Month: October 2012

Secondhand radiation can be considerable according to a newly published study.

By: Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D. Director, Center for Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley

Many people are unaware that they are exposed to cell phone radiation when their cell phones are in standby mode.  This occurs because their cell phone contacts the nearest cell tower periodically to update its location.

In a moving vehicle, cell phones in standby mode contact cell towers more frequently. Thus, exposure to cell phone radiation from one’s cell phone is greater in transit.

Two Swiss researchers, Damiano Urbinello and Martin Roosli, set out to measure personal cell phone radiation exposure during car, bus and train trips when one’s own phone was in standby mode.

Their study just published in the Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology identified a source of cell phone radiation that may constitute a public health problem. Namely, secondhand exposure to cell phone radiation from other people’s cell phones can be considerable while traveling on buses and trains (1).

During bus or train trips, individuals may be exposed to considerable amounts of cell phone radiation from other people’s cell phones. Buses and railroad cars act like “Faraday cages” that reflect much of the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones throughout the vehicles’ interiors. Thus, all passengers, including infants and pregnant women as well as those without cell phones, may be exposed to considerable levels of cell phone radiation emitted by others’ phones.

As for car trips, the results of the study suggest that exposure to cell phone radiation from one’s own phone in standby mode is relatively low compared to overall exposures during public transit. Nonetheless, those who are concerned about their exposure to cell phone radiation should turn off their phones during car trips, or at the very least, avoid using their phones for calls.

● “The study indicates that own uplink exposure during car driving can be considerably reduced (about a fraction of 100) when turning off ones own mobile phone in order to prevent it from location updates.”  (1)

The researchers found that GSM, the 2G carrier system in Europe which is used in the U.S. for voice communication by AT&T and T-Mobile, is particularly problematic compared to UMTS, a 3G carrier system used for data transmission. The researchers did not test CDMA which in the U.S. is used by Verizon and Sprint for voice calls. Other research has found that GSM emits 13 to 28 times more radiation on average than CDMA during phone calls. No published studies have examined exposures from LTE, the 4G carrier system now in widespread use in this country.

● “GSM levels in the reference scenario during bus and train rides were about 100 times higher than those during car rides. As a consequence of this high background exposure in trains, due to the use of other people’s mobile phone in a closed area intensified by the Faraday cage effect, the relative contribution of the location update from ones own mobile phone is small”  (1)

The study also reported that smart phones, including the iPhone 4 and the Blackberry Bold 8800, which can operate on four radiofrequency bands emit more radiation during standby mode than classic phones, like the Nokia 2600, which operate on two bands.

Earlier this year, a study was published that examined cell phones in standby mode while stationary. Kjell Mild and his colleagues from Sweden found that under these conditions cell phones contacted the cell towers only once every two to five hours. They concluded that exposure to cell phone radiation in this situation “can be considered negligible.”  (2)

These studies should be replicated in the U.S. as well as in other countries since every cell phone carrier system operates differently.

In the meantime it is advisable to keep cell phone use in moving vehicles to a minimum as low level exposures to cell phone radiation have been associated with deleterious effects in humans.

To protect us from the health risks associated with cell phones and related devices (e.g., cordless phones, Wi-Fi, wireless Smart Meters and security systems, and cell towers), we need research independent of industry to develop biologically-based standards and safer technologies.  A nickel a month from each cell phone subscription would suffice to fund a comprehensive program of research. Since the average cell phone subscription costs more than $47.00 per month, this tiny fee constitutes a prudent investment in our health and our children’s health.

References

1) Urbinello D, Roosli M. Impact of one’s own mobile phone in stand-by mode on personal radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure. Journal of Exposure Science and Environmental Epidemiology advance online publication, Oct 24, 2012.

Source  Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel, Switzerland and the University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

When moving around, mobile phones in stand-by mode periodically send data about their positions. The aim of this paper is to evaluate how personal radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) measurements are affected by such location updates. Exposure from a mobile phone handset (uplink) was measured during commuting by using a randomized cross-over study with three different scenarios: disabled mobile phone (reference), an activated dual-band phone and a quad-band phone. In the reference scenario, uplink exposure was highest during train rides (1.19 mW/m(2)) and lowest during car rides in rural areas (0.001 mW/m(2)). In public transports, the impact of one’s own mobile phone on personal RF-EMF measurements was not observable because of high background uplink radiation from other people’s mobile phone. In a car, uplink exposure with an activated phone was orders of magnitude higher compared with the reference scenario. This study demonstrates that personal RF-EMF exposure is affected by one’s own mobile phone in stand-by mode because of its regular location update. Further dosimetric studies should quantify the contribution of location updates to the total RF-EMF exposure in order to clarify whether the duration of mobile phone use, the most common exposure surrogate in the epidemiological RF-EMF research, is actually an adequate exposure proxy.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=23093102

2) Mild KH, Andersen JB, Pedersen GF. Is there any exposure from a mobile phone in stand-by mode? Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine. 2012 Mar;31(1):52-6.

