PG&E BEGINS REMOVING ‘SMART’ METERS DUE TO HEALTH EFFECTS

PG&E BEGINS REMOVING ‘SMART’ METERS DUE TO HEALTH EFFECTS

Widening Call for Immediate Return of Analogs; Disconnection of “Mesh” Wireless Network

SANTA CRUZ, CA.—Just as PG&E enters the final phase of its deployment of wireless “smart” meters in California, the largest of the state’s Investor Owned Utilities (IOU’s) has reversed course, quietly beginning to replace the ‘smart’ meters of those reporting health impacts with the old trusty analog version.  Consumer rights and health groups immediately seized on the news, demanding that millions of Californians unhappy with their new wireless meters get their analogs returned immediately at no cost.

‘Smart’ meters are new wireless utility meters being installed as part of the “smart” grid initiative, spearheaded by technology firms and backed by the Obama administration and the Department of Energy.  Promises ranging from lower utility bills to enhanced renewable generation capacity have failed to materialize, with widespread reports of higher bills, privacy violations, fires and explosions, and commonly reported health impacts such as headaches, nausea, tinnitus, and heart problems associated with powerful wireless transmissions.   Widely disparate political groups- from members of the Green Party to the Tea Party and Occupy protesters have attacked the program, and dozens of grassroots organizations have sprouted up over the past several months to fight what they call an undemocratic, unconstitutional and dangerous assault on people in their own homes and neighborhoods.  Dozens of people have been detained or arrested for peaceful civil disobedience and even simply speaking out against deployments.[1] 

In California, more than 47 cities and counties have demanded a halt to halt installation, and a dozen local governments have passed laws prohibiting the controversial technology. [2] The ‘smart’ meter issue has further angered a public already seething at the utilities over repeated gas explosions, safety breaches at nuclear reactors, and an increasingly extortionate rate structure.  Word of California’s ‘smart’ meter nightmare has spread across the country and around the world, prompting some utilities to place smart meter plans on hold, and recently Nevada’s PUC to call for investigations into the health effects and other smart meter problems.[3]

Now in a dramatic turnaround that could signal the beginning of a widespread recall of wireless ‘smart’ meters, on October 28^th PG&E re-installed a classic spinning disc analog meter on the home of Santa Cruz, CA resident Caitlin Phillips, who had been suffering headaches and other symptoms from her ‘smart’ meter.   The move comes in response to verbal directives from the California Public Utilities Commission President Michael Peevey, who recently told members of the public that the utility “will provide for you to go back to the analog meter if that’s your choice.”  The CPUC has been slow to respond to thousands of ordinary citizens reporting health effects from the new meters.

When a Wellington Energy installer (contracted with PG&E) came to install a smart meter at her home, Caitlin asked the installer to get off her property and not install, because of what a neighbor had told her about possible health damage and privacy violations.   “When I returned home later, I discovered a smart meter on my house.   That night I awoke to severe anxiety, headache, and buzzing in my teeth, and realized the new smart meter was on the other side of the wall from my bed.”  Caitlin reported her experience to PG&E and the CPUC, who both declined to rectify the situation.  When the symptoms persisted, Caitlin sought the assistance of the Scotts Valley based group Stop Smart Meters! who provided an analog meter and referred her to a professional who could help her remove her ‘smart’ meter.  As soon as the analog was installed, Caitlin’s symptoms disappeared.

Frustrated and outraged about her treatment by the utility and the PUC, Caitlin travelled to San Francisco to speak at a commission meeting on Oct. 20th.   About a week later, PG&E crews were at her house replacing her temporary analog meter with a brand new official PG&E analog meter.  This is believed to be the first time PG&E have willingly replaced an analog meter on the home of someone suffering from health effects.[4]

An “opt-out” proceeding overseen by an Administrative Law Judge is underway at the CA Public Utilities Commission, yet those suffering (in some cases severe) health impacts have been stuck in limbo as utilities refuse to remove the harmful meters upon request- until now.

“There are hundreds of thousands- if not millions- of people suffering in their homes from forced ‘smart’ meter radiation,” said Joshua Hart, Director of the grassroots organization Stop Smart Meters!  “The utilities and PUC’s must respond promptly to all requests that analogs be returned.  The alternative is that people will increasingly turn to independent professionals to remove unwanted ‘smart’ meters from their homes, a reasonable action we assert is within our legal rights. Protecting your family’s health is not tampering.”

