Energy and Climate Change CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by Karl Cox (SMR24)

PROPOSED SMART METER ROLL OUT

1. I am writing to you as a citizen of this country concerning the Commons Select Committee call for responses regarding the proposed smart meter roll out. Below I include a summary and references to responses by leading scientists and medical professionals to the risks of smart meters, its infrastructure—the notorious “smart grid”—and implications for illegal use of private data by government agencies home and abroad and private corporations, as well as other concerns such as the reports of literally hundreds of fires caused by the smart meters themselves.

2. Given the restrictions on the amount evidence I can provide in this submission, I will provide references and summary as a whole. I urge the committee members to take the time to examine the evidence for themselves.

3. Where smart meters have been rolled out in the world, such as in the United States of America, Canada and Australia, there has been immediate problems to the health and mental wellbeing of individuals, hundreds of property fires where meters have simply exploded, bills for consumers have increased, and the estimated cost of roll out of these unwanted meters has increased exponentially, at, as usual, the tax payer’s expense. As a tax payer, I do not wish to fund a technology that causes harm to life, costs me more than an already perfectly valid system (that is already metered and works without a hitch), and puts properties and hence lives at risk.

4. The evidence for the statements in paragraph 3 is in the public domain and governments around the world who are forcing their citizens to take on this new technology, in full knowledge of the above, are acting in wilful ignorance of these facts to serve the short-term profiteering of the utility and telecommunications industry. Why? Because the massive scale of this industry is now beyond the sensible regulation of governments and decisions about these technologies and policy is now formed by these industries rather than independent politicians and think tanks. It is all about money and control. This is the reality of the world now and is undeniable. Here is an opportunity to take back your authority by considering the real facts as they are and as they have been reported countless times in the scientific literature and in the media.

5. Smart meters emit microwave radiation. This is the same radiation emitted from other wireless devices such as mobile phones, phone masts and Wi-Fi. This radiation has been classified as a class 2B carcinogen by the World Health Organisation (WHO 2011). This classification is based upon the now overwhelming evidence that exposure to this radiation can cause tumours and cancer, as has been found in mobile phone users and also in those who live a number of years within the vicinity of a mobile phone mast.

6. Manmade radiation has long been understood as harmful to life. No matter how the spin doctors wrap it up, manmade radiation is always dangerous. Thermal heating is the standard measure used by the Health Protection Agency, at the behest of its industry paymasters, to assess the risk to life of exposure to this radiation. This has been encapsulated into the ICNIRP “standard” that governments and industry hide behind in order to avoid facing the truth about this technology. The truth is that microwave radiation emitted from these wireless devices, including smart meters, is non-thermal. As way of explanation, thermal heating is the physical heating of tissue, and heating of more than one percent in the brain for instance is considered dangerous to health. For ICNIRP tests to be above their “safe” limit would mean that you would have to literally cook. This is obviously an insane way to measure the risk to your health of exposure to wireless devices. The EU thought so too and voted ICNIRP as “obsolete” as a standard for measuring against modern wireless devices (EU 2009).

7. Non-thermal radiation does not literally cook the cells of organic beings. Instead, it irritates the cells to the point where they begin to fragment, leak, mitochondria become exposed to this radiation and die (mitochondria are to our cells what the Sun is to our planet). Once the mitochondria die, the cell dies and disease occurs. The immune system is disrupted because the cells can no longer communicate to it effectively. With a weakened immune system and on-going constant exposure to this pulsed, manmade radiation, the body simply becomes sick, cells die on mass and tumours form.

8. This radiation is not like that of the Sun. Or the radiation that wraps around our planet Earth, our home. All life upon planet Earth relies upon the natural electromagnetic currents that sweep the Earth. All life has a biomagnetic radiance and needs these ever dependable electromagnetic currents to live a healthy and vibrant life, in harmony with Nature, in this delicately balanced eco-system called planet Earth. The proposed smart meter roll out will further permeate our country with pulsed, microwave radiation working on a frequency identical to nature that is already having a massively damaging impact on the natural world. The pulsed radiation of manmade microwave technology is interfering with the navigation and communication of bees. This radiation is causing bees to lose their way as it muddles the natural signals from the planet’s electromagnetic currents. This manmade radiation is having the same effect on the cells of the bee’s body as it does on humans (Warnke 2009). All cellular life on Earth is the same. What harms mankind harms nature and vice versa. Given that we know that microwave radiation from wireless devices such as smart meters is harmful to humans and all nature, why are still continuing to pursue this technology?

