Wireless technology and its potential impact on health

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

“A growing body of medical studies is now linking cumulative RF exposure to DNA disruption, cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and autoimmune diseases. Smart meters significantly contribute to an environment already polluted by RF radiation through the pervasive stationing of cellular telephone towers in or around public spaces and consumers’ habitual use of wireless technologies.”

Source: Wireless Technology and the Accelerated Toxification of America

Incidence of Cancer in Australia

  • In 2009, there were 114,137 new cases of cancer in Australia (64,342 new cases in men and 49,795 new cases in women), excluding non-melanoma skin cancer.
  • In 2015, 126,800 Australians were expected to be diagnosed with cancer.
  • Between 1982 and 2009, the number of new cancer cases in Australia more than doubled (from 47,471 to 114,137 cases)

Source: Cancer Australia Statistics

When you take the above information of increasing cancer statistics and then associate it with medical studies potentially linking cancer with cumulative RF exposure, is there any wonder that there may be a link between the two?

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

EMR Aware newsletter March-April 2016

Posted on April 3, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

As usual, the latest ‘EMR Aware‘ newsletter is jam-packed with information on all ElectroMagnetic Radiation issues.  In the March-April 2016 issue you will find information on:

  • Mobile and Cordless Phones
  • Microwave Towers
  • Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
  • Children and Schools
  • Smart Grid
  • Wearable Tech
  • Mains Radiation, ELF
  • Transport, Aerospace
  • Environment, Wildlife
  • Security
  • Electro-Sensitivity (EHS)
  • Biological Mechanisms
  • Neurological Effects
  • Safety Standards
  • Industry Watch
  • EMR Countermeasures
  • General Events & Networking

EMR Aware website

Posted in electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), EMR, Hacking, mobile phone, NSW, RF, Smart grid, standards, Wi-Fi, wireless | 2 Comments

Smart meter fires: burning meters, burning questions, shocking answers

Posted on March 31, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Brian Thiesen, who previously brought us the video The truth about smart meters, has released another powerful video, this time focusing on smart meter fires.

In this video Brian investigates the cause of smart meter fires and the cover up by authorities.

Story at Take Back Your Power

 

Posted in corruption, Fire | Tagged , , | 6 Comments

TED talk: Wireless wake-up call

Posted on March 25, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

In the first ever TED Talk on wireless/EMF/smart meter health effects, Jeromy Johnson, a Silicon-valley engineer turned technology health advocate, discusses our attachment to technology and the health hazards such an addiction may hold.

Jeromy has a Master’s degree in Environmental Engineering and you can also find valuable information at his website.

 

Posted in electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), health, health risks, Radiation, RF, wireless | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Benefits??? of smart meters

Posted on March 23, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

In a return of the classic spin used to promote smart meters to Victorians six years ago, the Sydney Morning Herald is spruiking the supposed benefits of smart meters.

But as Victorians who have had their fingers burned will tell you, their electricity consumption mysteriously sky-rocketed after the forced installation of a smart meter on their property. Like Tina Lyons in the SMH article, many of these people have had little choice but to monitor their electricity consumption by the minute in order to be able to pay the higher bills. Those who fiercely hung onto their analogue meter have not been so heavy-handedly ‘incentivised’ to reduce their electricity consumption.

A search on the term ‘smart meters’ on the Sydney Morning Herald website produces a plethora of articles that are critical of smart meters. Working down the list of search results we have:

  • Smart meters: You paid billions for electricity companies to benefit – report
  • Smart meters coming despite cost concerns
  • Consumers out of the loop on role of smart meters
  • Smart meters are the future but it’s not clear who is going to pay
  • Macquarie eyes profit in smart meters
  • Smart meters, but at whose expense?
  • Half-hourly checks to monitor smart meters
  • Smart meters too toxic to touch
  • Japan to tap smart meters, fuel cells to tackle climate change
  • AP Exclusive: ‘Smart’ meters have security holes
  • Look closely and smart meters are really not so smart

Only by the time you get to the bottom of these negative sounding articles (sorted on relevance) do you find more positive sounding articles, written at the time of the commencement of the rollout of smart meters in Victoria, when consumers did not yet know that they were being told a pack of lies. History repeats itself, no doubt. The NSW media is now in positive spin mode, selling the supposed benefits of smart meters.

One has to wonder whether the NSW government has persuaded the SMH to find something positive to say about smart meters, now that they are being rolled out in NSW. It’s great if you can rely on people having short memories of negative reviews they read months ago. Perhaps the NSW government now needs to persuade the SMH to remove the old negative articles from its website.