PG&E and other utilities have also been responding to health complaints by replacing wireless ‘smart’ meters with digital meters that are “wireless-ready.”  These digital meters have been associated with health problems from “dirty electricity” frequencies that pass into a home via the electrical wiring.  These “trojan horse” meters have been roundly rejected by those who report continuing health impacts after installation. Susan Brinchman, Director of San Diego based Center for Electrosmog Prevention. said “At this point, the burden of responsibility is on the utilities to demonstrate that any new meter they want to install on our homes is safe.  Communities have the right to retain analog meters at no extra charge.  Period.”

~end~

[1] http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2010/12/29/2-arrests-at-pge-smartmeter-protest-in-marin-county/

[2] Full list of opposed local governments:  http://stopsmartmeters.org/how-you-can-stop-smart-meters/sample-letter-to-local-government/ca-local-governments-on-board/

[3] http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/oct/25/nv-energys-smart-meters-be-investigated/

[4] Video of the switchout can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IjC4BEZxLg

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Joshua Hart

Date: Wed, Nov 2, 2011 at 6:49 AM

Subject: Press Release: PG&E BEGINS REMOVING ‘SMART’ METERS DUE TO HEALTH EFFECTS

To: info stop smart meters <info@stopsmartmeters.org>

How to test for metals poisoning and remove heavy metals from your body

Thursday, November 03, 2011 by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger Editor of NaturalNews.com(See all articles...)

Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034049_heavy_metals_removal.html#ixzz1cj8LjTRR

(NaturalNews) With all the recent news about iron pills that might harm you (http://www.naturalnews.com/034021_i...) and a popular dietary supplement that was exposed as having surprisingly high levels of aluminum sulfate (http://www.naturalnews.com/034005_A...), NaturalNews has received numerous emails from readers wanting to know how to actuallyremoveheavy metals (and light metals, for that matter) from their body.

On top of the items mentioned above,there is also aluminum and mercury in many vaccines(http://www.naturalnews.com/031870_f...), and people take in mercury from eating sushi, too (http://www.naturalnews.com/029189_s...). There's also a problem withcopper exposure, as people who take in too much copper may literallylose their mindsor become delusional (http://www.naturalnews.com/034037_A...).

The bottom line in all this is thatwe are being assaulted with heavy metalsthrough medicines, personal care products, cosmetics, industrial chemicals and even some fraudulently marketed health products.

So what can you do about it?

Step one: Get tested - blood, hair, urine

Before you can treat metals toxicity, you need to determine what levels of metals you actually have contaminating your body's tissues.

As metals toxicity expert Roy Dittman explained in our recent interview,a blood test alone cannot accurately determine your level of metals toxicity. Many metals quickly pass from your bloodto your tissues, where they may lodge and cause serious long-term health problems such as:

• Iron lodged in your heart tissue can cause heart disease.

• Aluminum lodged in your brain tissue can cause Alzheimer's or clinical insanity.

• Mercury lodged in your brain can cause autism spectrum disorders.

• Lead lodged in your bones can interfere with red blood cell production and even white blood cell production.

To get tested, find a local doctor or naturopath who can run these tests and offer you an intelligent diagnosis. Get your tests done, review your results, then decide your next course of action.

Step two: Consider treatment to remove the metals

The most widely accepted treatment for removing heavy metals ischelation therapy, and its efficacy for certain metals is widely accepted across both conventional and holistic medical practitioners.

Chelation therapy involves your doctor or naturopath placing an IV line into your arm (or other location), then dripping achelation agentinto your bloodstream. The most common chelation agent used today isethylenediaminetetraacetic acidor EDTA. As theUniversity of Maryland Medical Centerexplains (http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/...):

"Chelation therapy using EDTA is the medically accepted treatment for lead poisoning. Other heavy metal poisonings treated with chelation include mercury, arsenic, aluminum, chromium, cobalt, manganese, nickel, selenium, zinc, tin, and thallium. Chelating agents other than EDTA are also used to clear several of these substances from the bloodstream."

This page goes on to explain:

"Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been associated with many health conditions, including heart disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders (including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS), and autism."

