by Katherine | 18 Feb, 2015 | Events, Latest News, Science, Uncategorized
An Environmental Sensitivities Symposium is coming up in 2015. The Symposium is designed to help people with a variety of illnesses, including those who have electromagnetic sensitivity (also known as electrosensitivity or electrohypersensitivity), multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), food allergies and other conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Lyme disease.
The Symposium features international experts such as:
Michael Bevington is the chair of Trustees of the charity ElectroSensitivity UK (See
http://es-uk.info/)
and
Prof Olle Johansson, associate professor, head of the Experimental Dermatology Unit, Department of Neuroscience, at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, is a world-leading authority in the field of EMF radiation and health effects.
Other speakers include:
Martin Pall, PhD, Dr Christabelle Yeoh and Lucinda Curran.
Basic access to the online Symposium is FREE while there are upgrades available for modest fees. (A book option is available for people who have severe electrosensitivity issues and cannot use a computer.)
The Symposium website is below:
NB: Please let colleagues, friends and family know about this event as public education about conditions such as electrosensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) is badly needed to help improve the lives of people who have these conditions easier. (The current lack of knowledge among the general public about electrosensitivity, MCS etc. makes life harder than it should be for people who have developed these conditions as neighbours may inadvertently cause harm, by for example, allowing the installation of a smart meter close to the home of some who has electrosensitivity, or by using toxic garden chemicals etc. etc.)
by Katherine | 18 Feb, 2015 | Government and Electricity Industry Positions, Latest News
EMR Australia’s free quarterly newsletter is now available.
This issue is particularly good and features an interview with Melbourne physician Dr. Federica Lamech whose article on adverse health effects from smart meters was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal.
The issue may be downloaded from this link:
htttp://emraustralia.com.au/EMR_and_health.html
The other topics for this issue are listed below:
- France’s new law to reduce exposure to wireless radiation;
- how mobile phones affect the brain and fertility;
- a recent Australian study on smart meters and how they’re affecting people;
- an interview with the study’s author, Dr Federica Lamech;
- the European Union’s new position on electromagnetic hypersensitivity;
- sleeping on spring coil mattresses – is it a good idea?
- chemical sensitivity;
- how digital technology affects sleep;
- a new Australian book on chemical and electromagnetic sensitivity by Diana Crumpler;
- the latest news and research and items of interest from around the world.
SOURCE: http://www.naturalmedicine.net.nz/news/free-emr-and-health-newsletter-new-edition-out-now/
by Katherine | 12 Feb, 2015 | Events, Latest News, Privacy, Take Back Your Power
Your chance to see the award winning smart meter documentary Take Back Your Power is coming up on February 24 in Auckland. (If you are not in Auckland, the film may be streamed or purchased from www.takebackyourpower.net.)
This highly recommended documentary covers health, privacy and other issues with smart meters.
Details of the screening are here: http://www.naturalmedicine.net.nz/news/a-chance-to-see-the-award-winning-documentary-take-back-your-power-for-free/
NB: If you are interested in the smart meter issue, please sign up to the free email list on www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz and you will receive updates on the situation in NZ.
by Katherine | 15 Dec, 2014 | Events, Latest News, Users Feedback
The Prana Festival which takes place at Opoutere on the Coromandel over the New Year (30 December 2014 – 3 January 2015) features music, workshops on subjects as diverse as nutirition, yoga, massage therapy, dance ecology and more.
This year electropollution expert Paul Waddell from www.safespace.net.nz has been invited to give two workshops on electropollution.
The workshops will be –
Are Eco Technologies Actually Safe for Humans? (45 minutes and 30 + minutes questions and discussion)
- Brief description of Electro-Pollution & the associated health effects
- Are modern “Eco” technologies actually safe for humans?
(You may be very surprised by the answers to this question)
- What are the health risks associated with Solar Photovoltaic systems,
and how to have a truly safe energy-efficient home
How to Live More Safely in our Modern Techno World (1.5 hrs + 30 minutes questions and discussion)
- What are the possible health effects of electric and magnetic fields, microwave radiation and dirty electricity
- How to measure your environment, a demonstration of test equipment and methods
- Practical ways to lower your exposure and for you and your family to be safer
Details of the Prana Festival are available here
by Katherine | 15 Dec, 2014 | Events, Latest News, Users Feedback
Earlier in the year Joey Moncarz, then a teacher at the local school, organised a presentation evening at Waiuku where we both spoke about the hazards of Wi-Fi in schools.
