By David F. Rooney
The smart meter issue shows no sign of going away any day soon. And, as letters began appearing in mailboxes and Hydro contractor Corix began installing the meters in town this week, the issue finally reached the Council table when two residents, Wanda Watson and Frank Lemay, filed complaints with City Hall.
In an e-mail, Watson said she fears the new smart meters will result in grossly inflated power bills, as some Lower Mainland residents have claimed. (Click here to view a CTV report about one case. Click here to read a Globe & Mail story about another case.)
“… what I am really afraid of are the reports in The Province newspaper on the outrageous power bills once the smart meters have been installed, not only do I not believe they are safe for our health but I am very upset about the electronic snooping,” Watson wrote. “We live in a a democracy as far as I know and we are extremely opposed to these meters being imposed on us without our permission.”
Frank Lemay, who is trying to get an organized anti-smart meter campaign off the ground in Revelstoke, filed a letter with Council, too.
His letter reads, in part: “…
Smart Meters are known to emit Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) which has been linked to Electrohypersensivity (EHS) originally known as Microwave Sickness. Already several US states and Ontario have had Smart Meters installed and shortly after the installation, people began reporting ill health effects.
Such as agitation, heart palpitations, headache, nausea/vomiting, dizziness, skin burning, ear pressure and tinnitus, difficulty sleeping/sleep disturbances, brain fog, weakness and fatigue, memory problems, difficulty concentrating and seizures.
Furthermore, increasing scientific evidence shows possible long-term systemic health effects including: blood brain barrier leakage, memory impairment, double-strand DNA damage, cancers, and more. (Visit emrabc.ca for more health info).”
Lemay told The Current anyone interested in more information about this can also go to http://healthyhomesenvironmental.com/.
That sounds horrific, but before you decide your head is going to explode or your unborn children will be mutants you are strongly advised to read this Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_hypersensitivity.
So what did Council do with all of this? They accepted it as correspondence but did not discuss it.
On a related note, BC Hydro’s smart meter project team will be speaking at the opening session of the Southern Interior Local Government Association (SILGA) Convention at the Community Centre Thursday afternoon (April 26).