Be sure to replenish the good minerals

Although there istremendous controversyabout the use of EDTA for removing plaque from arteries, it is widely acknowledged that EDTA very effectively removes metals (and minerals) from the body. The good news is that EDTA binds to heavy metals and allows your body to easily eliminate them. The bad news is that EDTAalso binds to beneficial mineralssuch as zinc and calcium, taking them out of your body as well. For this reason, health practitioners who administer EDTA chelation typically recommendremineralization treatmentswith healthful minerals following chelation.

There are many other areas to explore in the realm of metals detox. I don't have all the answers for you here, but you may wish to explore various detox cleanses using apple cider vinegar or lemon juice as the primary liquids. Just "juicing" fresh vegetables and fruits with lemons is, all by itself, somewhat of a heavy metals detox (although it probably won't eliminate inorganic metals lodged in brain tissue).

We hope to bring you more stories on this topic in the near future, especially as so many people have a heightened interest in removing copper, aluminum, mercury and even excess iron from their bodies. Eliminating excess iron, by the way, is easily accomplished bydonating blood. But make sure you get tested first, and discuss treatment options with your doctor or naturopathic physician.

This is one topic in which even conventional doctors may have very practical knowledge. Although conventional doctors typically have a poor understanding of nutrition, removing heavy metals from your body is an area in which they may indeed be quite useful. Licensed naturopaths are also an outstanding resource for this.

How to get "good" minerals into your body

It's simpler than you think: Simplyfeed minerals to your plants, then eat the plants. You can do this seasonally with a home garden or year-round with a sprouting machine. The sprouts will take up inorganic minerals and convert them intoorganic mineralswhich are then compatible for human consumption. Obviously, make sure the minerals you feed your plants don't contain harmful metals (like mercury or cadmium), or else your plants will absorb those, too.

Never consumeinorganic minerals or metals(i.e. minerals made from rocks) if you can avoid it. Certain metals shouldalwaysbe avoided where possible, such as mercury, aluminum, cadmium, arsenic and lead.

Articles Related to This Article: • Heavy metals warning for ayurvedic herbs is a distraction from the real threats to your health • Fruit Pectin Chelates Heavy Metals and Facilitates Drug Detox  • Natural Cellular Defense and zeolite - is it the next big thing in nutritional therapies for cancer and chronic disease? • Cilantro helps detox heavy metals • Fight Heavy Metals and Free Radicals: Achieve Oral Chelation Naturally  • Cilantro: Herb Assists in Heavy Metal Detoxification

Related video from NaturalNews.TV Your NaturalNews.TV video could be here. Upload your own videos at NaturalNews.TV (FREE)

About the author:Mike Adams is an award-winning journalist and holistic nutritionist with a passion for sharing empowering information to help improve personal and planetary health He has authored more than 1,800 articles and dozens of reports, guides and interviews on natural health topics, impacting the lives of millions of readers around the world who are experiencing phenomenal health benefits from reading his articles. Adams is a trusted, independent journalist who receives no money or promotional fees whatsoever to write about other companies' products. In 2010, Adams created NaturalNews.TV, anatural living video sharing sitefeaturing thousands of user videos on foods, fitness, green living and more. He also launched anonline retailer of environmentally-friendly products(BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well knownHTML email software companywhose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams volunteers his time to serve as the executive director of theConsumer Wellness Center, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and regularly pursues cycling, nature photography, Capoeira and Pilates. Known by his callsign, the 'Health Ranger,' Adams posts his missions statements, health statistics and health photos atwww.HealthRanger.org


Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034049_heavy_metals_removal.html#ixzz1cj8B63ni

Why the world of scientific research needs to be disrupted

By Mathew Ingram Oct. 31, 2011, 2:32pm PT 17 Comments

Traditional media players such as newspapers, magazines and book publishers often get criticized for being slow to change and uninterested in technological progress, but as we’ve pointed out before, there is another world that makes these industries look like the most enthusiastic of early adopters: namely, academic research. Award-winning quantum physicist Michael Nielsen says that the closed and disconnected nature of most research is holding back scientific progress in important ways, and that we need to foster a new kind of “networked science” if we want to make new discoveries faster.