9. In the US, there is a growing movement against smart meters. This is led by scientists and medical professionals who recognise the damage that this wireless technology is doing to health. The American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM 2012) has called for an end of the smart meter roll out on the grounds of the massive weight of evidence showing how harmful microwave technology is and how hopelessly inadequate the US Federal Communication Commission’s “safety” standards are.

10. The BioInitiative Report reviewed thousands of peer-reviewed, scientific publications, and has found that there is growing rise in illnesses and diseases caused by microwave radiation to humans, much of it life-threatening. There is continuing increase in: brain tumours, leukaemia, breast cancer and other cancers, inflammatory diseases such as Crohns, permanent DNA damage, increasing risk to foetuses in pregnant mothers, increased cases of leakage of blood-brain barrier, increased cases of ADHD in children exposed to microwave radiation in schools from Wi-Fi, increased loss of memory and behavioural problems in children. This list can go on; for more please read the report (BioInitiative 2012). The most at risk are pregnant women, their foetuses and children: the very future of this nation. Why are the powers that be letting this happen to our children and unborn babes?

11. The BioInitiative Report also shows how obsolete ICNIRP really is and calls for immediate action to remedy this dire public health situation, which will only be exacerbated by the roll out and installation of smart meters in people’s homes across the country.

12. Wherever smart meters have been introduced, there have been immediate health problems. People unable to sleep, develop skin irritations and allergies and in some cases die from such exposure.

13. In the State of California where it has been proposed there be a mandatory smart meter roll out, a concerted response by leading experts from around the world has responded and shown categorically that smart meters benefit only the utility companies, are harmful to health and to the environment. They point out that though few things in medicine are absolutely proven, statistical analysis and weight of evidence is the accepted approach. So there is a still a “debate” about proving the harmful effects of microwave radiation from wireless devices like smart meters. Consider the cigarette: it is accepted that smoking can cause cancer. Yet not everyone who smokes gets cancer. So technically it isn’t proven that smoking is harmful. However, the weight of evidence and statistical analysis shows that it is. This is the same situation with microwave radiation but of course the powers that be hide behind this fallacious argument of absolute proof. See California reference.

14. Invasion of privacy. The US has seen something of a legal and constitutional crisis because of the possibility of misuse of data collected by smart meters. This data is effectively “open access” because it is in cyberspace. There are a growing number of government agencies and private organizations wishing to use this data. Indeed, this data has even come into the hands of marketing agencies keen to look for opportunities to sell you something based on the profile of your consumption of electricity, gas and water. This is an infringement of privacy and civil liberty. A congressional report in the US has highlighted this problem as more and more agencies and corporations are at risk of breaking the law and being subject to lawsuits by misuse of this private data (CRS 2012). Is the UK Government prepared for this legal backlash?

15. The smart grid is insecure. This is a fact as recognised by leading intelligence agencies globally. There has been a dramatic increase in cyber attacks on smart grid technology. It simply is not safe. Imagine a scenario where we are all hooked into this smart grid and its central system crashes through a malicious cyber attack. Smart meters are automatically set to “off” mode when they or the grid fail. This means that a whole country or region could be without power and/or water instantly. This may sound far fetched but is documented in various reports by security experts (TakeBack 2013).

