Thursday, January 6, 2011

Calif. County Criminalizes Smart-Meter Installations / Moratorium / World Map of Birds and Fish deaths / Microwave Dragon / The Mast Cell / EMF / EHS Issue / Health threat / More Evidence

W.E.E.P. News

Wireless Electrical and Electromagnetic Pollution News 

6 January 2011

 
Calif. County Criminalizes Smart-Meter Installations
By DEBRA KAHN of GreenwireGreenwire
Published: January 5, 2011

Citing alleged health effects from electromagnetic waves, a county in the North San Francisco Bay Area has criminalized the installation of "smart" electric meters.

The Marin County Board of Supervisors unanimously passed an ordinance (pdf) yesterday that deems the installation of smart meters a public nuisance in some areas.

The law applies to unincorporated Marin, home to about 70,000 of the county's 260,000 residents. In addition to electromagnetic health risks, the board cited concerns about meters being used to collect information about residents' activities, impacts on aesthetics and potential damage to amateur radio networks.

The board has asked the California Public Utilities Commission before to declare a moratorium on the meters, following the lead of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

A spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which dismissed an executive last November after he admitted to monitoring smart-meter opponents online, said the company planed to continue smart-meter installation despite the ordinance (Greenwire, Nov. 11, 2010).

PG&E's meter installation is being done by a contractor, Wellington Energy, and is supposed to be finished by the end of next year to comply with a state mandate. The towns of Fairfax and Watsonville, as well as Santa Cruz County, have also passed laws against the meters.

"We continue to be committed to engaging fully with our customers as well as in communities where smart meters are being installed or are about to be installed," utility spokesman Jeff Smith said. "Ultimately, continuing the program will allow all our customers to enjoy the benefits of them."

Among the benefits, Smith said, are faster power-outage detection, daily and hourly summaries of energy use for residents and alerts when a home is about to use enough energy to enter into a higher pricing tier.

Katharina Sandizell, a mother of two who was arrested last week for blocking Wellington trucks on a public road in Inverness Park, noted that San Francisco passed a law last year requiring cell phone retailers to post information on the radiation produced by each type of phone. Smart meters emit more radiation than phones, she said.

"With cell phones, you can choose not to have them, or to turn it off when you're not using it or you can use a headset," she said. "With the smart meter, it's just constantly on and you can't turn it off."

 

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Marin County Supes Approve One-Year SmartMeter Moratorium

January 4, 2011

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. -- The Marin County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a one-year moratorium on the installation of PG&E's SmartMeters in unincorporated areas of the county.

The emergency ordinance takes effect immediately and expires Dec. 31, 2011. It will allow the California Council on Science and Technology and members of the state Legislature to complete reports regarding potential problems with the controversial SmartMeters.

The ordinance cites well-publicized concerns in California about the overcharges of customers using the SmartMeters and the health effects of the electromagnetic frequency radiation emitted by the wireless technology in SmartMeters.

The ordinance also cites legislation by Assemblyman Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, that would allow PG&E customers to opt out of wireless SmartMeter installation, including removal of any existing SmartMeters.

PG&E spokesman Jeff Smith said the utility company would continue with its program to allow all customers in its service area to enjoy the benefits of the SmartMeter technology.

Smith said PG&E held more than 35 open houses and answering center availabilities in Marin County last year. The company has installed 7 million of the 10 million SmartMeters it plans to put in its service area between Bakersfield and the Oregon border, Smith said.

The adoption of the ordinance comes six days after two women were arrested in Inverness Park in Marin County during a SmartMeter installation protest. They were cited for disobeying a police officer by failing to get out of the road so traffic could get through.

The women were trying to block 10 Wellington Energy trucks on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. The Pittsburgh company has contracted with PG&E to install the SmartMeters.

One of the women, Katharina Sandizell is co-director of the West Marin Community Coalition for Public Health.

"(PG&E) is rolling over civil liberties and getting these things installed as quickly as possible so that people don't have time to consider the implications or ask questions," she said.

Sandizell also said that if PG&E continues to install the meters despite the moratorium, there will be more civil disobedience and arrests.

She said PG&E has to keep its promise of providing an opt-out alternative and remove SmartMeters that were forcibly installed.

The supervisors voted 4-0 in favor of the moratorium, with Supervisor Hal Brown absent, Sandizell said.

Moratoriums against SmartMeters have already been implemented in Fairfax, Watsonville and Santa Cruz County.

Following last week's protect in Inverness, PG&E spokesman Paul Moreno said PG&E believes the SmartMeters are safe.

They operate "well within the Federal Communication Commission's guidelines for radio frequency," he said.

Moreno said the meters use one watt of power - equivalent to a cell phone or baby monitor - to transmit data for 45 seconds each day.

It would take 1,000 years for someone with a SmartMeter to be exposed to as much radio frequency as a typical cell phone user is exposed to in a month, Moreno said.

Moreno also said the World Health Organization determined low-powered radio frequency devices do not pose risks to human health
 
 
 
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Bird and Fish Deaths around the World
 
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 9:44 PM
Subject: World Map of Birds / Fish deaths

 
GotEMF
 
 
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Taming the Microwave Dragon
 
January 2011

Several of you contacted me to tell me how much you enjoyed reading "Taming the Microwave Dragon" that appeared on my website:  http://www.magdahavas.com/2010/12/26/taming-the-microwave-dragon/

I have since produced a youtube video with cartoon characters based on an abbreviated version of the original text.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT1POQuyw50 

We need different ways of communicating the hazards of electrosmog.  Scientific and white papers are essential but they are seldom read or understood by the public.  Indeed I was recently informed by a former government bureaucrat that people don't like to read anymore. As disturbing as this sounds, he is probably right.  That is why TV and radio news programs and documentaries are becoming increasingly important.   Short youtube videos are also a good way to share information.

Please share this email with those who might be able to make a difference and let us hope that by working together we can tame the microwave dragon.

-magda

 
 
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The Mast Cell / EMF / EHS Issue
 
Dear All,

My dear friend, Catherine Gamba, recently pointed this web link out to me. A very good
read for anyone interested in the mast cell/EMF/EHS issue:

http://www.novamind.com/connect/nm_documents/show_branch/Power/ACFDE3B9-842D-4FE2-9B3E-71DD6C4113D6/902169943

Best regards
Yours
Olle

(Olle Johansson, assoc. prof.
The Experimental Dermatology Unit
Department of Neuroscience
Karolinska Institute
171 77 Stockholm
Sweden

&

Professor
The Royal Institute of Technology
100 44 Stockholm
Sweden)
 
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Health threat to mobile users: JNU study

The Hindu
Behari said the reports have concluded that RF-EMW from commercially available cell phones might affect the fertilising potential of sperms. ...

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article1033086.ece?homepage=true
 
David
 
 
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More Evidence Linking Cell Phones And Cancer

By Kelly Wallace
For many years now, skeptics have argued that the epidemiological studies pointing to a tumor risk from cell phones must be wrong, because no one has seen an increase in cell-phone related tumors in the general population. ... A recent re-analysis of the Hardell data by the Hardell team, published December 17, 2010 in the International Journal of Epidemiology, finally now explains the difference in brain tumor risk found in the two studies. ...

http://thedrcoldwellreport.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-evidence-linking-cell-phones-and.html
 
 

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