Posted in Bills Soar, Media, NSW, Smart Meter | 24 Comments

ARPANSA replies to SSMA community response

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

The CEO of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is to be commended for his prompt reply to SSMA, following our correspondence taking issue with ARPANSA’s response to the ABC Catalyst programme Wi-Fried?.

ARPANSA has come up with a new justification for its web statement on “Wi-Fried?”.  We have been informed that the statement is based on ARPANSA’s assessment of the scientific evidence on mobile phones, Wi-Fi devices and health and “is in line with international best practice; including the advice provided by the peak international health authority, the World Health Organization, and the peak international authority on the protection of RF EME, the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection”.

Thankfully, this new phrasing avoids the inflated claim made in ARPANSA’s web statement.  Surely, however, the jurisdictions which have seen fit to instigate more protective RF limits are the ones that are leading the way in international best practice?  As one writer to SSMA’s website correctly pointed out, Australia has “slacker RF/microwave standards by a factor of 100 times … Why doesn’t Australia have the best?”

SSMA also finds it difficult to give credence to ARPANSA’s claim that ARPANSA is in agreement with many of the statements from various organisations which SSMA mentioned.  The example given by ARPANSA is its acknowledgement of the findings of the INTERPHONE study.  ARPANSA’s May 2010 media release on this study states that the “results of the INTERPHONE study do not establish an increased risk of brain cancer related to mobile phone use”.  This conclusion is poles apart from that reached in Israel as a result of its participation in INTERPHONE.  As stated by their Ministry of Health, in a report titled Environmental Health in Israel 2014, “Findings in Israel clearly indicated a link between cellphone use for more than 10 years and the development of tumors in the salivary glands, particularly among people who held the telephone on the same side where the tumor developed and individuals in the highest category of exposure (heavy use in rural areas)”.

SSMA members look forward to the day when ARPANSA is no longer merely paying lip service to following international best practice, but is up there with the best.

Posted in ARPANSA, Smart Meter | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Beware: AGL is rolling out smart meters in NSW

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

AGL is rolling out smart meters in NSW – but is avoiding the word “smart”.

While the roll-out is not ‘compulsory’, it is by default.  People will need to ring AGL to cancel the installation of a smart meter prior to the installation between 21 March and 1 April.

However, residents are given only one week notice to cancel the installation.

Quotable quotes from AGL:

“The technology in your electricity meter is over 100 years old.  So it’s time for an upgrade.  That’s why we’re replacing your old meter with a new digital electricity meter.” (Which won’t last 100 years, but between 10 and 15 years – before it will have to be replaced again!)

“AGL is upgrading your electricity meter free of charge. Then, you will no longer need to worry about manual meter reads or estimated bills.” (Who “worries” about manual reads??)

“If you would prefer not to be upgraded, simply call us on 1300 669 245 any time before 21 March or visit agl.com.au/upgrade” (This link conveniently doesn’t work!)

Copies of AGL propaganda sent to NSW residences (which some may mistake as junk mail):NSWSmartMeters2016BrochureInsideNSWSmartMeters2016BrochureOutside

NSWSmartMeters2016Letter

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged , | 35 Comments

Does the Victorian Radiation Advisory Committee have a conflict of interest issue… and does the government really care?

Posted on March 12, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Dr Don Maisch has previously written about this issue on his blog (http://www.emfacts.com) in November 2012 but nothing has changed since that time. The Victorian Radiation Advisory Committee has made no attempt to address what is clearly a conflict of interest and so here we go again!

On January 22, 2016, Don received a letter from a Victorian resident who was concerned about the roll-out of smart meters in that state. Attached to his letter was a letter sent to him by Lily D’Ambrosio MP, the Victorian Minister for Industry and Minister for Energy and Resources. D’Ambrosio tried to reassure the resident that smart meters were perfectly safe by quoting advice given to the Victorian government by Victoria’s Chief Health Officer. The VCMO, in turn, relies on the expert advice from the Victorian Ministerial Radiation Advisory Committee, an expert advisory board consisting of doctors and experts in the field of radiation. It would be a brave politician indeed who dares question this expert body. After all they are the experts, not to be questioned by lesser mortals. The advice given by this committee is that “that there is no substantive evidence to suggest that exposure to radiofrequency radiation such as from smart meters can increase the risk of chronic health effects, such as cancer”……

“Here is current membership of the Victorian Ministerial Radiation Advisory Committee

Dr David Bernshaw – radiation oncology
Dr Ken Joyner – non-ionising radiation
Dr Roslyn Drummond – radiation oncology
Professor Robert Gibson – radiology
Mr Russell Booth – nuclear medicine
Dr Russell Horney – medical physics
Mr Christopher Perry – radiography
Dr Joanna Lia Wriedt – law and epidemiology
Mr Paul Tomlinson – industrial radiography
Dr Dean Morris – accelerator physics
Mr Paul Marks – nuclear medicine and medical physics
Dr Ray Budd – medical physics.”

