U.S. Smart Meter expert Joshua Hart to address meeting at Leixlip Castle

U.S. Smart Meter expert Joshua Hart to address meeting at Leixlip Castle

 Joshua Hart, the British-born leader of the Stop Smart Meters! campaign in the United States, will discuss the dangers of wireless electricity meters at a meeting in Leixlip.

 His talk is scheduled for Wednesday, 12 June, at 7.30 p.m. at Leixlip Castle, home to the Hon. Desmond Guinness. As a proponent of the so-called Precautionary Principle which holds that technology should be proven safe before being used, Guinness had a communication mast removed from his farmland which lies along the north bank of the River Liffey as it approaches the town.

 Joshua Hart is Director of Stop Smart Meters! He has worked in the energy industry, as a transportation planner, environmental advocate, and freelance journalist based in California. 

 Smart Meters are scheduled to be installed for gas and water by the Cork-based company, Abtran, which calls itself “Ireland’s leading provider of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).”  Deployment of Smart Meters for electricity is scheduled for next year.

 Hart was invited to Leixlip by John Weigel of Ryevale Lawns who, along with people from around the country, formed the Alliance for Irish Radiation Protection following the visit to Leixlip by Prof. Olle Johansson in 2010. 

  Hart says no studies have been done on smart meters, per se, but research on cell phones is relevant. As Prof. Johansson told the people of Leixlip and his findings have been verified by the U.S. The National Institute of Health that changes have been found in human, animal and insect neurological chemistry because of exposure to wireless. There are hundreds of peer-reviewed articles that show impacts on human health and behavior at levels far below what the FCC guidelines indicate are permissible.

“We think there should be an immediate moratorium on the technology, pending a series of independent hearings on the problems that have been identified. And this needs to be a national and international halt. And we need investigations,” said Hart.

 The use of Smart Meters also brings privacy concerns. According to Hart, “The smart meters reveal how many people are home, what time you wake up in the morning, what appliances you're using, even perhaps what television program you're watching. And this is all information that is extraordinarily valuable to third-party corporations.”

 Hart obtained his MSc in Transport Planning in the UK at UWE Bristol in 2008, and completed research entitled Driven to Excess, presenting the social and quality of life impacts of car traffic on local residents.  The research was covered in over 100 international media outlets including the BBC, the Guardian, Tehran Times, and the Daily Mail. As leader of the anti-Smart Meter movement in the United States, Hart infroms people through his website http://stopsmartmeters.org/.

 Hart’s arrival in Leixlip occurs at the same time over 400 positions are being filled by Abrtan in preparation for the deployment of the so-called Smart Meter system. Commenting on Abtran’s role, Dr. Colman Etchingham, lecturer in history at NUI Maynooth, said, “I'd like to draw the attention of those interested in the role of Abtran as outsourced agent of the Revenue Commissioners to an item in the current issue of Phoenix magazine. There the issue of fraudulent use of the credit card details of Property Tax payers by someone working in Abtran's Cork call centre is mentioned. Moreover, it appears that the Abtran group of companies — who only last week were revealed as having won the contract to handle Irish Water's attempt to impose water taxes — re-registered as "unlimited" in 2009. This absolves them from filing returns to the Companies Office and obviously removes all transparency regarding their trading details. Furthermore, it appears that Abtran is itself owned by two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven. As the Phoenix aptly inquires, does Abtran pay any tax in Ireland? We might ask further, are Josephine Feehily and the Revenue Commissioners not concerned about this situation?”

 This handing over of Irish interests to companies based abroad is precisely the scenario outlined by retired physics lecturer Barrie Trower to the Irish Doctors Environmental Association. As with Abtran, police and emergency service communications have been assigned  to a company using microwave technology called Shared Access. After a presentation to the Leixlip Town Council, Cathoirlach Colm Purcell, asked a Shared Access representative to answer questions relating to the health of people exposed to Shared Access’ Tetra signal. Shared Access failed to answer the health-related questions and according to Trower, the cypher key to the entire Tetra system is held by the United States.

 “So, if you were to say to me,” said Trower, “What’s going to happen to Ireland? It’s simple, you are going to see an epidemic of birth defects, with livestock and children that will put Thalidomide way into the shade. That is going to happen without a shadow of a doubt. You are also going to lose the viability of your country, that can’t be helped as well - unless you do something.”

 The meeting at Leixlip Castle is free. Places are available on a first-come basis.

 For further information contact John Weigel via e-mail at jweigel0@gmail.com