TEXANS DEMAND FREEDOM FROM SMART METERS
Petition asks state to impose 'permanent prohibition'
More than 100 Texans have joined together to petition public utilities regulators to ban so-called “smart” power meters because of the health threats they impose on the general public.
The meters are designed to interact with various advanced electronic appliances to monitor – and even manipulate – the use of power.
Cryer said his goal is to obtain a ruling on the dangers of the meters based on the health risks they pose.
“Petitioners who have been subjected to forced or compelled installation of smart meters or have been exposed to RF and EMF radiation generated by smart meters fraudulently installed on neighboring homes and businesses have experienced difficulties with symptoms of insomnia, headaches, dizziness, nausea and other symptoms,” states the petition, submitted to the Public Utilities Commission of Texas by attorney Tom Cryer on behalf of Devvy Kidd, John Kidd and more than 100 others.
“It’s like rushing thalidomide to the market … and not knowing the consequences,” he said, referring to the 1950s and 1960s use of the drug that caused major birth defects for children whose mothers used it.
He said the problem is the radio signals generated by the units.
“The meters are being pressed by the utilities in anticipation of charging different rates for usage at different times of the day and night, providing the utilities with a premium for peak times and increasing their profits,” explained an announcement about the petition.
“Utilities also claim that the smart meters will permit them to communicate with ‘smart’ appliances, such as air conditioners, dryers and water heaters, turning them off when demands on the system would otherwise require adjustments in electricity distribution on the grid, saving utility companies money. Many, however, are opposed to the installation of the meters because they are a serious health risk, compromise the consumers’ privacy and provide no savings or conservation purposes.”
Cryer’s arguments continued, “The ‘smart’ meters will not save the consumer any money, since he will be subjected to higher time of day based rates and to interruption of his use of appliances. The meters will not reduce the amount of electricity a customer uses nor will it result in any savings.”
He noted several state legislators have requested a moratorium on further installations until the meters can be tested. Many of their constituents, the lawmakers say, have reported that after installation of the meters their bills suddenly became much higher although their use of electricity did not change.
He said consumers oppose them for privacy and cost reasons, but the biggest danger is the “known health risks.”
Cryer said the current petition developed after Devvy and John Kidd, residents of Big Spring, went nose to nose with their utility in July 2011, when the corporation wanted to install a “smart” meter on their home.
Devvy is an investigative journalist who began researching the health risks and due to her husband’s medical issues decided to fight installation. When the utility decided to play hardball by threatening to terminate power to their home, she hired Cryer.
John Kidd is a retired U.S. Army colonel and classified as medically disabled. Texas law prohibits terminating power to any home where a disabled person resides. Their concern was with the radio frequency radiation and electromagnetic frequency radiation from the meter that penetrated their home day and night.
“After decades of study the scientific community and government health related agencies are warning people to avoid additional exposures to RF and EMF radiation because it has been linked to many ailments including minor issues, such as headaches, nausea, dizziness, to life threatening, such as heart function interference, brain function interference, jamming of pacemakers and insulin injectors, DNA disruption causing birth defects and even cancer,” Kidd said.
The utilities have been unrelenting, however.
The result is the petition requesting an immediate moratorium on further installations as well as a hearing on the risk to public safety from the meters.
Cryer told WND that other states are facing the same issues and have decided against the technology upgrades. But those decisions largely have been based on the nonexistent cost savings related to them.
He said the Texas case focuses on the health risks.
Action movie actor, martial arts champion and WND columnist Chuck Norris earlier confronted the issue.
He asserted that complaints about ailments from the “electrosmog” are not hysteria or hype.
“Electrosmog is pollution through electromagnetic energy. It is being produced by this vast post-Edison world, in which electromagnetic fields and flows have inundated the space around us,” he wrote.
He cited the work of Dr. David Carpenter, head of the New York State Department of Health for years, who said there is evidence that radio frequency exposure at elevated levels for long periods of time raises the risk of cancer and damage to the nervous system.
Also, author Brian Sussman in “Climategate” warns readers about the Smart Grid, Smart Meters, Smart Thermostats and Energy Star appliances – which he says will allow unseen bureaucrats to regulate all of the appliances in America’s homes.
“This is not fantasy,” says Sussman, an award-winning television meteorologist, “This is reality. Smart Meters have already replaced the whirling, old-fashioned electric meters on the side of millions of houses in America – they monitor electricity usage minute-by-minute and can be read remotely. The remote-controlled Smart Thermostats are being installed as well and further enable bureaucratic control the temperature of your abode. The Smart Grid, which was mandated in the 2007 energy bill and funded with ‘stimulus’ money, is coming next. The grid will possess interactive broadband capabilities to further control all of the new-generation Energy Star appliances you will be forced to purchase – like your washer, dryer, water heater and even your flat-screen TV.”
The petition alleges not only are the meters a danger, the utilities, Oncor, Centerpoint, Texas-New Mexico Power, AEP Texas Central and AEP Texas North “have engaged in a concerted and deliberate campaign to impose the installation, use and operation of so-called ‘smart meters’ on electricity consumers in their homes and businesses, both against their expressed opposition and without their valid and free and voluntary informed consent.”
The “injury and illness, both immediately inflicted and gradually inflicted by the smart meters’ RF and EMF radiations is being imposed daily and such harm is irreparable,” the petition contends.
http://www.wnd.com/2012/02/texans-demand-freedom-from-smart-meters/
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