National Grid, Eversource, and Unitil are Deploying ‘Smart’ Electric Meters in Massachusetts
What (MA, R.I., N.Y., N.M.) Consumers and Ratepayers Everywhere Need to Know, Focusing on Citizen Science and Health
If you already know that you want to opt out of a next-generation wireless smart electric meter in MA, here are the current links for the three investor-owned utilities:[1]
Eversource: https://www.eversource.com/content/residential/about/transmission-distribution/electric-distribution/advanced-metering-infrastructure? Scroll to: What if I don’t want a smart meter? Can I opt out of getting one?
National Grid: Opt Out of a Smart Meter | National Grid
Unitil: Call: 888-301-7700 for customer service, see footnote [2]
Please keep records/notes about when you called and who you spoke with. A number of MA customers have already reported receiving continuous automated calls about installment, after requesting opt outs.
What We Know About Smart Meter Adverse Health Effects; in Context
The paradigm that currently exists around health harm from Smart Meters sits at the intersection of a number of opposing forces including real world experience, independent science, and ‘Citizen Science’ [3] vs. industry science and product defense.
We Know that Delayed Recognition of Illness Often Occurs: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lyme, and illnesses caused by smoking[4] and lead are examples of scenarios where health harm continued for years, before adverse effects were finally acknowledged.
Industry Science and Product Defense: Lead, asbestos, and PFAS are examples of inadequately tested products that were sold in the marketplace for decades before corrective action was taken. One factor contributing to delays is unethical science provided by product defense firms. The product defense industry emerged during the Tobacco Wars.
Citizen Science: The story of Love Canal chemicals is one of the best-known examples of “citizen science.” “Lois Gibbs was raising her family in Love Canal, near Niagara Falls in upstate New York, in 1978 when she discovered that her home and those of her neighbors were sitting next to 20,000 tons of toxic chemicals. That shocking discovery spurred Lois to lead her community in a three-year struggle to protect their families from the hazardous waste buried in their backyards.” [5] Much of what we know about smart meter harm has evolved from citizen-led and localized efforts across the country and internationally (including California, Illinois, Arizona, Maine, New York, and British Columbia, Canada.)
What We Know and How We Know It: Early documentation about injuries was compiled by citizen volunteers when many U.S. states deployed smart meters.
See also The American Academy of Environmental Medicine, 2012:
https://www.aaemonline.org/aaem-calls-for-immediate-caution-regarding-smart-meter-installation/
A published, peer-reviewed study was also conducted in 2014 in Australia: Self-reporting of symptom development from exposure to radiofrequency fields of wireless smart meters in Victoria, Australia: a case series by Federica Lamech PMID: 25478801
What You Will Not Find: You will not find any biologically-based premarket safety testing for smart meters or official investigation of adverse effects. In 2021, a Federal Court ordered the FCC to explain why it ignored scientific evidence showing harm from wireless radiation. The court case included smart meter complaints. The FCC has ignored the remand.
Unfortunately, instead of questioning the practice of deploying technology that is not safe for all ratepayers, the smart meter debate was reduced to the question of whether or not to offer an alternative opt out meter, and how much to surcharge the ratepayers who needed accommodation.
This is an unacknowledged human rights and discrimination issue, as vulnerable ratepayers are forced to pay higher rates for grid technology that causes them harm, plus the additional surcharge for an opt out meter.
Understanding the Smart Meter Harm Story: Historical Testimony from Informed Health Experts
Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt - Smart Meters & EMR - The Health Crisis Of Our Time is a 44-minute video from 2012, featuring a well-informed physician describing the deterioration of patients that he had monitored over time once the smart meter was installed. Individuals managing chronic conditions including Lyme, Chronic Fatigue, Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, M.S., Neurological Illnesses, and Cancer (partial list) appear to be adversely affected by the newly introduced source of high frequency radio frequency radiation. Dr. Klinghardt also discusses implications for Autism. (Disclaimer: Please note that in the last decade, issues with some mitigation techniques mentioned, including painting and grounding have emerged, especially in the U.S. due to lax regulations concerning ground current. Please consult a qualified mitigation expert)
The Ecological Options Network interviewed epidemiologist Dr. Sam Milham in Dirty Electricity' and the Diseases of Civilization - Dr. Sam Milham which is another risk factor associated with smart meters. (30 minutes) Dr. Milham reported receiving calls from women who were experiencing neurological symptoms when the infrastructure came to their neighborhood, before the meter was even installed on their home.
See also an article about Dr. Milham’s 2017 testimony concerning Dirty Electricity here in an Arizona proceeding: https://smartgridawareness.org/2017/04/09/dr-milham-testifies-smart-meters-public-health-hazard/ “All transmitters, including the microwave transmitters in smart meters, operate on direct current (DC). The APS smart meters contain a switching mode power supply (SMPS) which changes the utility 60 Hz alternating current to DC. … Because it is at the front end of a building’s wiring, the dirty electricity from the smart meter’s SMPS has a gateway into that building’s wiring, and also into the earth via the house ground. The house wiring acts as an antenna and the fields capacitively couple to the body through the air within 6 to 8 feet of the house wiring or extension cords plugged into the outlets..…”
EHS, Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, Microwave Illness, EMR-Syndrome
When smart meters were installed, a portion of the population reported the acute onset of what was initially coined ‘electromagnetic hypersensitivity’ or EHS. It is important to note that many of these individuals were using wireless including cell phones and Wi-Fi and in seemingly good health but suddenly were unable to tolerate any wireless exposures. This disabling condition has driven some people from their homes, and isolated others.
