Sebastopol school board approves wireless computers for kids

The Sebastopol Unified School District (SUSD) unanimously approved funding for wireless computers in two elementary schools (K-5) and (K-8).

talk to the hand The Superintendent declared wireless was safe,  despite health warnings from science and medical experts, which were reviewed, but ultimately ignored. One board member expressed concern about increasing screen time for kids, and another about the placement of routers, but no precautions were included in the decision.

The request for a hard wired computer lab, which would be safer, faster, more secure and  more reliable was countered with a letter signed by a couple dozen parents who urged the board to “invest the funds in computer infrastructure that is portable, wireless and cost effective.” Reasons included fears of declining enrollment and children’s inadequate preparation for today’s technological  society.  The  letter states,”Key to their [children’s] professional success, social integration and economic sustainability, and therefore their health will be their ability to navigate the world of technology…”

The push for computers in the classroom is part of Common Core State Standards, the new federal curriculum which has been sharply criticized as eliminating community-based planning, and instead of fostering education for individual need and the common good, it puts children on a treadmill to become scared, obedient workers for the global economy. 

wireless cartSebastopol’s initial plan is to purchase 60 wireless computers, 30 for each school and store them on a cart which teachers can bring into the classroom.  While this plan is considerably modest compared to what other schools have deployed, (the Los Angeles School District is giving every student an iPad) it’s unknown if or when a 1:1 computer for every child will happen in Sebastopol.

It is also unknown how many, or where, additional routers will be installed.  The routers will increase the radiation exposure for children, teachers, and staff, even when the cart is not in use.

GofundmeChildren who have medical conditions (headaches, heart palpitations, medical implants, seizures, EMF sensitivity) are at risk in a wireless environment.  The public school may become inaccessible for them, or they may be isolated from peers when the computers are being used.  In Canada a lawsuit has already been filed against wi-fi in school.

A common misconception, which is used to downplay the health risks, is to promote the idea that wi-fi is already everywhere.  That’s similar to thinking engine exhaust is already everywhere, so reducing car trips by walking and biking to school is unnecessary.  It does not justify increasing wi-fi, and misses an important point.  Being closer to the source of pollution matters greatly.  Imagine breathing the fumes behind a bus, compared to knowing there are exhaust particulates in the air.  Ambient wi-fi signals are not the same as being in a room with 30 wi-fi computers, or being near routers which are always on.

checkmarkThe Alliance for Childhood wrote, “Fool’s Gold:  A Critical Look at Computers in Childhood”. They caution, ” Those who place their faith in technology to solve the problems of education should look more deeply into the needs of children.  The renewal of education requires personal attention to students from good teachers and active parents, strongly supported by their communities.  It requires commitment to developmentally appropriate education and attention to the full range of children’s real low-tech needs- physical, emotional, and social, as well as cognitive.”

Parents everywhere beware!  Common Core is bringing computer testing into the schools and giving the government a whole new tool to track and profile children.

Class action lawsuit filed against BC Hydro smart meters

With the support and representation of the Citizens for Safe Technology (CST) Society & the Coalition to Stop Smart Meters, a class action has been brought against BC Hydro by Salt Spring Island resident, Nomi Davis.

The action was commenced on July 25, 2013, through the filing of a Notice of Civil Claim with the B.C. Supreme Court registry in Vancouver.  Smart Meter Class Action Filed

David M. Aaron, counsel for the Plaintiff stated, “The lawsuit asserts that the home is a private domain where free choice and autonomy rule. It claims a right of control over environmental exposures generated from one’s own domestic dwelling; and it alleges that BC Hydro has unlawfully leveraged its monopoly powers to violate that right by coercively and deceptively imposing a smart meter on the Plaintiff and other members of the Class.”

Steve Satow, CST advisory board member said, “If BC Hydro has forced a smart meter on you, threatened to cut off your power or refused to provide you with power unless you accepted a smart meter, then you may fit within the Class of persons on behalf of whom this claim is brought.”

The lawsuit seeks relief, including an order that BC Hydro remove unwanted smart meters as well as a permanent injunction restraining BC Hydro from exacting payment in exchange for an opt out.

Sharon Noble, CST Director commented, “Freedom to control the possible carcinogens emitted from one’s own home is not a luxury, it is a right.  We will not stand by and let a government authority extort a payment in exchange for the preservation of our rights.

 “We want free choice,  free of charge – and we want it now.” -Sharon Noble, CST Director

In April 2013 the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer released a detailed report explaining its designation of smart meter and other radiofrequency emissions as a possible human cancer agent.