Nielsen makes this argument in an op-ed piece written for the Wall Street Journal, which in turn was adapted from a book he published earlier this month called “Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science.” The author is recognized as an authority on quantum computing — having written one of the premier texts on the topic, as well as about 50 scientific papers for various journals — and was a faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario. But chose to put his quantum computing work on hold in order to write the book, because he felt so strongly about the need for more collaboration and what he calls “open science.”

Some scientists collaborate openly, but many do not

The physicist describes a number of successful collaborative efforts that have made real progress in scientific research, including one called The Polymath Project, which started with a simple blog post by a mathematician at Cambridge University who wanted to see if he could get help with a problem. Within a matter of hours, comments had poured in from mathematicians, a high-school math teacher and others around the world, and within six weeks the problem had been solved. Unfortunately, as Nielsen points out, this kind of collaborative effort is rare — and not just in mathematics. As he explains:

If you’re a scientist applying for a job or a grant, the biggest factor determining your success will be your record of scientific publications [so] you devote your working hours to tasks that will lead to papers in scientific journals. Even if you personally think it would be far better for science as a whole if you carefully curated and shared your data online, that is time away from your “real” work of writing papers.

As Nielsen and others have pointed out, this reality stifles a lot of scientific research, not to mention slowing down what research does occur — since it has to take place in a tiny number of peer-reviewed journals (the ones that your academic superiors see as worthy), which take months or even years to publish. And as George Monbiot pointed out in a rant against academic publishing in The Guardian earlier this year, those journals are also only available to other academics, often at unreasonably high prices — even if the research that the article is based on was funded by public money, and much of the peer-review and editing that went into it was done free of charge.

Part of what is disrupting scientific research is the simple fact that the web exists, and the“democracy of distribution” (as Om likes to call it) that digital-media tools have created — the same ones that allowed the high-school math teacher to help solve the Polymath Project problem, even though he isn’t a member of any of the prestigious societies or journals that usually deal with such things. It’s more than a little ironic that many scientists still don’t use the internet much for collaboration, when the network was originally created in part to help universities share research more easily — although projects like Mendeley are doing their part to try and change that.

The network is changing the way knowledge works

David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for the Internet and Society and co-author of a number of books including “The Cluetrain Manifesto,”has his own take on networked knowledge in a new book called “Too Big to Know,” which is to be published later this year. Weinberger argues that the way we structure and achieve knowledge itself is being changed by digital networks, and that much of the existing ways in which knowledge is written down and maintained — from journals and peer review to libraries and copyright — is driven by the needs of a world based on paper:

If your medium doesn’t easily allow you to correct mistakes, knowledge will tend to be carefully vetted. If it’s expensive to publish, then you will create mechanisms that winnow out contenders. If you’re publishing on paper, you will create centralized locations where you amass books… Traditional knowledge has been an accident of paper.

So how do we disrupt the academic-research business the same way that Amazon and the web have disrupted book publishing, or blogs and The Huffington Post have disrupted newspapers? Nielsen doesn’t have any silver bullets, but he does suggest that government agencies funding research should require that those submitting papers must provide their research free of charge (the National Institute of Health has started doing this with research it funds or supports).

Nielsen also argues that scientists themselves need to start bucking the system and supporting open research, as some — including Microsoft researcher Danah Boyd — have tried to do. Unless scientists and researchers start to put the interests of collaboration and “open science” ahead of their desire to be promoted or win tenure, he says, the system will not change, and experiments like Project Polymath and others he describes in his book (such as Galaxy Zoo, which allows non-scientists to help identify interstellar phenomena) will continue to be the exception instead of the rule.

http://gigaom.com/2011/10/31/why-the-world-of-scientific-research-needs-to-be-disrupted/

Why MSG is unhealthy

Wednesday, November 02, 2011 by: Shona Botes


Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034031_MSG_health_effects.html#ixzz1ci4Pa0T7

(NaturalNews) Monosodium Glutamate, or MSG as it is most commonly known as, is found in almost all convenience foods, fast foods and processed foods. It is used as a flavour enhancer in cheap, processed foods to make their taste more appealing. While making bland foods taste more appealing, this chemically structured ingredient is shown to cause neurotransmitter damage and is also linked to the skyrocketing cases of obesity we see today.

