Arthur Firstenberg, author of The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life and administrator of International Appeal to Stop 5G on Earth and in Space, recently asked people to email the USA’s New Mexico Public Regulation Commission (PRC) about their experiences with smart meters.
‘Heartbreaking testimonies poured in from around the world. Stories about catastrophic effects on the health and lives of adults, children, the elderly, pets, farm animals, birds, wild animals, insects, worms, plants, neighbours, workers and entire communities.
Below are excerpts and summaries of some of the 271 testimonies that are posted on the public comments page of the PRC’s website…
| Jennifer Andree is a New Mexico resident who was severely injured by a smart meter “that has completely devastated my life.” She is a nurse and a veteran who knew nothing about smart meters until she was injured by one. This occurred on Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. “For three and one-half months,” she writes, she slept with her head approximately one foot away on the other side of a wall from an electrical panel containing two electric smart meters. “Anything that carries an electric current or emits any radiation” now causes her headaches, brain fog, and internal burning. “I can no longer tolerate living in an urban environment,” she writes, “so I have moved to South Dakota, to a cleaner environment in the country. Because of the harms I was exposed to, I am separated from my family, which has contributed to my suffering… I have a nursing license, but can no longer work in my profession.” Maryann McCabe writes from the UK: “From the time [the smart meter] was turned on, I could not walk around in my flat, I could not write an email, I could not think and I could not sleep. It was an absolute nightmare until it was switched off.” Harriet Greene, formerly of New Mexico, writes: “I was able to opt out and keep my old meter. Everybody I talk to who was forced to accept smart meters has complained of numerous effects.” Lauren Bond writes, “Smart meters were installed in my building, and the radiation they emit inside apartments creates for myself, a constant burning pain to my skin.” Jeanne Thompson writes from California: “My mother died of a massive brain tumor caused by a row of six Smart Meters outside her condo, on the wall where the head of her bed was. We discovered this after she had already passed. You can imagine my shock and horror at that realization.” Dr. Linda Thomas writes, “I have seen hideous debility in adults and children secondary to Smart Meters being installed in my area.” These include absence seizures in a 2-year-old boy and chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia in his mother. Mario Desira writes from Malta: “Back in 2017 my electrical meter caught fire and nearly caused a house fire. Luckily I was at home and intervened before anything worse happened.” Persephone Maywald writes from California that she was diagnosed with suspected Parkinson’s disease a few months after a smart meter was installed, and that she later had the meter replaced and within a few weeks all her symptoms disappeared. Simone St. Clare writes from California that since a smart meter was installed, there have been almost no hummingbirds at her feeders and a decrease in caterpillars in her garden. Deirdre Novella writes from New York that her hair started falling out within a few months of a smart meter being installed at her place of work, that she was diagnosed with leukemia, and that she developed a lifelong allergy to electricity. Sheila Reavill, who works as an electromagnetic radiation specialist (“EMRS”) in Georgia, writes that after smart meters were installed, “the smart meter signature I logged [on her radio frequency meter] in my bedroom was at the precise times I wake up at night”; that her next door neighbor and her neighbor’s daughter wake at the exact same time she does every night; that her border collie began having skin problems and would wake up whimpering at the exact same time also; and that she and her dog both wake up at that same time with diarrhea. Rebeca Randle writes from California that while she had a smart meter she could not sleep and there were no birds; and that when the smart meter was removed, the birds came back. Robert Workman, an EMRS in Missouri, writes: “I have confirmed injuries from wireless radiation and the Smart meter seems to be the most damaging to me and my clients. Once the ITRON electronic meter is removed many of my clients have an immediate response to an improved health. This meter has been torture to myself and others in St Louis, it is my professional opinion this meter kills all biological life.” Health practitioner Diane Peterson writes from California that “For the majority [of people], they suddenly developed symptoms and only later discovered that the symptoms began immediately after the smart meter was installed.” Sema Kelly writes: “My friend’s neighbor had a smart meter put in. She didn’t know it had such dangers, but soon found out her chickens in the yard had huge tumors growing on their throats and body. The eggs they laid were odd shapes and colors, and the chickens appeared