Citizens Across Massachusetts & Northeast Region Come Together to Oppose Smart Meters; Alarming Health Risks Indicated

BOSTON, Aug. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Residents of towns throughout the Boston area are banding together and aligning with groups in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont to oppose Smart Meters, the new "advanced" utility meters (smart meters) being installed across the country.

The "Not so Smart" & Dangerous Grid
The Smart Grid is currently being installed nationwide by utility companies who want their equipment to have the capacity to communicate remotely between their stations and your homes, saving distribution costs for the companies but adding electromagnetic radiation to your daily home life.  

The program includes the widespread replacement of all wired analog meters with wireless digital meters called "smart meters" or "advanced meters".  These meters track and record usage information & trends for the utility companies who claim to be providing "renewable" energy.  The meters use pulsed, wireless (cellular), high frequency communication, a recently recognized carcinogen (source: the World Health Organization/International Agency on Cancer Research:  http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf).  Operating within recently deployed "mesh networks" of wireless antennae and microcell towers, they pulse radio frequency radiation into our homes and our environments on average every 2 to 9 seconds. According to PG&E, these meters were deemed "safe" at 6 feet, then more recently at 10 feet, yet some are just a few inches from children's cribs or our kitchen sinks and on the walls of our bedrooms and family rooms.  Most are under 5 feet away from frequently used living spaces.  The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has issued 3 warnings about these meters, citing numerous medical reports and peer reviewed research on the dangers of chronic exposure to this type of radiation (http://aaemonline.org/pressadvisoryemf.pdf).  

The utility companies, including NStar and National Grid, are misleading consumers about the meters that are actually on their homes, claiming they are being read by meter readers, when they are in fact transmitting wirelessly.  Additionally, these meters can reveal when customers are home or away, and what appliances they have purchased, as well as many other personal homeowner habits which may be turned over to 3rd parties (such as Comcast) for marketing purposes.  

Citizens Organize to Protect Health & Privacy
Halt MA Smart Meters is a statewide organization against wireless and Smart Meters.  We are joining the groups in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont who are pushing back on this poorly designed and dangerous initiative. We are working for you and need your help.  Vermont legislators recently granted free "opt outs", Maine has filed suits with the Supreme Court. We need action in Massachusetts.  Many people already have a smart meter and do not know it!

The website at www.haltMAsmartmeters.org provides a wealth of information to consumers about the health and safety concerns of wireless/smart meters and the smart grid network.  The site provides research links of studies and consumer rights under the US Energy Policy Act of 2005, which allows opt-outs from the smart grid program.

www.haltMAsmartmeters.org also includes FAQs, videos, and petitions demanding consumer rights, as well as contact information so individuals may speak directly with one of the founding members. (Also see www.wakeupoptout.org).  

SOURCE Halt MA Smart Meters