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have proven disastrous. to headquarters for monitoring and billing. They Neither the
The American Academy of Environmental allow water utility companies to monitor and
Medicine (AAEM) has proposed a moratorium control consumer usage closely. federal
on “smart” meters as an “issue of the highest Because electricity is delivered most ef- government
importance.” This international association of ficiently in an even, steady flow, “smart” grid nor grid
physicians and public health experts warns that it enthusiasts aim to encourage residential cus-
is unacceptable to implement radiation-emitting tomers to use less electricity during daytime profiteers have
technology before serious medical and environ- working hours and more during evenings and undertaken a
mental concerns have been properly addressed. 2 weekends. Eventually, customers may be charged single public
AMI is calibrated to expose all Americans by time-of-use. “Smart” grid promoters claim
to three new and powerful sources of microwave that by 2030, the system will reduce nationwide health study
radiation: “smart” meters, “smart” appliances, electricity usage by about four percent. 5 about the
and a ubiquitous network of antennas on utility But at what price? The cost of the “smart” long-term
poles and cell towers in urban and rural neigh- meter program is breathtaking. By some esti-
borhoods. Neither the federal government nor mates, utility consumers will pay at least two health
grid profiteers have undertaken a single public hundred twenty-five billion dollars to blanket effects of
health study about the long-term health effects the nation with AMI meters. A “smart” electric exposure to
of exposure to electromagnetic radition (EMR) meter can cost hundreds of dollars per household.
from “smart” meters. Yet medical literature is The attorney general of Massachusetts projected EMR from
now loaded with peer-reviewed studies about the cost of each meter in that state at almost "smart" meters.
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the non-thermal biological effects of exposure to three thousand dollars. Some AMI equipment
EMR. Peer-reviewed studies report DNA dam- manufacturers suggest that meters may need to
age, abnormal genetic and hormonal changes, be replaced as often as every three years to keep
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sperm damage, pregnancy complications, weak- up with technical innovations. This would force
ening of the blood-brain barrier, disturbance of consumers to continually pay for new hardware
voltage-gated calcium channels (for example, in that they are coerced to accept. Critics say that
the heart), degradation of immunity, and certain when time-of-use pricing goes into effect, util-
types of cancers. 3 ity bills could become insurmountable for many
Especially worrisome, says AAEM, is customers (unless they learn to direct their peak
mounting evidence that inescapable electro- energy usage to the middle of the night).
magnetic fields exposure from smart meters
places children at particular risk for altered CANARIES ON THE WEST COAST
brain development and for impaired learning Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) of Califor-
and behavior. These concerns are corroborated nia was among the first U.S. utilities to deploy
by the blockbuster BioInitiative Report 2012. AMI meters. Its 2010-2012 “smart” meter rollout
Produced by twenty-nine medical and public caused a state-wide furor. Some older “smart”
health experts from ten countries, the BioInitia- meter systems (AMR) send their data through
tive Report offers a meta-analysis of over eigh- existing utility lines. A few newer AMI systems
teen hundred new scientific studies showing that communicate through fiber optics. But like many
chronic exposure to both ELF and microwaves other utility companies, PG&E has deployed
poses a serious health hazard. At highest risk are a mesh networking system, which broadcasts
the most vulnerable of our population: children, pulsed radio frequency signals (microwaves)
pregnant mothers, the elderly and the immune- into homes and across outdoor spaces. PG&E’s
compromised. 4 “smart” grid emits EMR from the meters and
Health ramifications aside, AMI technology from a state-wide support network including:
is good for the corporate bottom line. “Smart”
meters eliminate the need for human meter read- • Thousands of new utility antenna commu-
nications towers and relay/repeater poles;
ers. They allow utilities to turn services on and
off remotely. The meters identify consumption • Thousands of new mobile data base sta-
of a product and automatically send those data tions with fixed and mobile radios for utility
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