to be tired, which was not ever seen prior to the installments of the smart meters.” Andre Fayolle writes that a smart meter gave his family headaches, caused the animals, birds and insects to disappear, and caused a fire that burned down his house. Karen Crenshaw writes from California that she had no knowledge of the dangers of smart meters until an Itron smart meter was installed on her house, after which she awoke abruptly every hour during the night, had uncomfortable ear sensations, acquired high-pitched tinnitus, and felt pressure in her chest. Annette Lillig writes from the UK: “Everyone I know who [has a smart meter] has been negatively affected by them.” Beverly Jennings writes: “In Capitola, CA an entire bank of smart meters burst into flames and started a fire and burned down an apartment complex.” Margaretha Tierney writes from Australia that she became sick two weeks after a smart meter was installed and was sick for five years until she had it moved off her house. Sarah Wild writes that she had heart palpitations, headache, and panic until her smart meter was removed. She writes that her 80-year-old neighbor “went from being extremely lively, active, outward-going to hobbling around and forgetful within 6 months” of a smart meter being installed and died within 18 months. Dino DeBenetti writes from Ontario, Canada that after a smart meter was installed, his wife’s health and behavior deteriorated, resulting in their divorce. He also writes that he has attempted to hatch fertile chicken eggs in an incubator in his house twice since the meter was installed, with over 20 fertile eggs each time, and not one egg hatched either time. Karen Blomquist writes from California that when smart meters were installed on her home she incurred inner ear damage, sleeplessness, anxiety, non-stop heart palpitations, and migraines, and fled her home after two months to save her life. She also reports that her pets all got cancer and passed away. Tina Cada writes from Florida that although she opted out of a smart meter on her own home, “[o]n the day they were getting installed [in her neighborhood], I walked outside and had no idea where I was. I had the worst kind of disorientation. This reaction was ongoing and lasted for the first few months.” She reports vertigo attacks that have continued, and constant dry mouth, that her teenage son has dry mouth, headaches and sleep disruptions, that her neighbor’s dog suddenly got cancer and died after the smart meters were installed, that her cat started acting differently, and that all the bats disappeared. Laurie Grams writes from Texas that she lives in an apartment complex and so could not opt out, and has had sleep problems and agitation since smart meters were installed. Jennifer Wood writes from West Virginia that “I have literally known thousands of people over the past nine years or so who became so ill when smart meters were installed in their homes that they had to move just as I did.” Elizabeth Foley Walsh writes from North Carolina that she knew nothing about smart meters until after one was installed in her home and she began having severe headaches, dizziness, and temporal lobe seizures the following week. She writes that she thought she was dying until she went camping one week and the symptoms disappeared; that her next door neighbor’s headaches began the same time hers did; that an elderly neighbor across the street began falling repeatedly immediately after their headaches began; and that when she finally moved to a location without a smart meter she “was stunned at the change in my health.” She observed that “the frogs disappeared the very summer after the smart meter went in”—the hundreds of frogs that previously inhabited the creek behind their back yard—and that all the house sparrows and starlings disappeared, and that squirrels were “suddenly tame and suddenly laying down ‘resting’ a lot. They seem to be panting and they seem to be sick.” She writes that she has had to leave an 18-year career in developmental epidemiology. Simone Bercu writes that she and her family left their homes in other states to come to New Mexico five years ago to escape smart meters. “The smart meters were devastating our small children and ourselves and the effects are still noticeable,” she writes. Rainer Grobe writes that on the same day a smart water meter was installed, his wife developed heart arrhythmia, very high blood pressure, and fainted, and that they had to remove the meter themselves, with both legal and financial consequences. Kent Casady writes from Germany that he and his wife purchased a house with a smart meter, and when they moved in there were no insects, bees, butterflies or birds, and “[t]he dirt in the yard was dead.” After they had the smart meter removed, they had “earthworms in the soil, bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, spiders, and other creatures.” Kimberly Webber, in Taos, New Mexico, writes that although they were able to opt out of a smart meter at their home, they were unable to opt out at their place of business, and that “[w]e noticed agitation, irritability, depression, head aches, ear ringing and other symptoms from ourselves and our employees while