If You Received a Flyer on Your Doorstep or are New to this Site

Posted on November 18, 2011 by melissalevine

If you received a flyer on your doorstep or if you just came across this blog via a search engine, I would like to welcome you to the site and also, if this subject is unfamiliar, to the  topic of “Smart” Meters.  There is a wealth of information on the Internet, and we in Southern California are fortunate in being able to benefit from the work that those in Northern California (as well as other states and countries) have been doing.  Josh Hart’s StopSmartMeters.org is one of the many excellent websites. The electromagnetichealth.org site is also very reputable in terms of science.

Since Smart Meters are new to Southern California we are just now setting up local websites and Facebook pages.  A new Santa Monica site will be launched next week. Other Southern California blog sites are either devoted exclusively to Smart Meters  or have added “Smart” Meters as a main topic of concern to an existing blog. See the links in the “blogroll” at right for more information.  It’s a fascinating topic and you will learn good information from all these websites and experts.

Unfortunately, there has been such a media blackout and extremely poor notification by the utility companies of what exactly they have been installing on our homes, that most residents are unaware of the issues regarding the Smart Meters and that they even had the option to get on a temporary delay list.

Instead of doing an environmental  impact report or investing in the more secure type of “Smart” grid (using fiber optics) that Italy has successfully installed, the utility companies chose to go with a cheap wireless system, which may have profound and, as yet, not completely known health impacts on the population; a system, also which is a security threat vulnerable to hacking and even to cyber terrorism.   The utility companies have received billions of dollars in money via rate payer increases and Federal grants to foist this boondoggle on the public.

Because of the strong outcry from Northern Californians, the CPUC is considering Continue reading →

Posted in CPUC/Complaints, Pulsed Radiation, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

Allan Frey, Modulation and Microwave Radiation Crossing the Blood Brain Barrier

Posted on November 17, 2011 by melissalevine

The information for this blog post is from a GQ article written by Christopher Ketcham in 2010 called “Warning: Your Cell Phone May Be Hazardous to Your Health.” It is beautifully written (very clear prose) and I am closely paraphrasing and quoting directly.

What do they Mean by Modulation?

In this article Ketcham in his discussion of  neuroscientist’s Allen Frey’s work explains what “modulation” is.  This is important to know because this term is used in other scientific studies and discussions on low frequency radiation. For example, I have heard scientists say it is the “modulation” of the radiation which is what has an impact (and also that waves which carry data can be dangerous), but I haven’t quite understood what that means.  Ketchum explains that microwaves can be divided into two parts: what is called a carrier wave and then the data or information which the carrier wave carries.  That data—words, sounds, pictures—Ketcham says, is a second frequency and is called “modulation.

“Frey observed two factors in how microwaves at low power could affect living systems. First, there was the carrier wave: a frequency of 1,900 megahertz, for example, the same frequency of many cell phones today. Then there was the data placed on the carrier wave—in the case of cell phones, this would be the sounds, words, and pictures that travel along it. When you add information to a carrier wave, it embeds a second signal—a second frequency—within the carrier wave. This is known as modulation. A carrier wave can support any number of modulations, even those that match the ­extra-low frequencies at which the brain operates (between eight and twenty hertz). It was modulation, Frey discovered, that induced the widest variety of biological effects. But how this happened, on a neuronal level, he didn’t yet understand.”

Here Ketcham  describes how Frey discovered that “microwaves pulsed at certain modulations” could breach the blood brain barrier:

“In a study published in 1975 in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Frey reported that microwaves pulsed at certain modulations could induce “leakage” in the barrier between the circulatory system and the brain. Breaching the blood-brain barrier is a serious matter: It means the brain’s environment, which needs to be extremely stable for nerve cells to function properly, can be perturbed in all kinds of dangerous ways. Frey’s method was rather simple: He injected a fluorescent dye into the circulatory system of white rats, then swept the ­microwave frequencies across their bodies. In a matter of minutes, the dye had leached into the confines of the rats’ brains.”

The question we don’t know about Smart Meter pulsed radiation (and that radiation is also going to be controlled remotely, turned on and off, by a utility company) is what effect its unique modulation is having on our bodies.