16. I ask you, Sirs, as elected officials given the responsibility for the welfare of the people of this nation to be resolute in the defence of this planet, our home, of the nature kingdom, of your constituents, the population of this magnificent country. Consider people as real living people, like you do your family members and loved ones. You would not wish to knowingly harm them, yet a smart meter roll out will be doing just that. Also consider the liberty and freedom this great nation has and is renowned for globally. Smart meters will erode this freedom and this country will move yet another step closer to the dark place where many countries now find themselves. Smart meter technology is unsafe to health, it is not Green—it harms humans so clearly harms nature, it is unreliable, it is invasive and open to exploitation and it is expensive. Why destroy a system that already works well and causes no harm to life with one that does not work well and is shown to be very harmful to life on this planet?

17. The UK Government has already stated that the choice to have a smart meter is down to the individual, a voluntarily take up—people have the right to opt out in the light of physical harm to life as seen in the US and Canada (Telegraph 2012). Why consider changing this? Where is there any evidence stating the safety of these devices? There is a growing mass of evidence stating how dangerous they are but nothing showing they are safe. Please explain why you would consider changing your views.

Sincerely,

Dr Karl Cox

References

(AAEM 2012) The American Academy of Environmental Medicine, Statement before the Public Utilities Commission of the State of California, 19 January 2012,
http://aaemonline.org/images/CaliforniaPublicUtilitiesCommission.pdf

(BioInitiative 2012) The BioInitiative Report 2012, available from http://www.bioinitiative.org/

(CRS 2012) Congressional Research Service, Smart Meter Data: Privacy and Cyber Security, report for Congress, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42338.pdf

(EEA 2009) EEA recommends precaution principle in mobile phones and masts http://latelessons.ew.eea.europa.eu/fol572324/statements/Benefits_of_mobile_phones_and_potential_hazards_of_EMF.doc

(EU 2009) EU calls ICNIRP standard “obsolete”, see for example: http://www.mastsanity.org/index.php/info-guides-/smart-meters.html

(TakeBack 2013), Take Back Your Power—forthcoming documentary on the state of the smart grid, smart meter safety, health risk and privacy invasion: http://takebackyourpower.net/

(Telegraph 2012) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financialservices/utilities/Business-energy/9053100/Smart-meters-for-energy-to-be-voluntary.html

(Warnke 2009) U. Warnke, Birds, Bees and Mankind: Destroying Nature by Electrosmog, available from www.naturalscience.org

(WHO 2011) World Health Organisation, “IARC classifies Radio Frequency Carcinogenic to Humans”, www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf

California

Dr. Karl Maret: Canada
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/?p=368

Professor Lukas H. Margaritis:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Margaritis_Official_letter_by_Margaritis-Fragopoulou.pdf

Dr. David O. Carpenter:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Carpenter_final_CCST.pdf

Dr. Olle Johansson: Sweden
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Olle_final_to_CCST.pdf

Dr. Sam Milham:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Sam_Milham_MD_Letter.pdf

Dr. Magda Havas: Canada
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Havas_Report_CCST_Smart_Meters.pdf

Dr. Raymond Neutra:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Raymond_Neutra_ccstPDF.pdf

Cindy Sage, Sage Associates:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Sage_Final_CCST_Comment_Letter._doc.pdf

Cindy Sage “Smart Meter Safety Assessment”:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/

Janet Newton, EMR Policy Institute:
http://sagereports.com/smart-meter-rf/docs/letters/Sage_Final_CCST_Comment_Letter._doc.pdf

City Council of San Rafael:
http://ccst.us/projects/smart2/machform/view_entrySmart.php?form_id=2&id=62

Division of Rate Payer Advocates, CPUC:
http://www.ccst.us/projects/smart2/documents/letter5.pdf

Andrea Boland, Maine State Representative:
http://ccst.us/projects/smart2/machform/view_entrySmart.php?form_id=2&id=9

Catherine Kleiber, EMR Policy Institute:
http://www.ccst.us/projects/smart2/documents/letter2.pdf

Sandi Maurer:
http://ccst.us/projects/smart2/machform/view_entrySmart.php?form_id=2&id=92

L. Lloyd Morgan:
http://www.ccst.us/projects/smart2/documents/letter9morgan.pdf

Judy Vick:
http://www.ccst.us/projects/smart2/documents/letter38vick.pdf

February 2013