in the work space.” They moved their business to a new location without a smart meter and “[a]ll of the symptoms have disappeared for us and our team.” Ellen Habeck writes: “Until I researched the matter, I could not understand why I had such fragmented sleep, and would wake with severe tachycardia. I thought my heart would beat out of my chest. There was not sleep and no ability to function well in the morning after that.” Finally, “I looked and found the place I had moved to had a smart meter outside the bedroom wall.” She adds: “There is a neighbor who asked me why she thought she would feel unwell when working for hours in a particular room in her house. She also noted that any plants she put in that room died, where they had been thriving in other rooms. I looked and saw there was a smart meter directly on the other side of the wall of that room where she sat, and a neighbor’s smart meter pointing at fairly close proximity to that room.” Arlene Griffin is a Santa Fe resident who briefly lived in southern California in 2019-2020. She writes: “I had no history of heart problems, but upon moving into a house in a development in San Diego County, I was jolted awake every night, feeling like what it would be like to be hit with defibrillator paddles. Once awake, my heart would alternate between pounding, racing, and skipping beats for the rest of the night, and I would shake for hours. I also developed eye issues—my eyes burned and were red and swollen. Each day I would feel better when I left our house, but each night the horrible symptoms would return. It was terrifying and exhausting… We hired an inspector who tested our house for RF/EMF radiation and found that the high readings were not coming from our property (we had an analog meter), but from our neighbor’s house. It so happened that her meter directly faced our bedrooms… Finally, in September 2020 I returned to New Mexico for good, and I have not had those heart symptoms here.” Stephanie Dickerson writes from North Carolina that she is “currently suffering every single day and especially nights from the newly installed” smart meters in her neighborhood, and that “I have been forced from 3 previous home locations because of smartmeter installations… My heart rate has become dangerously high, my body temperature can not regulate, I experience constant vibrating in my torso and in my legs, my brain function has deteriorated and I can not sleep at all. This physical response to the newly installed smartmeters is life-threatening to me.” Brenda Rogers writes from California that she “had to leave my home in a camper to find somewhere I could sleep” because of a smart meter, and that she had to abandon her home of 30 years. Catherine Ralston lives in Taos. “A smart meter was put in at my address,” she writes. “I started having trouble sleeping at night. I started having headaches. I stopped waking up happy. My emotions were flatline. This happened quickly, over a couple of weeks. Someone told me about symptoms showing up in people after smart meters were installed where they live. I went looking for the smart meter. Then I moved my bed to a location in the building as far from the meter as I could put it, and slept with my head at the end of the bed furthest from the meter location. I slept through the night, and woke with no headache. I do not own the property and the owner won’t work with the electric company to give back the old meter. I feel blessed someone told me about the horrible impact the smart meters have on human health.” Glenn Kikel moved to New Mexico from Colorado. He writes that when a smart meter was installed on their Colorado house, he developed tinnitus and his wife developed heart palpitations, and that both health problems ceased when the meter was moved. Diane Craig writes that she “experienced severe tinnitus, tremors, short-term memory issues, and an area at the back of my neck at the base of my skull that was hot to my husband’s touch” in a 4-hour period after a smart meter was installed 10 feet beyond the head of her bed. They paid for opt-outs for both themselves and a neighbor in order to be well, she writes. Annie Mattingly, of Santa Fe, writes, “My daughter, living in another state, was away when a Smart Meter was installed on her house. Within days of her healthy arrival home, she became ill and now, several years later, she is still plagued with health issues and is only partially functional.” M. L. writes from Pennsylvania: “When our meter started transmitting, I noticed two birds that had died within approximately 25 feet of it.” Lukas Zillmer writes: “I have personal experience of bad sleep, waking up at night, waking up still tired from being exposed to the radiation by smart meters which made life almost unbearable.” Simone Prince writes from British Columbia, Canada that her cat developed hyperthyroidism when a smart meter was installed on her townhouse, and that she herself changed from hypothyroidism to hyperthyroidism at the same time.’ |
Abridged from Cellular Phone Task Force newsletter, Worldwide testimonies about smart meters, January 5, 2023, available at: https://cellphonetaskforce.org/newsletters/
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