… All transmitters inside your home or office will communicate with a Smart Meter attached to the outside of each building. That meter, in turn, will transmit at an even higher frequency to a central hub installed in local neighborhoods. In what are called “mesh networks,” signals can also be bounced from house-meter to house-meter before reaching the final hub. So exposures will not just be from your own meter, but accumulating from possibly 100-to-500 of your neighbors’ as well… That’s a hefty barrage of radiation.” – from “The Problems With Smart Grids” by B. Blake Levitt and Chellis Glendinning
Below is one electrically sensitive man’s account of how smart meters installed in his apartment building are affecting his health, excerpted from a private email to an expert in the field and republished with his permission.
First, this all has been very frightening and has taken a physical ex-athlete in good condition with no medical history and a guy who has a fairly high threshold pain level – and has turned me into a person who struggles daily to survive over the last two years.
I have experienced a seizure on the hospital emergency room lobby floor – and their EKG’s were unable to read my scrambled signal until their third try when my pain level had already subsided. There is daily pain, and I am forced to move from room to room at night to try and get some sleep, often on the floor and with none. The springs in my bed/furniture and the electrical outlets in my house seem to focus their [electromagnetic radiation and radio frequencies] EMR/RF onto my body with surgical laser-like precision. I often turn off the power to my house altogether, stopping air conditioning in the summer and heat in the winter – of which my metal HVAC ductwork seems to conduct wireless signals and just increases the pain anyway. Anything with metal on or nearby me seems to conduct RF/EMR. Anything with an electrical source seems to do the same. Pain eliminators and medications of any sort help little.
Blinds mostly stay closed and I never open windows because the wireless towers and antenna RF/EMR may stream instantly what feels to be higher levels into the house. Our house is always dark at night, incandescent lamps, anything with a ballast and even LED’s shoot pain levels up.
I usually find relief by going shoeless into the grass (if wet, it helps more) or by standing in a nearby lake or even barefoot in the snow. The effect of doing such is immediate, and I can feel what could best be described as a current run through my body and out through my legs and feet, (like a water hose). I can almost always hear it, even though I have been tested for tinnitus, (and I do not have it).
I have seen over a dozen doctors, a toxicologist, a physicist, molecular/nuclear biologists, engineers, practitioners, you name it, I’ve seen them, I’ve done it, been tested for it, or taken many forms of recommended or prescribed solutions in one form or another. Most people don’t want to talk about it or acknowledge [electrical hypersensitivity] EHS/EMR/RF issues – especially the medical community.
Those of us who experience this, at this level, all know my discussion as theirs.
My wife has stood by my side feeling helpless as my face seizes up, and/or my pain levels rise. Sometimes my speech slurs, my vision blurs, I am unable to think, my breathing becomes very labored and I gasp for air, or joint/muscle pain levels rise as it feels I’m being electrocuted. In those desperate times I seek an immediate way to ground my pain. Several times, I was not sure if my last moment was upon me as I told my wife I love her. Again, all truth.
I am forced to use my VOIP with Stetzer filters for calls, since my phone line now carries digital transmissions which feels like lasers shooting into my ear/head – and we now mostly keep those phones unplugged. My PC and Stetzer filters allow for short internet engagements.
Cars for me become intense cages of pain where the sight of a cell tower or cell phone user in the car next to me means an instant turn to somewhere else by me. Mostly I am resolved to take short or necessary trips – always with the windows open when traveling as it lessons the effects.
I think I’m the only one who does not have a smart phone, iPhone or iPad. I now work from home, when I can work. My social life is minimal and I don’t tell people of my EHS, because when I do, they disengage from my life. Therefore, in this mobile, digital, texting world with RF and EMR carried over every existing technology of man, I move throughout society with flip-flops quickly shucking them anywhere when pain thresholds to high levels.
Multiple iPhone or 3G/4G phones with repeaters and their users around me in a crowd means even higher levels of pain to me. Every time my neighbors or their children text or talk on their mobile devices or use their wireless networks, I writhe in pain and become a central point of such RF/EMR. I can locate the direction of the transmission (physically) and I have learned to deal with it the best I can and I pray a lot.
I have traveled throughout the US, both rural and urban/suburban areas and to seven states with the same result. I have access to a global wireless network and transmission map and have traveled to spots in the world – even to a fairly remote third-world-like location. In seeking a place that is void of such EHS environments, I have found none. I know France has created a community with mixed results. I know Sweden has some spots/beaches, etc. Perhaps EHS sufferers at our level need to find/create an EMR/RF free island as a last effort – so far I have found none as well…
For those who know this as their daily ritual as well, I tip my hat and say a prayer for you. For those who help, your response and support is pretty much all that we EHS folks have, and I thank you.