Says Frey in regards to cell phones:

“it just so happens. .. that the frequencies and modulations of our cell phones seem to be the frequencies that humans are particularly sensitive to. If we had looked into it a little more, if we had done the real science, we could have allocated spectrums that the body can’t feel. . .The public should know if they are taking a risk with cell phones.  What we are doing is a grand world experiment without informed consent.”

Ditto for Smart Meters.

Posted in Cell Phones, Health Impact, Science, Smart Meters | 5 Comments

Edison Makes Irvine a “Living Laboratory”; Receives almost 40 Million in Special Federal Grant Monies

Posted on November 15, 2011 by melissalevine
According to the U.S. government’s official disclosure website, Recovery.gov, Rosemead based Southern California Edison applied for and received three grants totaling $39,621,208 to make the City of Irvine (their exact words) “a living laboratory” to test out their Smart Grid system. According to their application to the Feds, Edison considers Irvine “an ideal demonstration site.”“Thus, the project will literally provide a living laboratory for accurately assessing the interoperability of, and interaction between, all of these various Smart Grid technologies and systems working at the same time. The ISGD will be deployed in the City of Irvine, an ideal demonstration site typical of most heavily populated areas of Southern California in climate, topography, environmental concerns and public policy issues. This demonstration is shovel ready.”

“Shovel ready?”  “An ideal Demonstration Site?” “Living laboratory?”  Is this why the Rosemead based Southern California Edison company did such an egregiously poor job of informing the Irvine based residents of its plans to switch out our analog meters with radiation emitting Smart meters (literally attaching what the World Health Organization considers a class 2b possible carcinogen to all our homes)?
If we had been properly noticed,  Irvine based parents could have informed Rosemead based SCE, that we didn’t want our kids to be part of their lab experiment.   Of course if we had known, there would have been such a large number of people requesting to be placed on the delay list, it would have messed up their plans.
Well, at least they were right about one thing. The City of Irvine,  is an ideal “demonstration” site.

Posted in Follow the Money, Smart Meters, What Edison Says and doesn't Say | 3 Comments

Facebook Campaign: One Million Hits for Dr. Devra Davis Talk

Posted on November 13, 2011 by melissalevine

I posted this on Facebook and invite others to share:

This video by Dr. Devra Davis needs to be viewed by everyone. Please share. It applies to cell phones, Wi Fi (which needs to be out of our schools yesterday; that’s how potentially dangerous it is) and Smart Meters.  Dr. Davis was part of the group along with Al Gore that  won the Nobel Prize.  Her video has 2920 views. It needs to surpass one million. Let’s get going.

Dr. Davis’ focus is cell phones, not Smart Meters, but the discussion about the health effects of non thermal pulsed radiation and various studies is excellent and applies.  She is able to explain some of the science in a very comprehensive way. For example she shows (see about 14 minutes into the video) photos of two cells, one whose DNA has been damaged  by “gamma” radiation  (which is what was emitted in Hiroshima) and another cell damaged by low level pulsing non ionizing radiation (from a cell phone).  Both cells look very damaged compared to a normal cell; but she even goes on to say the DNA from the cell exposed to the cell phone radiation looks worse.

She also discusses the campaign to discredit reputable scientists and their studies—some of these reputable studies having been around since 1972 (Frey).  Her talk is based on her book Disconnect which gives even more detail and sounds quite interesting.  Here is the video:

 

 

Posted in Cell Phones, Health Impact, Science, Pulsed Radiation | 1 Comment

NBC News (Video) on Smart Meter Forum

Posted on November 11, 2011 by melissalevine

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Smart-Meter-Critics-Say-Devices-Are-Not-Smart-Or-Safe-133669863.html

The utility company spokesperson  said their Smart Meters have no health effect,  yet that woman has to wrap foil around her head at night to deflect the pulses.  There is scientific confirmation, a double blind study,  showing physical effect from non thermal, low level radiation on electrohypersensitive people.  The double blind study showed tachycardia (rapid heart beat) which occurred during exposure to such radiation and then subsided when the radiation was withdrawn.   Not everyone has this, Dr. Magda Havas said, just like we aren’t all allergic to peanuts.  This  video on Wi Fi shows example of the double blind study.