MSG was discovered in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, a Japanese scientist at the Tokyo Imperial University. He managed to isolate the flavour from a seaweed broth, and with the help of Ajinomoto Corporation of Japan, he patented it in 1909. It was then that it became available commercially for the first time. It is used in most restaurant cooking, especially in vegetarian dishes and low-protein foods.

MSG masquerades on food ingredient labels under many names: including glutamic acid, glutamate, autolyzed yeast, autolyzed yeast protein, yeast extract, textured protein, monopotassium glutamate, sodium caseinate, natrium glutamate, flavours, so-called `natural` flavours, hydrolyzed corn, yeast food and ultra-pasteurized and any enzyme-modified ingredients. Many manufacturers of medications use MSG as a filler ingredient in tablets and other medications.

Even personal care products like shampoos, soaps and cosmetics are not exempt from containing MSG. Look for ingredients that include the words `hydrolyzed,` `protein` and `amino acids.`

MSG has been known to cause an extreme rise or drop in blood pressure, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat), depression, dizziness, anxiety or panic attacks, migraines, mental confusion, stiffness, muscular swelling, lethargy, seizures, joint pain, flu-like body aches, chest pains, loss of balance, slurred speech, diarrhoea, stomach cramps, sneezing, nausea, vomiting, skin rashes, hives, blurred vision and difficulty in concentrating.

MSG is a glutamic acid which stimulates brain cell activity. This is why it is also known as an excitotoxin. Glutamates are responsible for the signaling of nerve impulses in certain neurons. Tests done in the 1950s showed that when rats were given a single dose of MSG, it destroyed the neurons in the inner layer of their retinas. The hypothalamus of the brain was also severely damaged in the process. It has been shown that humans are up to six times more sensitive to the effects of MSG than rats.

Evidence has shown that MSG disrupts the endocrine system and reduces the thermogenicity of brown fat while also suppressing the intake of food. In other words, even if you were to significantly reduce your caloric intake in order to lose weight, consuming any food which contains MSG or any of its derivatives would actually cause you to gain weight instead.

MSG is definitely a food additive which should be avoided as much as possible, especially where children are concerned.

[Editor`s Note: NaturalNews is strongly against the use of all forms of animal testing. We fully support implementation of humane medical experimentation that promotes the health and wellbeing of all living creatures.]

Further Reading:


Learn more:http://www.naturalnews.com/034031_MSG_health_effects.html#ixzz1ci4KizuS

Important New Zealand paper on adolescent in-school cellphone habits and implications

November 3, 2011 in -Mailing List, Cell phone news by EMFacts

Adolescent in-school cellphone habits: a census of rules, survey of their effectiveness, and fertility implications

Mary Redmayne (a), Euan Smith (a), Michael J Abramson (b),

(a) School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand
(b) Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University, The Alfred, Melbourne, VIC. 3004, Australia

Citation details

Redmayne M, Smith E, Abramson M. Adolescent in-school cellphone habits: A census of rules, survey of their effectiveness, and fertility implications. Reproductive Toxicology 2011;32:354-9. Doi: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2011.08.006
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0890623811003546

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
A majority of NZ adolescents carry a cellphone switched-on in a pocket > 6 hrs/day More than two in five regularly send texts from within a side pocket A fifth carry one >10 hrs/day and use it in-pocket Research suggests this may impair future fertility and/or reproductive integrity

ABSTRACT

We explored school cellphone rules and adolescent exposure to cellphone microwave emissions during school with a census and survey respectively. The data were used to assess health and policy implications through a review of papers assessing reproductive bio-effects after exposure to cellphone emissions, this being most relevant to students’ exposure.
All schools banned private use of cellphones in class. However, 43% of student participants admitted breaking this rule. A high-exposure group of risk-takers was identified for whom prohibited in-school use was positively associated with high texting rates, carrying the phone switched-on >10 hours/day, and in-pocket use.
The fertility literature is inconclusive, but increasingly points towards significant time- and dose- dependent deleterious effects from cellphone exposure on sperm. Genotoxic effects have been demonstrated from „non-thermal‟ exposures, but not consistently. There is sufficient evidence and expert opinion to warrant an enforced school policy removing cellphones from students during the day.

http://www.emfacts.com/2011/11/important-new-zealand-paper-on-adolescent-in-school-cellphone-habits-and-implications/?mid=51