I prefer to stay to myself on all of this and I don’t discuss it with others. Anything that eliminates RF/EMR, I am open for suggestions. So far the best results have been to eliminate the existence of or completely block the source of transmission – all without creating a cage “bounce” for those who are even sensitive to such effects (which most blocking devices/materials seem to do and exacerbate pain levels in my instance)…
I am responsible for smart metering at an electric utility and am only going to comment on the article excerpt at the top:
1. Smart Meters do not “transmit” to/from anything within the home. They meter the electricity at the service entrance just like the old mechanical meters did.
2. Most smart meters are “store and forward” devices and only transmit for a very brief interval every 2 to 4 hours.
3. Not all Smart Meters employ mesh networks. The technology my utility deployed are point-to-point devices that transmit directly to a central receiver.
4. The largest source of EMF in the home is from the wiring in the walls, appliances in use and so forth.
Thank you so much for writing in and giving your insight to this Mike. There is something else in the article that the quote is taken from that causes great concern. Can you speak to this?
“The problem: smart metering will turn every single appliance into the equivalent of a transmitting cell phone, and this at a time when public concern about the safety of exposure to the radiofrequency radiation (RF) of wireless technologies is on the rise. Heads up: that’s every dishwasher, microwave oven, stove, washing machine, clothes dryer, air conditioner, furnace, refrigerator, freezer, coffee maker, TV, computer, printer, and fax machine.
The average U.S. home has over 15 such appliances, each of which would be equipped with a transmitting antenna. While older models can be retrofitted, General Electric (GE) and other appliance manufacturers are already putting transmitters into their latest designs, and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is already giving out tax credits.
Meanwhile, people who don’t want to use such appliances won’t be able to deactivate the wireless component without disabling it and voiding warranties. Citing “electricity theft,” it could also be illegal to do so.”
Much thanks, Julie
Besides Health, this is an incredible 4-minute youtube video on Smart meters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8JNFr_j6kdI
As I read this I cryed because the same thing happened to me. This is happening to people across the United States.
The utility companies are lying when they say that the meters are not dangerous. At this point they know that people are getting sick from the pulsed radiation emissions from AMR “smart” meters.
The utility companies and the manufacturers of electric, water and gas “smart” utility meters are lying. THEY KNOW!
Billions of dollars have been invested in this dangerous technology and the utility companies don’t want to give it up.
This is going to make asbestos look like peaches and cream.
In response to Mike, my Smart Meters in Berkeley transmitted several times per minute, as did the 31 Smart Meters within 100 feet of my home (on neighbors’ homes and offices). (I measured the pulses with my RF meter, available at lessemf.com for $90).
Wow Mike, you are seriously misinformed! The Smart Meter on my house pulsed every ten to 20 seconds, 24/7.
With all electricity OFF at my house–turned off at the main electrical box… Smart Meter pulses were measured inside my house through the wire in the walls! In other words, the pulse of the Smart Meter carried spikes of electricity through the walls when no electricity was present. This field was accidentally picked up in the middle of my bedroom well away from the electrical inside the walls!
I tried shielding, yet with my Smart Meter now gone and all electricity off… The Smart Meter radiation from my neighbor’s house penetrates well into my house.
The largest source of EMFs in my home was certainly NOT from my appliances, etc. Perhaps my toaster creates 30 milligauss which is a high field. But I don’t stand inside my toaster. Two feet away that field is gone.
Smart Meters pulse through wood and glass as if nothing was there. While the Smart Meter at my house measured quite low compared to others in my neighbourhood—it still created readings twice as high as my local cell tower. Yes, a Smart Meter reading drops off extremely quickly compared to a cell tower, but when the Smart Meter is in close proximity to your living quarters—you may be getting “cell tower” readings in your bedroom!
As for your comment that Smart Meters don’t transmit anything to/from the home, then why are they creating “Smart” appliances that our electrical companies will be able to shut off at will?
For some reason (too long?), my previous comment has not shown up, but I want to make sure that those here are made aware of the NRQZ, some I’m going to re-write it.
The EHS man discussed in the article should check out the National Radio Quiet Zone (NRQZ) and Green Bank, WV. It’s a popular place for EHS people to go and recover.
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.02/quiet_pr.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_National_Radio_Quiet_Zone
http://www.gb.nrao.edu/nrqz/
Also, kudos to Mike for not just hurling insults (“tinfoil-hat loons!”) at those who are getting sick from microwave exposure, which is generally the response of people in the industry to the problem. Smart grid technologies vary, and some implementations are doubtless worse than others in terms of RF exposure and the sickness they cause (although they’re all a significant invasion of privacy). Mesh networks, however, are not uncommon.