Posted in EHS, Events/Calendar, Health Impact, Science, Health, Personal Stories, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

Cindy Sage, Glendale Smart Meter Forum

Posted on November 11, 2011 by melissalevine
Posted in Events/Calendar, Health Impact, Science, Smart Meters | 2 Comments

Field Test Showing Radiation Peaks from Bank of Smart Meters

Posted on November 11, 2011 by melissalevine

Field Study measuring the “peaks” of radiation from a bank of Smart Meters.  The government uses the average. But according to Magda Havas, PHD of Trent University, Canada, this gives a “false low reading.”  “Engineers like to measure averages but living organisms react to extremes so these average readings under estimate the potential for harm if the radiation is pulsed.”

See graph below which was posted on the Electromagnetic Health website in an article about cell phones, “depicting the wider range of frequency from pulsed radiation prepared by Dr. Havas.”

Posted in Field Tests/RF Analyzer, Pulsed Radiation, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

New Study: Does this Mean School (if it has Wi Fi) Makes Kids Stupid?

Posted on November 10, 2011 by melissalevine

New research by Russian Academy of Scientists: Cell Phone Use in Children and Cognitive Decline

I wonder what this says about the industrial grade Wi Fi  that is in our schools.  The experts say there have been few actual studies on Wi Fi (which is pulsing  radiation similar to Smart Meters and cell phones), and because of lack of studies they  use the cell phone studies as above. So this is a 4 year study by the Russian Academy of Scientists which basically says that children’s  cognition is damaged.  Another expert (Dietrich Klinghardt, MD, PhD expert in the health consequences of electromagnetic fields). talked about how when children are exposed like this it is permanent. So Wi Fi in schools turns the normal view of school and its effect on children on  its head: coming out with less cognition and less potential than when the children first went in. . .

Posted in Cell Phones, Health Impact, Science, Wi Fi | Leave a comment

“You’re Not Prohibited by Them from Doing the Right Thing, Are you?”

Posted on November 9, 2011 by melissalevine

Last night’s Irvine City Council meeting was extremely interesting even though there were fewer “Smart” Meter speakers than at the 10/25/11 City Council meeting.   It was interesting because of a question Councilmember Larry Agran posed to Southern California Edison representative, Steve Nelson, after Mr. Nelson had given a short presentation on Edison’s “Smart” Meter program.  Councilmember Agran was talking about the issue of residents who were now requesting that their analog meters be switched back because they hadn’t been properly noticed, or had come home to find that Edison had installed the Smart Meters even though they had requested they be placed on the delay list.

“I cannot believe,” Councilmember Agran said to Mr. Nelson, “the CPUC prohibits you from accomodating those customers who you profess to want to serve?”

Right at that moment, however, another councilmember spoke up to say this was not an “agendized” item, so the answer to Agran’s question of whether the CPUC is “prohibiting” “the big powerful Southern California Edison company” (Mr. Agran’s words) from doing the right thing was left hanging. . . .

            Just prior to this, the Edison rep gave a short presentation which was very similar to the speech that Mrs. Buttress, another Edison representative, had given at the Tustin meeting on 11/1/11,  so verbatim that I was able to write down the “79,000 cars off the road” analogy he  was using to describe the potential savings from the Smart Meters (but which is actually due to a behavioral modification program  and not to anything inherently “green” about Smart Meters)  before it came out of the Edison rep’s mouth.

The discussion between Councilmember Agran and the Edison rep was so interesting, I transcribed it (see below).  (The Smart Meters discussion in full  starts at around 2:59 if you view the tape)

 

Irvine City Council Meeting, 11/8/11 (Discussion Between Councilmember Agran and Southern California Representative)

Councilmember Larry Agran:  I just want to understand this a little bit.

If somebody got on the  opt out list in time–they didn’t have the smart meter installed- the delay list. . . .  If they didn’t and apparently  you have to do this seven days in advance or you get (according to one testimonial here)- if you didn’t  do it  seven days in advance, you’re stuck.  Do you know that to be true?

 

Edison Representative (walking back to the podium):    “Councilman Agran, that’s correct. Once the meter’s installed, once the contractor installs the meter, then the meter is left in place.

 

Councilmember Agran:  And so at that point you can just call and ask to be put on a removal list pending action by the CPUC? 