Source  Department of Radiation Sciences, Ume niversity, Ume Sweden. kjell.hansson.mild@radfys.umu.se

Abstract

Several studies have been using a GSM mobile phone in stand-by mode as the source for exposure, and they claimed that this caused effects on for instance sleep and testicular function. In stand-by mode the phone is only active in periodic location updates, and this occurs with a frequency set by the net operator. Typical updates occur with 2-5 h in between, and between these updates the phone is to be considered as a passive radio receiver with no microwave emission. Thus, the exposure in stand-by mode can be considered negligible.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22268596/

 

Italian Supreme Court Rules Cell Phones Can Cause Cancer

“A landmark court case has ruled there is a link between using a mobile phone and brain tumours, paving the way for a flood of legal actions.” UK Telegraph, Oct 19, 2012

Contrary to the denial of many heath agencies in the U.S. and in some other countries, the Italian Supreme Court has recognized a “causal” link between heavy mobile phone use and brain tumor risk in a worker’s compensation case.

According to a UK news source, Innocente Marcolini, 60, an Italian businessman, fell ill after using a handset at work for up to six hours every day for 12 years.  He now will be financially compensated.

Mr Marcolini said: “This is significant for very many people. I wanted this problem to become public because many people still do not know the risks. I was on the phone, usually the mobile, for at least five or six hours every day at work. I wanted it recognised that there was a link between my illness and the use of mobile and cordless phones…Parents need to know their children are at risk of this illness.”

The Italian courts dismissed research co-financed by the mobile phone industry due to concerns about conflict of interest. Instead, the courts relied on independent research conducted by Lennart Hardell and his colleagues in Sweden which showed consistent evidence of increased brain tumor risk associated with long term mobile phone use.

Last year, the Hardell research was heavily relied upon by 31 experts convened by the World Health Organization who classified radiofrequency energy, including cell phone radiation, as “possibly carcinogenic” in humans.

The evidence of harm from cell phone radiation has been increasing so it is only a matter of time before lawsuits filed in U.S. courts by cell phone radiation victims will be successful. The Insurance industry will not provide product liability insurance due to concerns that juries will find that the Telecom industry has behaved much like the Tobacco and Asbestos industries. So the Telecom industry could be faced with paying huge damages to individuals and governments.

Although 12 nations and the European Union have issued precautionary health warnings regarding mobile phone use, the U.S. has been in denial. The Telecom industry has blocked numerous attempts to pass cell phone warning legislation at the Federal, state, and city level. The industry even refused to support a bill in the California legislature by Senator Mark Leno that would simply remind consumers to read the safety information that is currently printed in their cell phone user manuals.

Only one city has been able to overcome intense lobbying by the Telecom industry. San Francisco adopted cell phone “right to know” legislation two years ago, but the Telecom industry (i.e., CTIA-The Wireless Association) blocked implementation of this law by filing a lawsuit claiming that the court-approved fact sheet violates the industry’s First Amendment rights. The CTIA also moved its annual conference from San Francisco to punish the city.

Since there are now more than 330 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S., an annual fee of 50 cents on each cell phone would generate sufficient resources to fund high quality, independent research that could promote safer technology development and fund a community education program about safer cell phone use.

Thanks to Joel M. Moskowitz, Ph.D., School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley for the press release on this issue. 

Willits Man Refuses to Pay Extortion Fees to Retain Analog Meter, PG&E Threatens Power Cut

Despite the fact that the fees for keeping analog utility meters are still under legal dispute at the CPUC, and serious smart meter safety problems remain unaddressed, PG&E is now threatening to terminate service to its customers who refuse both smart meters and the contested fees.

Tom DeMarchi, a 68 year old Willits resident, has been told by PG&E that he must pay over $100 to retain his analog meter, or else he will have his electricity terminated today. Tom lives in an all-electric house, and although it’s a physical and financial hardship to have the electricity cut off, Tom is willing to live without it rather than submit to PG&E’s extortion fees.

Tom would prefer not to fight with PG&E. He is an environmentalist who pays his bills on time and has reduced his electric usage. He’s willing to self-read his analog meter, still an accepted practice in some areas where meter access is restricted.  However Tom refuses to pay a fee for nothing. He says,

“This is like the Mafia, extortion by crime bosses- Give us money and nothing bad will happen to you. This is wrong, and I am refusing to pay.”

PG&E is forcing customers to pay $75 initially and $10 a month to keep the analog meters, even though the fees are arbitrary and not based on any evaluation of costs. The cost issue is currently under evaluation at the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), and should be resolved by the spring of 2013.