Nomi Davis is a Salt Spring Island yoga teacher on whom a smart meter was imposed in a deceptive and coercive fashion against the resistance of Davis and her supporters.

B.C. Hydro will have 21 days (from being served) to file its defence pleading (Response to Civil Claim) after which the Plaintiff will seek to have the action certified under the Class Proceedings Act.

Smart Meter: heros and bullies in Oklahoma

Joe EspositoJoe Esposito lives in Tulsa County on the fence line next to the City of Owasso, Oklahoma, which was a pilot for the State of Oklahomaʼs Smart Meter program. Joe called the Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) and told them he did not want a Smart Meter. He came home one day from work and discovered that PSO had installed a Smart Meter on his home without his consent.

Joe and his wife watched Dr. Dietrich Klinghardtʼs video “Smart Meter and EMR: The Health Crisis Of Our Time”. After watching the video Joe took Dr. Klinghardtʼs advice and nailed a sheet of lead (30”x30”) between the smart meter and his house and later that night he woke up to discover the two major health problems he had been having were gone. He then built a faraday cage to sleep in which helped him even more.

Joe says, “The important issue to understand is that I did not need any pharmaceuticals, I just needed to get the radiation stopped.”

Joe then worked with Jerry Day, who helped him obtain an analog meter and legal paperwork. Then he talked with a licensed electrician who suggested he apply to the City of Tulsa for a permit to replace his Smart Meter with an analog meter, due to health problems. Joe did just that and the inspector came out said all was fine and he would call PSO to have them put their security lock on the new analog meter.

Within days he received an over-night letter from PSOʼs attorney saying put back the Smart Meter or we will cut your power off.  Joe refused and he and his wife were forced to live without power for over two months.

Joe’s attorney and PSO’s attorney finally worked out an agreement to place a ‘plug’ instead of a meter on his house and gave Joe two months to resolve this issue or PSO will cut his power off again.

While Joe was learning about radiation he purchased a GIGAHERTZ SOLUTIONS Meter HFE 35C, so he could read the amount of radiation from all these electrical devices. He found where his wife would lay her head on their bed his meter would peg.

Once the electrician put the analog meter on Joeʼs home, Joe believed all would be normal inside his home. But the reading at their bed stayed the same. So now they tried no meter on the home, no power to the home, and yet the reading was the same on their bed.

The next day he nailed aluminum window screen wire to the whole south side of his home, which helped lower the readings. What he learned was the hospital approximately 700 ft. to his south was pulsing radiation every 30 seconds, and a cell tower about a half mile to the south was transmitting constantly.

Joe says, “If a person breaks into my home to do harm, I can protect my family. What is the difference if microwave radiation is breaking into my home and doing harm to my family?”

Joe founded the website Stop Smart Meters in Oaklahoma. You can read more about his story in his own words here: Joe Esposito.

Recently Oklahoma TV news station ran a story on the health impacts of smart meters including Joe Esposito and Monique Smith who is suffering from headaches, dizziness and nosebleeds from the smart meter.  She has a note from her doctor saying it’s “medically necessary that the smart meter be removed from the home.”  Still their utility company refuses to remove it, forcing them out of their home.  Here’s the first of three excellent videos. The second and third can be watched here: http://kfor.com/2013/07/23/customers-says-oge-smart-meters-making-them-sick/

Mass tort lawsuit filed over smart meter health injuries

gavel-judgementAttorneys David Kyle and Paul Overett have filed a mass tort lawsuit against two California utilities:  Southern California Edison (SCE) and Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) for health damages from exposure to smart meters, and or smart grid.  Also named in the lawsuit are smart meter installer companies, Corix and Wellington and smart meter manufacturers, Itron and Landis and Gyr, with possibly more defendants to be added as the lawsuit progresses.

Attorney David Kyle has previously won a small claims lawsuit against SCE over smart meter installation, and  settled with PG&E in a wrongful death suit involving an alleged smart meter fire.

Sixteen plaintiffs, ten SCE customers and six PG&E customers allege they suffered health effects ranging from headaches, insomnia, chronic fatigue, ringing in the ears, dizziness, heart palpitations, to heart attacks and medical implant interference from exposure to smart meters.

The suit alleges the defendants withheld important safety information associated with the use of smart meters as well as multiple violations of CA laws, including California Civil Code section 1710 which defines deceit as an untrue assertion or suppression of a fact so as to mislead.

Plaintiffs allege negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, fraud and deceit, and products liability.