 

Edison Rep:  That’s correct.   If I had a smart meter  on my house and I called in–then the meter would stay on my house, but there are active negotiations  taking place right now between the utilities and the State of California and the Public Utilities Commission on this very matter. So we’re all about customer choice and any time there’s a hearing, we’re there participating and should an opt out choice become available, then we would work with the customers on those lists to honor their choice.

 

Councilmember Agran:  Mayor, I know this isn’t an agenda item—and therefore I don’t want to prolong this, but it does seem to me the big powerful Southern California Edison company ought to figure out a way to  accommodate customers who got caught up in this and want these, so called, Smart Meters removed.   I don’t buy the argument about the CPUC.   You’re  not prohibited by them from doing the right thing, are you?

 

Edison Rep: This is a statewide program and there are certain protocols that the CPUC has implemented, and that’s the way the system works.

 

Councilmember Agran: Without having researched it–I’ll bet the CPUC has not   prohibited you from going back and removing those where there is a meritorious case that somebody didn’t get properly informed or whatever.

I cannot believe the CPUC prohibits you from accommodating those customers who you profess to want to serve?

 

Edison Rep:  We do serve them, and I understand your position.

 

Councilmember Agran: Well, my point is—

 

Councilmember Lalloway:   Mr. Mayor, I’m sorry. This is not an agendized item. We’re now into the discussion of this.  If we’re all going to discuss this, I think we need an emergency motion.

 

Mayor Kang: —I realized that

 

Councilmember Agran:  Well, maybe we should put it on the agenda for the next meeting to have a thorough discussion—

 

Councilmember Lalloway:  I would support that.

 (Mayor Kang then requested of the Edison rep. that SCE, in the meantime, contact the people who had spoken at the prior council meeting; the City would provide the contact info)

 

Posted in CPUC/Complaints, Elected Officials, City Council, Smart Meters, What Edison Says and doesn't Say | 3 Comments

Former CIA Director James Woolsey On Smart Grid

Posted on November 8, 2011 by melissalevine
Posted in Security Smart Grid | Leave a comment

Irvine City Council, Public Comments, 6:30 Tonight

Posted on November 8, 2011 by melissalevine

Tonight is the Irvine City Council meeting; and, if you can, please come. It is quite possible that Mrs. Buttress, representative for Southern California Edison, may show up and speak during public comments as she did last week at the Tustin City Council meeting.    She says that having a Smart Meter affixed to our homes will empower us.

So if you want to challenge Mrs. Buttress view,  even if only to say “Smart meters are dumb”; or  to perhaps suggest  that if Edison is really sincere about “empowerment” they can start by respecting their customers enough to offer them choice about what will be placed on their own property,  please show up at the Irvine City Council meeting tonight.  Public comments will be heard at around 6:30 p.m.

 

Posted in Events/Calendar | Leave a comment

Karl Maret Interview Health Impact Of Smart Meters

Posted on November 7, 2011 by melissalevine

1. New Radio Interview with Dr. Karl Maret, FYI

2. I recommend this video starting at about 24 minutes over the above radio interview if you only have time to view one.  It is more comprehensive talk (with a lot of science) by Dr. Karl Maret.

Posted in Health Impact, Science, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

Stop Smart Meters Forum, Thursday, November 10th

Posted on November 6, 2011 by melissalevine

Join us this Thursday, November 10th at 7pmfor the

Southern California SMART METER Public Forum

Location:  Glendale Moose Lodge, 357 W. Arden Avenue, Glendale, CA   91203Drivers:  If you would like to join our carpooling group, please send an email to info@StopOCSmartMeters.com  Bring your friends and family!Featuring Guest Speakers:Cindy Sage, an international EMF health expert who has done recent field studies on smart meters, which found that that they can exceed the FCC RF public safety standard (See SageReports.com). She is also co-editor of the Bio-Initiative Report, and has published many scientific studies on electromagnetic field issues, including the science, public policy, legal and environmental consequences of exposures to EMF.

Orlean Koehle, author of Just Say No to Big Brother’s Smart Meters, which examines how smart meters threaten our property and privacy rights. She is also President of California Eagle Forum.

Mindy Spatt, Communication Director of TURN, a utility watchdog and consumer advocacy group for Californians.

Guest Speaker presentations will be followed by a Q&A with the audience. 

Cost:  FREE and OPEN to the public.