One key question being evaluated by the CPUC is whether the fees violate section 453(b) of the Public Utility Code, which states: “No public utility shall prejudice, disadvantage, or require different rates or deposit amounts from a person because of ancestry, medical condition, marital status or change in marital status, occupation, or any characteristic listed or defined in Section 11135 of the Government Code.” The CPUC is also evaluating whether the fees violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Sandi Maurer, Director of the EMF Safety Network says that customers should not be charged to have analog utility meters. EMF sensitivity is widely recognized by medical and scientific experts, and is both caused and exacerbated by EMF and wireless radiation. According to Maurer:

“The CPUC and PG&E are failing their statutory obligation to ensure safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates. The punitive fees are a desperate attempt to intimidate customers into keeping smart meters.”

Joshua Hart, Director of Stop Smart Meters! says that PG&E is going too far, risking alienating the public by cutting off services to bill-paying customers, when any proposed fee has not even been finalized by regulators:

“Arbitrarily cutting off power to our senior citizens just as winter approaches should not be taken lightly. PG&E has jeopardized people’s safety before and they are doing it again.”

Smart meter fires and explosions have been widely reported including several within PG&E territory.  In August, a series of 26 smart meter fires in Pennsylvania forced PECO Energy to halt installations, sparking inquiries in Washington D.C., Maryland, and Illinois.  Yet the CPUC has simply not investigated these fires, nor the thousands of complaints of health problems reported to them by members of the public.

It is unclear upon what legal grounds PG&E is terminating service for those refusing to pay the punitive fees.  Last year PG&E backed down under public pressure after terminating utility service to women and families who had their smart meters removed and restored with analogs.

Stop Smart Meters! and the EMF Safety Network collaborated on this coverage.

CPUC smart meter opt out testimony

On Oct 5, 2012 testimony was served in the CPUC smart meter opt out proceeding. On behalf of the EMF Safety Network I served the Testimony of Sandi Maurer. Here’s the summary,

“All customers should be allowed to opt-out of Smart Meters at no cost. Smart Meter opt-out costs should be paid by utility shareholders and/or shifting of utility funds. There should be no initial fees, no monthly fees and no exit fees. I believe that charging fees to opt out of a health and safety hazard is unlawful, and defeats the purpose of the opt out program which was to give utility customers a choice. Punitive opt out fees must be eliminated because they are unjust, unreasonable and in my opinion unlawful based on the Public Utilities Code.

The customer did not create this problem. The Commission, in concert with the utilities forced Smart Meters onto customers. They failed to fully vet the technical specifications prior to approval. They dismissed formal public opposition and continued to deploy Smart Meters and scrap analog meters.

Customer choice should be extended to commercial customers. Customers who have paid opt out fees should have their money refunded. Future costs of Smart Meter problems should be considered. Millions of Smart Meters are not working properly, and tens of thousands are failing and being replaced annually. Investigations on Smart Meter fires are currently taking place in three other states. The long term public health risk is a serious cost and liability issue, and health experts are advising against Smart Meters. A free opt out is an important step toward resolving these and other Smart Meter complaints.”

Six other parties in the smart meter opt out proceeding also served testimony. The Center for Electrosmog Prevention and Jeromy Johnson took a similar position as I did, calling for no fee opt out. Aglet Consumer Alliance called for a health and safety review and free opt out for customers with medical conditions. CLECA, an industry group, did not want business customers to pay more for the opt out program.

The District Ratepayer Advocates (DRA), who are a division within the CPUC whose mission is: “Our statutory mission is to obtain the lowest possible rate for service consistent with reliable and safe service levels. In fulfilling this goal, DRA also advocates for customer and environmental protections. ” DRA did not recommend how opt out fees should be allocated.

In a shocking turnabout, The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a leading California utility consumer advocacy group who has encouraged its members to refuse Smart Meters on their homes since 2009, is now advocating Smart Meter opt out customers pay even more than the current “interim opt out fees “of $75/10 and $10/5 for CARE- low income. TURN testimony  Although it’s not clear what TURN recommended for PG&E customers, they sided with SCE and SDG&E in recommending individual customers pay all opt out program costs.

TURN recommends SCE customers pay $56 initial fee and $19 every month, and for low income $45 initial fee and $15 a month!  That’s $89 more per year, and $155 more per year for low income customers than the current proposed “interim” fees, which are already punitive! This is a major contradiction. I called TURN to discuss this, but the lawyer who worked on the case was out of town and unavailable for comment.

Criminal Investigation of Smart Meter Opt-Out Fees Requested in Maine!

The Maine Coalition to Stop Smart Meters filed a complaint this week requesting Maine’s Attorney General, William Schneider, open a criminal investigation into smart meter opt out fees.