There is only one person on that committee with relevant ‘expertise’ in the area of non-ionising radiation (microwaves used by smart meters for communication), Dr. Ken Joyner, who is a former strategist for Motorola and longtime spokesperson for the telecommunications industry.

Read the entire post by Dr Maisch here.

 

 

 

Posted in Energy Minister, health risks, Radiation, RF, Smart Meter | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Community Response to ARPANSA’s statement on the ABC Catalyst program entitled “Wi-Fried?”

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

It has become quite obvious by follow up stories in the media that pressure from certain quarters is being applied in order to have the recent TV program “Wi-Fried?” retracted and the journalist who developed it censured. This behaviour is tantamount to bullying and also appears to be an orchestrated attempt by vested interests to stifle scientific debate on an issue that has a potential impact on us all.

Many of our members were also particularly upset with the response from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) to the program.  This has led to SSMA writing a formal letter of complaint to ARPANSA on behalf of the community.

One of the main concerns is that ARPANSA’s statement contains claims which are likely to mislead the public and creates an impression that does not accurately reflect scientific opinion.

The claim that “It is the assessment of ARPANSA and other national and international health authorities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), that there is no established scientific evidence that the use of mobile phones or Wi-Fi devices cause any health effects” fosters the impression that there is unanimous agreement on this point.
This simply is not true; there are other radiation protection and health authorities which consider that mobile phones and Wi-Fi do cause health effects. This diversity of opinion has not been acknowledged in ARPANSA’s statement…..

….Our members are also concerned that ARPANSA’s statement trivialises adoption of precautionary approaches by implying that this advice is only relevant to “people who are concerned”. ARPANSA’s tips, although providing a solid starting point, also fall short of the recommendations provided by some other authorities…..

The complete letter to ARPANSA can be downloaded from here Community Response to ARPANSA 22 February 2016.

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged , , , , , | 22 Comments

Sometimes Asking Questions Provides You With Answers That May Be Uncomfortable

Posted on February 21, 2016 by Stop Smart Meters Australia

Maryanne Demasi, via Huffington Post

The claims that our program “should never have aired” should not sit well with the public. At best, it’s an over-reaction. At worst, it’s a form of censorship.

Sometimes in science asking questions provides you with answers that may be unsettling. Not because they are conclusive, but because they are inconclusive. It’s the duty of scientists and science reporters to encourage critical thinking on issues that are still up for debate.

Several other counties around the world have more stringent radio frequency safety thresholds than Australia. Italy, China, Switzerland and Russia have wireless safety limits, which are a hundred times more stringent than our own. In France, they restrict advertising of mobile phones to children. They have also banned Wi-Fi in nurseries and day care centres.

So I decided to investigate. Why are some countries making these changes and not Australia? To say that this is a fringe view is not sustainable.

Wireless technology is relatively new and the science in this area is not as settled as is often claimed. Especially in relation to children. That is why a study is currently underway, involving over 14 countries, which is assessing whether the use of mobile phones at an early age increases the rates of early onset brain tumours in 1000 young people. The results will be released this year……

As an investigative journalist, I am used to taking some heat from critics. It’s part of the job. Catalyst is no stranger to controversy. As investigators, we have studied emerging scientific debates at home and abroad, and brought them into Australian living rooms. What was perceived as controversial a few years ago, like discussions on dietary sugar or the over-prescription of cholesterol-lowering medications called statins, is now widely debated overseas by mainstream media outlets…..

The great thing about science is that new discoveries are constantly made and orthodoxies change. Sometimes so-called “fringe” views move into the mainstream, forcing governments to change policies to prevent public harm. This has happened many times. Think back to thalidomide, asbestos, tobacco. We are not suggesting this will necessarily happen in the case of wireless technology, but it’s also not scientific to claim the door has been slammed shut on this discussion….

See full article at: Huffington Post 

Posted in Smart Meter | Tagged , , | 7 Comments