I’ve been dealing with CNS shutdown in the presence of microwaves for several years now, and I’ve learned a few things about coping. Anyone who’s interested is welcome to read the article I wrote:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/eSens/message/22699
Loving all the comments on this article!! Thanks for writing Josh, bummer that your original, longer comment was not posted. I’d love to publish your article about coping with EHS on Planet Thrive. If you are interested, please send it to me at planetthrive at gmail. Best, Julie
That’s an excellent article, The problems with Smart Grids. We’re have a few people here in northern AZ who have gone off-grid. Of, course it takes lots of money and effort.
Our smart meters were also sending signals several times a minute for the first several months after they were installed. The pulses were measurable throughout the house, with the largest spikes coming from the meter. However, after I’ve measured them again more recently and they are no longer doing this. I think it depends on the utility company.
I did have the opportunity to measure the pulses from a wall of smart meters at an apartment; the measurement was well over 100 mG for several yards. That’s not necessarily from the meters but could just be from the wiring. However, it was the only place I’ve measured where my meter went crazy with variable measurements. Ghost Hunters would have loved it =)
I have electrical sensitivity. I don’t understand why someone with it would live in an apartment to begin with – because all this other wireless stuff besides the smart meters would be coming through from other people’s apartments. Also, I don’t think that blinds would make a difference if they were closed – I never heard that having blinds covering the windows or the windows being closed could keep out rf. Stetzer filters put out a big electromagnetic field. Unless he keeps a distance away from the Stetzer filter too, I can’t see how it could be helpful. Lousy that the appliances will have atennas – I did not know that. Good that’s there is the option of going off the grid.
I am so sorry to read this article, but thank you for sharing. I was the captain of a men’s hockey team and one of the leading goal scorers, but after two months of living in my new home, I was an invalid. It was a nightmare for about six months. Turns out I was sleeping too close to the Smart Meter, which was measured to be alarmingly dangerous. It spiked all night.
Some things that really helped me: an orgone zapper, orgonite, and the work of Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (http://gaps.me/). Maybe give them all a Google? I read that people don’t recover from this, but I’m pretty much fully recovered and living in downtown Toronto.
Dr. Campbell-McBride’s work might seem like it’s about autism at first, but it’s really about how the immune system works. I hope you check it out — it’s changing our lives.
(I should also add that I have had so much success with orgonite and orgone zappers, and make and sell them)
Good luck!
Thank you for sharing your story. It shows how these exposures can affect previously HEALTHY people. People like me who already are sensitive to microwaves (I already had symptoms if I used a cell phone or was in a wifi wireless internet area) can fall very ill and get much worse from the additional exposure from their and their neighbors’ transmitting meters’ radiation, which is like a soup of rf (radiofrequency) 24/7.
The key here is each person has a THRESHOLD for microwave exposure. Once you reach it, you become sensitized and/or fall ill. Transmitting meters should NOT be placed on anyone’s home or in their range if they know they get sick from such emissions. The bursts of dithering meters can exceed cell tower emissions. This has been measured. The bursts and pulses are biologically disruptive.
Yet, utilities continue to FORCE people to have them, a crime, in my opinion. (see Wisconsin Utilities Bullying Customers Over Smart Meters blog post. It is happnening in every state.)
@Sharon, glad you recovered. I have read that a person can mask symptoms but the microwaves are still doing their bad stuff. Lots of people don’t feel symptoms. It is easy to envy them, but they are at just as much risck for potential harm unless the microwaves are actually kept from reaching their bodies. Just because we don’t feel it doesn’t mean it’s not there.
@Mike, your honest point-of-view is appreciated. Maybe your company’s meters spike less often than other companies’ products. That does not mean they do not contribute to ambient rf levels and adding to the risk of biological overload.
You may check to see if you have a radio frequency identification tag implanted. You are correct about the “wifi” meters. There routers are so small they have no security. Several court cases have given consumers the right to opt out. Pop sci has an article about seeing through the walls of your home with a wireless router attached to your home – ie a “wifi” meter. The power company can regulate the appliances in your home with them. A laser operated on the millimeter wave scale or signature aperature radar can travel through the electromagnetic field and become a wireless taser – like the diablo flashlight. They can transmit sound like the audiospotlight from Holosonics. It is excruciating. Go to unwitting victim.com. Hope you be well soon.
Virginia State Trooper Jared Vance told my clients they can transmit sound and electrical shocks through the “wifi” electric meters. This is referred to as Ambient Intelligence and Surveillance. They can see in like an airport scanner. There is no privacy anymore not even in your own shower and bedroom. Go to digital barriers and see all the new law enforcement technologies.