Much knowledge has been accumulated in the last ten years, although very few medical practitioners know how to recognize, diagnose, and treat the condition.
The EMF Medical Conference is now available for free online to the public. Unfortunately, the tin-foil hat characterization and accusations of the “nocebo effect” are still widespread. But fortunately, many health care providers especially in alternative care are becoming better informed. For example, acupuncturists can now receive CEUs. in “TCM Treatments for EMF Sensitivity.” Avoidance of triggering agents is foundational to appropriate care.
In her 2020 testimony to the MA DPU opposing smart meters, researcher Dr. Beatrice Golumb (renowned for her work with Gulf War Syndrome and Havana Syndrome) noted “Smart meters have repeatedly been found to be the single most common trigger of new onset electrosensitivity.”
One of the most eloquent and ethical approaches for determining whether or not radio frequency radiation and polluted power quality is intensifying symptoms is to remove the environmental stressor and see if the symptoms are relieved, as described here by Keith Cutter.
Understanding Dementias, Neurology, and Auto-Immunity - What Might We Be Missing?
Death rates for both cardiovascular disease and cancer have resulted in research and public health education campaigns. Neurological illnesses have not yet received the same focus and support. Concern about conditions including Alzheimer’s and dementia is growing for many reasons, including the emotional and financial burden on families and communities. In particular, the rate of neurological deaths is rising, and dementias are now being diagnosed in younger people. See: Bournemouth University (U.K) researchers Colin Pritchard and Emily Rosenorn-Lanng, Neurological deaths of American adults (55–74) and the over 75’s by sex compared with 20 Western countries 1989–2010: Cause for concern and Blue Cross Blue Shield:Reference: Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “Early-Onset Dementia and Alzheimer’s Rates Grow for Younger American Adults.” The Health of America Report, 2017. Click here to read this issue. – Image from healthspan-vs-lifespan – theDr®
In a recent interview with Nathan Crane and Dr. Tom O’Bryan Shocking: Why Alzheimer's and Dementia Diagnoses Are Rising, Dr. O’Bryan explained that brain damage can be unfolding for many years while individuals feel fine and report no symptoms, while 14 of the 15 leading causes of death are chronic inflammatory diseases. “Growing evidence suggests that autoantibodies precede the onset of symptomatic autoimmune disease by many years.” Dr. O’Bryan describes the progression from normal immunity to benign immunity to pathogenic autoimmunity to clinical illness. The predomal period is when a disease mechanism can be identified and corrective lifestyle choices can be made, before symptoms and/or disease diagnosis emerge.
It is apparent that the installation of a wireless or powerline smart meter pushes a portion of the population past a tipping point, and one issue is that RF damages the protective blood-brain barrier.
The U.S. military investigated many of the adverse effects of radio frequency radiation in male soldiers subjected to radar (cataracts, infertility) but they were not living and sleeping 24/7 in homes where they were being exposed.
As meters are now to be deployed in additional jurisdictions, additional reports of harm and crippling disability are anticipated. Women and children will be affected more than men, and those with certain health conditions are at increased risk.
Additional articles about smart meters in Massachusetts and beyond will be posted at Patricia’s Substack for Safe Tech International soon, addressing issues beyond health, and featuring guest writers from the community of citizen scientists.
Smart Meter Harm | Disabled rights, fires, overbilling, health problems, inaccuracy, hacking & cybersecurity, interference, privacy loss, and more….
In addition, Massachusetts residents can refer to the sites Understanding EMFs and Massachusetts for Safe Technology and sign up for the mailing list. MA4SafeTech holds educational outreach events and monthly meetings.
Also see the Scientific Alliance for Education.
Rhode Island residents can join the Facebook page RI4SafeTech.
Rhode Islanders for Safe Technology created this informational brochure www.ma4safetech.org/s/RI4SafeTech-Smart-Meter-BROCHURE-2024.pdf
Footnotes:
[1] The MA Department of Public Utilities oversees investor-owned utilities. According to MA.Gov, “municipalities may own, maintain and operate a municipal light plant (MLP) in order to provide electric and/or gas services to their citizens. Forty-one communities have established MLPs that serve all or part of 50 municipalities for electric service. Generally, MLPs are run by municipal light boards or commissions in a municipality, or by the mayor/board of selectmen.” The list of these communities is on the MA.Gov page. If you are in a town with services provided by your municipality, smart metering and opt out polices will be specific to your community.
[2] Unitil did not submit an opt-out tariff and requested a waiver from the opt-out tariff requirement (D.P.U. 21-82, Exh. Unitil-KES-1, at 22).Unitil cited its unique situation, where AMI metering has been in place for more than ten years without an opt-out tariff and meter data is not transmitted through radio frequencies (D.P.U. 21-82, Exh. Unitil-KES-1, at 22). (There are also health concerns regarding powerline technologies)
[3] The European Environment Agency has compiled numerous case studies of Late Lessons from Early Warnings.
[4] See the Cigarette Century by Allan Brandt
emfhelpcenter.com is a good site, they have helped me in my fight against my idiot meter here in Oregon, letter templates and advice. Still fighting. Read any opt out meter specs carefully, as well.