Purpose: This non-partisan event is being hosted and organized by citizens throughout Southern California who share concerns about smart meters.sp; Orange County, Glendale and Burbank residents have organized a public forum so that residents of Southern California can listen, learn and ask questions about the dangers of smart meters to our families.  This includes info on how Smart Meter affect our health, privacy, security, public safety, pocketbooks and real estate values – and what you can do about it!

Say “No” to loss of control, higher bills due to Time Of Use rates, health problems from pulsed radiation, computer hacking and wireless cyber-security flaws, remote shut-off switches, and “Big Brother” privacy problems of unauthorized personal data collection.

Say “Yes” to keeping our cherished homes and neighborhoods Smart Meter-free, and our right to keep our analog meters with no extra costs or fees.

For more information:

Orange County residents should contact Stop OC Smart Meters: e-mail is Info@StopOCSmartMeters.com and website is StopOCSmartMeters.com; event phone line is 818-641-5042.

Los Angeles County area residents should contact Burbank Action at 818-641-5042, or e-mail BurbankAction@aol.com; website is BurbankAction.com

Please forward this email to your address book contacts.  Everyone deserves to know about Smart Meters.

Posted in Events/Calendar | Leave a comment

Microwave Versus Smart Meter Radiation: Apples and Oranges

Posted on November 6, 2011 by melissalevine

Utility companies which claim that the Smart Meters are safe  compare the Smart Meter to other household devices such as the microwave, which may emit much higher radiation.  However, Dr. Karl Maret (an MD with degrees in electrical and biomedical engineering) says that the “biological effect” from a microwave oven versus a Smart meter is not the same.  The microwave oven, when it is on, produces “continuous” radiation whereas the Smart meter is pulsed radiation. He writes  “Peer-reviewed studies have shown that the differences in modulation patterns and waveforms can produce quite different biological effects,”  such as the “selective release of calcium from cell membranes.”

From Dr. Meret’s letter to the CPUC:

Microwave ovens produce much higher power output but are not modulated or pulsed in any way. It is imperative to understand that it is the modulation or pulsation pattern that leads to biological effects at non-thermal power levels. Biologically-sensitive amplitude windows have been found at specific frequencies that lead to the selective release of calcium from cell membranes. However, above and below these unique power densities there is no observable effect. Pulses and square waves have the greatest biological impact because they produce rapid changes in voltage across biological membranes. Un-modulated carrier waves have little or no biological effect except if their power is sufficient high, such as in microwave ovens. Comparing the power levels between modulated and un-modulated devices. . . is thus misleading.”

To read his entire letter which discusses this topic and other issues (such as how the reflection of RF from other surfaces can create radiation “hot spots” and also his discussion on pulsed radiation while we sleep), see link above.  Also, see this article in EMR Safetynetwork’s web site PG&E’s Big Confession which discusses where, by order of a judge, the utility companies are now  admitting that  the pulses will be tens of thousands of times during a 24 hour period, something they have not disclosed to the public or put in their RF informational sheets.

Posted in Health Impact, Science, Pulsed Radiation, Smart Meters | 5 Comments

Smart Meter Gone Wild

Posted on November 5, 2011 by melissalevine
Posted in Field Tests/RF Analyzer, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

Complaint to Calif. Public Utilities Commission Re: Smart Meters

Posted on November 4, 2011 by melissalevine

Submitted by Melissa Levine, November 4, 2011

Southern California Edison started installing Smart Meters in our Turtle Rock/Turtle Ridge neighborhood on October 17, 2011.  Neither we (nor a great many of our neighbors) received or saw any notice from SCE.  Most people missed the opportunity to get on the delay list.  A few of my neighbors were on the delay list, but Edison installed the meters anyway.  This is because Edison created a “delay to the delay list,” i.e. a 7-day waiting period before the person’s name on the delay list would be activated.  This, in effect, allowed Edison to ignore the order that the CPUC gave, that customers would have a right to be on the delay list.

I am not only worried about health effects of my family being exposed to the 24/7 RF radiation from my neighbors’ two Smart Meters just a few feet from our property pointing toward my children’s rooms and our garden, but about the health effects from Smart Meters to others, including the elderly and frail (RF radiation has been found to cause DNA breakage and thus could contribute to Alzheimer’s) .  In May, 2011, the World Health Organization classified radio-frequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans.

