Open letter to the Premier from a Doctor
22nd February 2012
To the Premier of Victoria
Mr Baillieu,
Since the completion of the smart meter roll-out in my area, I have been very, very sick.
I have continuous palpitations, chest pain, a weird taste in my mouth, loss of appetite, lethargy, dizziness, faint attacks, inability to concentrate and complete insomnia.
I have the feelings at home, in the street, in all the streets of my area and at the shops.
I am not able to function. I can’t work, I can’t look after my family, I need my husband, who is now the only breadwinner, to take care of me.
My symptoms only disappear when I am in an area without smart meters, in a large park or on the beach. When my husband drives me through the Melbourne suburbs, I tell him when I feel my symptoms abate, he stops the car and looks at house fronts and, sure enough, he sees the old-style meters. This can be reproduced very predictably.
We now have to sell our home and find a place to live, where I get few or no symptoms. In the long-term, we have no choice but to leave the state of Victoria, as even if I find a ‘symptom free’ home, my life would still be very limited, as I could not roam most streets, go to most shops, visit friends, work etc.
My family’s life has been completely ruined. We have lost everything we had worked for. My two teenage kids have to cope with the trauma and grief of the overwhelming loss that awaits us on a daily basis. I already can no longer work as a doctor, eventually my kids will have to leave their school, university, grandparents and friends behind.
This is all senseless and monstrous. Even in the big scheme of things, my life matters and so do the lives of those who depend on me, especially my family and friends, for whom I am not replaceable.
What happened to me was avoidable and clearly a breach of human rights – the right to health and the right not to be subjected to experimentation without my consent.
The community has never been consulted on the need for smart meters, or even well-informed.
With the mandatory Victorian smart meter roll-out we will have irreversibly compromised those democratic values that have defined Australia so far.
Dr Federica Lamech
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Follow up letter after a standard response from the Premier
27th March 2012
Mr Baillieu,
The reply I received to my letter to the Premier of Victoria dated 22.2.12 was not helpful. It implies that there is complete lack of post-smartmeter-roll-out surveillance of possible health effects. It also implies that the government’s strategy in relation to people like me, who have developed significant adverse health outcomes due to sensitivity to smartmeters’ radiofrequencies, is to ignore us.
The EMC Technologies study on which the Office of the Energy Minister claims to have based its decision that the meters are safe is of such poor quality (ie. it does not meet the relevant scientific criteria for a study to be valid) as to be a joke. Apart from the fact that it does not even address the health consequences of constant exposure to radio frequency fields, it uses a sample size of sixteen to assess the safety of a device that could potentially affect more than five million Victorians. Also, in most of the results tables, up to a third or more of data is missing and labelled ‘NM’, ie. not measured.
It is, moreover, unheard of, in the scientific world, to come to conclusions about anything that may affect the health of millions of people based on only one study. And it would be considered inadmissible to not have a post-roll-out surveillance study in place. It was only through this type of post-release surveillance that it was discovered that Vioxx could cause heart attacks and that drug was consequently removed from the market.
At this stage I am starting to prepare myself for legal action against the Victorian Government. This is important for myself, as, at the age of forty-seven, the loss of my earning potential and the loss of my skills to the community are considerable, but also for those who may be similarly affected by the meters’ radiotransmissions, but may be too old, sick, alone or financially disadvantaged to speak up and be heard or do to do anything to improve their situation.
Worldwide, evidence is emerging of potential negative health effects of smart meters’ radiotransmissions on susceptible individuals. For this reason, the UK government has reversed its decision on their mandatory smart meter roll-out. Smart meter installation in the UK will now be voluntary, based on health concerns, and it is even suggested there that the meters should come with a ‘health warning’. See article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/financialservices/utilities/Business-energy/9053100/Smart-meters-for-energy-to-be-voluntary.html
From now on, all correspondence from me and any reply I receive or lack of it will be made public via the internet and an array of media outlets. I will also distribute copies to journalists, politicians of all persuasions, community and church leaders and persons in the public eye, both here and overseas.
I will use any means and contacts at my disposal to name and shame those in the Victorian Government, who, having been informed of mine and others’ predicament, have chosen to ignore it.
Dr Federica Lamech
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