Elizabeth Barris, organizer for the lawsuit invites customers from other California utilities, including municipally run utilities, whose health has been effected by smart meters or smart grid to join the lawsuit. Elizabeth can be contacted at 310-281-9639 or email: contact@thepeoplesinitiative.org

BC HYDRO Cuts Power for Refusing a Smart Meter: CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT ANNOUNCED

Press release from our Canadian friends at CST:

BC Hydro has taken the draconian step of cutting off power to a customer who refused to accept a wireless smart meter.

Last May, a Hydro customer had a wireless smart meter installed on her home despite her refusal. This person suffers from electro-sensitivity and, as a consequence of the radiofrequency radiation emitted by the wireless smart meter, her health began to deteriorate.

Despite pleading for months with Hydro to remove the wireless meter and to re-install the analog meter; they refused. Finally, with her health in jeopardy, she ordered a non- radiating analog meter from a company in the US that provides calibrated, tested meters to utility companies. With the supervision of a certified electrician the analog was installed, and the wireless smart meter was returned to Hydro.

When Hydro advised that the analog was not approved by Canadian agencies, the customer located a Canadian analog meter that met all the requirements and then asked Hydro to install it. Hydro refused, ignored her health condition and insisted that she must accept a wireless smart meter or they would cut her power.

On April 17, 2013, Hydro followed through with its threats and cut off its supply of power to her home.

Hydro’s conduct constitutes a violation of our autonomy and our right to determine what potentially harmful emissions do or do not occur from within our own domestic environment; our right to be free from physical intrusion by the state.

Due to Hydro’s actions over the last 2 years, culminating with its cessation of service to a customer for refusing to allow the installation of a wireless smart meter, the Citizens for Safe Technology Society and the Coalition to Stop Smart Meters are filing a class action lawsuit.

Injured by smart meters? Class action lawsuit forming

9/2015 UPDATE to this post. The video has been removed. The lawsuit was unsuccessful.

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In this video Jerry Day interviews Liz Barris about the upcoming class action lawsuit she’s coordinating against California utilities SCE and PG&E for health damages from smart meters. This lawsuit may be extended to other CA utility companies soon.

“Those industries, businesses and individuals who profit from wireless technologies, such as your power company, are suppressing information about the hazards of wireless technologies. They are attacking proponents of responsible wireless management and they are knowingly exposing the public to harm and damage hoping that the general public and the media will refuse to believe the obvious and proven connection between electromagnetic radiation and biological damage. Because of the wireless industry’s irresponsibility and wrongdoing, unfortunately, legal actions have become necessary.”

CPUC Evidentiary Hearings

Last week evidentiary hearings were held in San Francisco in the Smart Meter Opt Out proceeding. On behalf of the EMF Safety Network I prepared questions for, and cross examined nine witnesses with a focus on who should pay the costs of customers retaining or restoring analog utility meters. We say shareholders should pay, but most other parties said individuals should pay.

PG&E wants to keep the current interim rates of $75/$10 and $10/$5 and socialize the rest. SCE, SDG&E and So Cal Gas want to charge even more. For customers with two utility companies, they could be charged twice.

The seasoned consumer advocates in the proceeding do not support our position. The DRA did not address cost allocation. The Utility Reform Network (TURN) changed it’s public position radically, from boycott the meters, to require 50% shareholder responsibility, and now to  individuals should pay 100% of the costs. Aglet Consumer Alliance is advocating for no cost for medical conditions, but for all others he suggests individuals pay $30 and $3 a month.

We need to prove that its wrong to charge individuals for not having a Smart Meter and why shareholders should pay.  This will be done through filing of briefs which are due January 14.

You can help by filing a complaint about the fees first with your utility, then with the Consumers Affairs Branch.  The Consumer Protection and Safety Division (CPSD) will likely investigate this issue if there are hundreds of complaints. Also please attend a public participation hearing in your area.

PG&E currently estimates over 237,000 utility meters are/or will be unable to complete. May of these customers are refusing to choose between accepting a Smart Meter or paying to keep the analog meter, or they are denying access. PG&E says they plan to place these customers in the opt-out program after several attempts to get them to decide.

The PG&E witness James Meadows said, under oath, that breaking locks or crossing fences to force Smart Meter installation was not a practice they would approve.

To the question of whether or not SCE customers can have an analog meter SCE witness L. Oliva responded , “I think they can.”

I asked Raymond Blatter, a PG&E witness the following question, “Do you consider it reasonable that if a SmartMeter is installed on someone’s home and they’re experiencing headaches or sleep problems or ringing in the ears, that that person should have to pay not to have that device on their home?”

Mr. Blatter answered, “I think that if that customer receives a benefit of not having that meter on their home, that they should pay for that benefit or at least partially pay for it.”

Well, I don’t think that line of reasoning can hold up for long! A conclusion to this proceeding is expected by next Spring.

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.