Children, especially,  are more vulnerable to RF radiation.  Many of these meters have been installed in multifamily housing. They are on the walls of the bedrooms where children sleep and play.  They are, according to  environmental engineer Cindy Sage, not comparable to cell phones but (if they are on the outside walls of bedrooms) more like sleeping next to “mini cell towers.”    My husband, who is a board certified physician in anatomic and clinical pathology,  has said, “We do not want our children or the children in our neighborhood to be guinea pigs in a 10 year RF exposure experiment.”

We request that Smart Meters be removed from our neighborhood.  We request, because the mesh network system emits RF 24/7 and washes our entire neighborhood in RF radiation, that you approve not just a case-by-case opt out, but a neighborhood opt out.  We further request that this neighborhood opt out be available for renters and others, many with small children, who live in multi-family units. We request that schools and hospitals also be allowed to keep their analog meters.  We request in the interests of Public Health and the “precautionary principle,” that the right to opt out of the Smart Meters be available for all Californians.

Melissa Levine

Note: This is a slightly revised version of an e-mail I sent via EMF Safety Network. Please regard this as my revised submission.

Posted in CPUC/Complaints, Health Impact, Science, Health, Personal Stories, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

“EmPowered”

Posted on November 3, 2011 by melissalevine

11/2/11 Wednesday, (From My Desk: Watched Video Feed)

A curious thing happened at the 11/1/11 Tustin City Council meeting.   An Edison representative, Pat Buttress, spoke during the  “public comments” section, that part of the council meeting where usually residents, rather than representatives of large utility companies, are given three minutes to speak.  She spoke after the  father who expressed concerns about the ten “Smart” Meters installed on the wall of his home where his baby sleeps.

Ms. Buttress said  there was “misinformation” out there which she wanted to clear up, but she didn’t mention the words “radiation,” “RF,”  or “health” even once in her seven minute  talk.

She said that Edison was “required” to put “Smart” Meters on all of our homes by 2012 and this program was “implemented at the direction of  the California Public Utilities Commission.”  Customers who “disagree with an issue” regarding “Smart” Meters may contact the CPUC (California Public Utilities Commission) whose contact information is on the back of every Edison bill.

Question: I have heard various people say that “Smart” Meters were “not mandated” but were only recommended.  Edison apparently believes (unless this is a case of good cop, bad cop) that they have no choice, that they must obey the CPUC and install these meters.

It’s a little confusing, though, because  during another part of her talk, Ms. Buttress said, “the U.S. government does not control investor owned utilities and cannot turn off your power.”

What I and probably many of  us just want to know, though, is, if someone is sick  or a parent has legitimate concerns about his baby’s  exposure to pulsed radiation from ten Smart Meters 24/7, who’s going to help these people out?

Ms. Buttress talked about the energy savings we can achieve via this new “Smart” Meters system. However, there is nothing about the “Smart” Meter, in itself, that is inherently green  (it’s actually the opposite as the radiation our neighborhood will now be awash in creates electrosmog).  Instead, what Ms. Buttress described is what Elizabeth Kelley and others have said.  The multi billion dollar “Smart” Meter system is actually a simple (and not very fun) behavioral modification program.

But according to Ms. Buttress, we customers will be “empowered” by having this forced against our will “Smart” Meter–even if it’s making our dog sick, the same dog who slept by our bed for years and whose face is now turning white–affixed to our house.

There will be “new pricing plans” and “options for earning rebates.”  So, it sounds like if we don’t use the air conditioner on a hot summer  afternoon–but use it instead at a time when we actually don’t need to use it–we will get rebates and/or penalties depending on our usage.

There will be, Ms. Buttress said, “environmental benefits,” and she shared impressive analogies.  If we all conserve (and they’re going to make us aren’t they-because we won’t be able to afford not to), then, Ms. Buttress said,  the reduced “peak power consumption” will be equivalent to the “approximate output of a major power plant” or it will be like “removing 79,000 cars from the road.”

I’m definitely for conserving and I will do my best, even if Edison now reminds me of some relative who wouldn’t let me leave the table until I ate all my peas, but I’m still waiting for that “em-powered” feeling.