The complaint alleges in order to avoid health and privacy harms from the detailed information gathering and radiation emitting meters, citizens are forced to pay extortionate fees. They request the Attorney General target Central Maine Power and the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in the extortion investigation.

Ed Friedman stated, “If I must pay to avoid actual harm or even the threat of harm, to myself, my family or my property that is extortion. The federal Hobbs Act defines it as: “…the crime of obtaining property from another induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear, or under color of official right.”

Maine has a similar definition for theft by extortion. With smart meters, the harm and threat of harm come from:

  • The emission of RF radiation known to create adverse biological effects;
  • The invasion of privacy facilitating warrant-less search and seizure of individual data by an agent of the government (utility acting under specific orders of the PUC);
  • The compromising of personal cybersecurity, and;
  • A taking of real property without due process of law or just compensation.

“In order to avoid these and other harms, we are forced to pay a coercive fee which if not paid leads to disconnection of electrical service by the monopolistic utility as well as adversely impacting credit ratings.”

The photos are from the Maine Coalition Day of Action protest this week.

 

National Day of Action: Health and Safety Advocates Say ‘Smart Meters’ – Not So Smart

From Maine to Maui, a growing wave of health and safety advocates are questioning the rush to install so-called “smart meters.” The wireless devices to track electricity use down to each appliance have been associated with health problems and house fires.

Today, nearly three dozen demonstrations were held across the country – including Washington, D.C., and Detroit – all to coincide with Grid Week, a conference of industry and government proponents of the “smart” grid.

Organizer Joshua Hart, with the National Campaign to Stop Smart Meters!, goes further – saying the devices are defective and should be recalled.

“The utilities are demanding that people pay a fee to keep their safe, analog meters, and we call that extortion. That’s unacceptable, and people have a right to be safe and secure in their homes – and that’s what today’s protests are about.”

Hart says problems with internal wiring and shoddy installations have been identified as the potential culprits in hundreds of fires caused by smart meters.

Smart meters emit strong bursts of microwave RF radiation that the World Health Organization has labeled as a Class 2B carcinogen. At the University of California-Berkeley School of Public Health, Joel Moskowitz, Ph.D., says studies have shown that the meters expose people to significantly higher radiation levels than cell phones and WiFi.

“So, it seems to be highly problematic from a public health standpoint that we’re just rolling out millions and millions of these wireless meters, without fully understanding what are the potential health risks and figuring out how to reduce any potential harm.”

Utilities worldwide are moving quickly to install the wireless monitoring devices, saying the new technology will allow energy savings. However opponents question whether the data privacy and security concerns, as well as potential health hazards, make the technology as beneficial as claimed.

Smart Meter Free Sebastopol!

In solidarity with Stop Smart Meter groups across the US, health and safety advocates from the EMF Safety Network and Refuse Smart Meters, held signs, passed out flyers and waved to passers by on the four corners of downtown Sebastopol today. People responded with honks, beeps, and even a couple thumbs up were given as encouragement!

More information on all the demonstrations at www.actiondaytostopsmartmeters.org

“Smart” Water Meter or NO water!

City of Baraboo Michagan denies a request by an 80 year old widow and great-grandmother Audrey to keep her analog water meter and forces her to choose between a “smart” water meter or no water service at all.

On September 24, 2012 Audrey went before the City’s Public Safety Commission and told them she did not want a “smart” water meter for health, safety and privacy reasons, including that she’s experienced health palpitations in her kitchen, which she believes is caused by an electric Smart Meter that was installed on her home previously without her knowledge or consent.

The committee chair contends, that the “Smart” water meter is not a hazard for Audrey and he makes a motion to deny her request for an analog meter. Another member agrees, stating “I don’t see anything that’s harmful”.  The three member committee unanimously deny her request and then they confirm the timing when her “Smart” meter will be installed (in two weeks). The alternative is her water service will be turned off if she does not accept the new meter.  See the video: http://youtu.be/VfDdSCfsoqY

You can support Audrey by writing to City of Baraboo officials:
Mayor Mike Palm – mpalm@cityofbaraboo.com
City Engineer Tom Pinion – tpinion@cityofbaraboo.com
Utilities Supt Wade Peterson – wpeterson@cityofbaraboo.com
Alder Phil Wedekind – pwedekind@cityofbaraboo.com
Alder Tom Kolb – tkolb@cityofbaraboo.com
Alder Michael Plautz – mplautz@cityofbaraboo.com

In stark contrast to this situation, in Fairfield Iowa, City officials were making plans to halt the wireless water meters, and refunding customers any opt out fees they’d paid. According to the Fairfield Ledger article the “smart” water meters were transmitting RF radiation every 14 seconds.