, and virtually every other toxic chemical in the news today. Their business model is straightforward. They profit by helping corporations minimize public health and environmental protection and fight claims of injury and illness. In field after field, year after year, this same handful of individuals and companies comes up again and again.
As David Michaels said in his book:
Exponent’s scientists are prolific writers of scientific reports and papers. While some may exist, I have yet to see an Exponent study that does not support the conclusion needed by the corporation or trade association that is paying the bill.
Source: Book titled "Doubt is Their Product" by David Michaels.
Because Exponent is a product defense firm with a decades-long history of writing reports that support the position of corporations who are looking to deny the health effects of their products, their testimony should not
have been allowed.