Posted in Elected Officials, City Council, Smart Meters, What Edison Says and doesn't Say | 4 Comments

Elizabeth Kelley Talk on Smart Meters

Posted on November 2, 2011 by melissalevine

Elizabeth Kelley, M.A.,  gives an excellent overview type of  talk about Smart Meters, which is helpful for newcomers to this topic. She gives a brief history of the planning of the “smart grid,” and talks about how it “was launched without first doing an environmental  assessment. . . to ensure health and safety protections were built in from the start.”

Since the talk which she gave in 2010, we now know–and the utility companies  are acknowledging but you have to prod it out of them–that the way their mesh system works, the radiation is pulsed every several seconds, 24/7, including at night while people sleep, a period when the body, say some scientists, may be even more vulnerable to the radiation.

Also since the talk, the CCST (California Council on Science and Technology) did release a report or evaluation on radiation.   However, they didn’t allow at least  one of the scientists (Havas)  who was part of the committee to submit documents about the effects of non thermal radiation.   Also, see link on right for Dr. Karl Meret’s letter in  which he talks about other problems with radiation from the Smart Meters which the report didn’t include.

Also, independent from the report, see Cindy Sage’s evaluation of the radiation from Smart Meters in the Sage Report.

Posted in Health Impact, Science, How This Happened, History, Smart Meters | Leave a comment

April Love

Posted on November 1, 2011 by melissalevine

I have to say I have been wondering about including  “Irvine” as part of the name of this blog (because this issue is not limited to Irvine, and this website is for anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about Smart Meters) .   However, after reading Katie Fehrenbacher’s comment in her article “There will be 600M Smart Meters by 2016″  about objections to the Smart Meter from “a few tiny cities in California,” perhaps it’s not such a bad idea for more communities to throw their names into the ring.

Right now there are about fifty, so called, “tiny” communities who have sent letters requesting the California Public Utilities Commission give residents an “opt out” from the Smart Meter program and be allowed to keep their perfectly good analog meters.

Fehrenbacher is right, though, about the “aggressive” push to install these meters  (and I would add “stealthy” and “lacking in full disclosure of radiation emissions”).

I think we “tiny” communities are doing a pretty good job considering many of us in Southern California had never even heard the name “Smart Meter” until a couple weeks ago-even though we are a bit “smart” ourselves.

It makes one wonder–how could that be possible?  We all knew, for example, about “Carmageddon” last July, didn’t we?  For any of us who had the “fortune” to actually drive the freeways that day, it was smooth sailing–as if we had been transported back into some idyllic time from the 50’s.  Pat Boone in a convertible singing April Love.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh5rmVkFyrI

“Carmageddon” was an awesome demonstration of the power of media, government and business to inform the public when they want to. Yet, Southern California Edison is spending a billion and half dollars on their Smart Meter installation–and most of Edison’s customers have no idea.   Of the people who do know,  most are unaware that the Smart Meters being affixed to their homes, sometimes on bedroom walls where their kids sleep, or in grouped banks in multifamily housing, emit pulsed RF radiation on an almost continuous basis.

Regarding the monumental number of Smart Meters they are installing all over the world which Fehrenbacher discusses (602.7 million by the year 2016), setting privacy and other issues aside,  all I can say is I hope they use “wired” Smart Meters (as they do in Italy); and also, of course, that  many scientists and other experts’ concerns about RF radiation is for naught because 602.7  million 24/7 radiation emitting Smart Meters is a lot of messing with the earth’s electromagnetic field.

Posted in What Edison Says and doesn't Say | 2 Comments

The RF Analyzer Arrived

Posted on October 30, 2011 by melissalevine

The RF analyzer came yesterday, the HF 35C by Gigahertz Solutions. Its name reminds me of The Nimbus 2000. Like Potter’s broom (or wand for that matter), it feels a bit numinous, like it has some special power.  When I angle it toward the meter it chirps, then makes frantic static sounds as it picks up the waves traveling through the air, like some teeming world I had never known before.

I still need to learn what the numbers mean. It’s obvious when they go off the charts (past 900) and the meter gets louder, that this is a higher level of RF radiation.

An Edison employee who spoke at the 10/12/11 Calabasas City Council meeting compared Smart Meters to cell phones. He said a cell phone held to one’s head emitted 5000 micro-watts per centimeter squared; but, he said, measuring at a distance of three feet, a Smart Meter emitted 40 micro-watts per centimeter squared.
But what does that mean then when our analyzer standing that close has a much higher number? It chirped or read (in that pulsing every several seconds way) 500, 600, and we got some in the 900′s.  Anyway, I obviously need a math major/engineer to help, and when I learn I will post instructions for others.

Note: Here is the link for the 10/12/11 the Calabasas City Council Meeting. Scroll to item 13. Worth viewing (including a woman, quite credible, who discussed health effects after the installation of her Smart Meter).http://calabasas.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=3450

Posted in Field Tests/RF Analyzer | Leave a comment

Why He Loves His Smart Meter

Posted on October 29, 2011 by melissalevine

From Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona, Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Article comment by: conrad bruggmann

“I love my smart meter. We had a bee colony close to my meter. When the APS guys came to put in the smart meter, I warned them of it. One told me, “Don’t worry, this will get rid of them.” After a few days, they abandoned and never returned. So, I am a giant smart meter fan, since it got rid of possible killer bees. My bills are a little higher than comparable periods in the past, but I am willing to pay that price to stop worrying about the bees.”  

From Commonwealth Club 11/18/10; Starling W. Childs, M.S., geologist and forestry consultant, and adjunct faculty member at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies:

“Finally we’re questioning things like the collapse of the bee colonies all over the world. It’s significant. It’s global and it spells great threat for our human species. If we lose the pollinators, game over. We won’t be able to feed the planet.
It’s clear to me that bees which again operate within the natural background field of electromagnetic energy that the earth produces and that actually locate their food sources and their hives and communicate that to the rest of the bees in the hives-they come back and do the dance and say here’s where we go to find the pollen and then off they go–following a natural lay line-these are being confused and completely cross modulated.”

Posted in RF Effect on bees, plants, wildlife | Leave a comment

Manufacturer Confirms Smart Meters Emit RF Radiation 24/7

Posted on October 29, 2011 by melissalevine

This is an excellent site. Boy, are they fighting the good fight in Burbank.

http://burbankaction.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/if-california-puc-supports-the-return-of-the-analog-meters-why-cant-burbank/

Two Points from this article and video.

1. CPUC President Michael Peevey telling this customer who had headaches that he could get his analog meter back. . .Perhaps that bodes well for other Californians?

2 The following paragraph also contains new information. . .

“Mr. Davis told the Mayor and City Council that the smart meters only produce RF emissions for less than a minute, yet smart meter manufacturers at the CPUC Smart Meter Opt-Out Workshop on Sept. 14 admitted that the microbursts of RF radiation occur 24/7 because the smart meters need to chatter and sync with each other and the repeaters.”

So here we have the manufacturers, themselves, giving confirming detail about how the RF radiation is continuous–that it needs to be in order for their system to work. . .

Posted in Pulsed Radiation | Leave a comment

Link, Dr. Blank’s Talk, EMF’s Effect on DNA

Posted on October 29, 2011 by melissalevine

Dr. Blank gives a dynamic, very clear presentation (which is helpful for non science majors) about how electromagnetic fields affect cells and can cause DNA damage. We need our DNA to be healthy our entire lives, he says, not just when we’re of childbearing age. He explains:

“DNA is not an ordinary kind of molecule. It’s the molecule that contains the genetic information that we have to keep us functioning. Most people think it’s only about passing on the information on to future generations. But the DNA is not like we were taught when we were in high school—that the DNA is kept in the nucleus, very secure, locked in and it’s hard to damage, it’s chemically inert. No, that’s not true. This molecule is in business, and it’s constantly doing things because it makes the proteins that are needed for the business of life.”

He also talks about  how EMF affects cells:

“so the stress protein is an indication by the cell in its own language that it has come into contact with something that is bad for it–that is potentially harmful and what it’s telling us is that when we know that the cell reacts to EMF in the environment it is telling you that the cell feels it is potentially harmful.The cell has told us. You can do the experiment yourself. It will make stress proteins and it only makes the stress proteins when it is a potentially harmful environment and it makes it with EMF. . . ” (Dr. Martin Blank, Commonwealth Club, 11/18/10)

Posted in Health Impact, Science | 1 Comment