This time Joey has an evening planned for this week on Wednesday night at the Onehunga Community Centre. Both Joey and Paul Waddell will be talking about Electro-Pollution and particularly the hazards of Microwave Radiation in all of the forms that we are exposed to. It is short notice but hopefully either you or someone you know can make it along.
Wednesday 17th December at 6.30 pm
Onehunga Community Center
83 Church Street, Onehunga
by Katherine | 12 Nov, 2014 | Science
The study, published in the journal Pathophysiology, said:
We made a pooled analysis of 2 case-control studies on malignant brain tumours with patients diagnosed during 1997-2003 and 2007-2009. They were aged 20-80 years and 18-75 years, respectively, at the time of diagnosis. Only cases with histopathological verification of the tumour were included. Population-based controls, matched on age and gender, were used. Exposures were assessed by questionnaire. The whole reference group was used in the unconditional regression analysis adjusted for gender, age, year of diagnosis and socio-economic index. In total 1,498 (89%) cases and 3,530 (87%) controls participated. Mobile phone use increased the risk of glioma, OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1-1.6 overall, increasing to OR = 3.0, 95% CI = 1.7-5.2 in the > 25 year latency group. Use of cordless phones increased the risk to OR = 1.4, 95% CI = 1.1-1.7, with highest risk in the >15-20 year latency group yielding OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.1-2.5. The OR increased statistically significant both per 100 h of cumulative use, and per year of latency for mobile and cordless phone use. Highest ORs overall were found for ipsilateral mobile or cordless phone use, OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.4-2.2 and OR = 1.7, 95% CI = 1.3-2.1, respectively. The highest risk was found for glioma in the temporal lobe. First use of mobile or cordless phone before the age of 20 gave higher OR for glioma than in later age groups.
The study can be found here:
L. Hardell, M. Carlberg, Cell and cordless phone risk forglioma – Analysis of pooled case-control studies in Sweden, 1997-2003 and 2007-2009,Pathophysiology(2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pathophys.2014.10.001
A similar study from France published in May suggested:
No association with brain tumours was observed when comparing regular mobile phone users with non-users
but
positive association was statistically significant in the heaviest users when considering life-long cumulative duration […]
If you are interested in the smart meter issue, please sign up for the email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. This link also includes a search facility to allow you to search the website for topics of interest.
by Katherine | 9 Nov, 2014 | Latest News, Users Feedback
The website http://www.thrivemovement.com/ has a recent post on the cell phone safety issue that is a must read for everyone with a cell phone. Here’s the introduction to the post…
By Kimberly Carter Gamble 13 Sept. 2014
When cell phones first came out, I used to hold mine directly up to my ear for what amounted to hours a day. A few years ago, I had surgery for removal of cancer in the exact spot I held my phone. I can’t prove direct causation, but that’s when I started looking into the possible ramifications of radiation from cell phones.
After that, I started reading the small print that came with the cell phones I bought and noticed even they had warnings about the radiation. But it took some real sleuthing to find it. Take Apple, for example; the manual tells you to go to the Apple website for a detailed explanation of safety. After sorting thru looking for the right link, you open the document where it tells you to go look on your phone. To access the info on the phone, you go to Settings > General > About > Legal > RF Exposure. It’s pretty daunting, and within the info, they refer you back to their website for more info on their testing. The process is quite a run-around.
Knowing that not everyone has the time or inclination to do the research needed to figure out what’s true and what habits would help keep us all safer, the THRIVE team created this infographic for you to see and share.
The infographic is below:
Cell_Phone_Radiation_Infographic
Please note that when it suggests a wired headset for a cell phone, the best type of wired headset is an air tube headset and when speaking from a landline, use a traditional landline with a cord, as cordless DECT phones were shown in one study to have similar cancer risks to cell phones.
NB: While you can keep yourself safer by following the advice on the infographic, ideally cell phone use should be minimised as the more people who use cell phones, the more cell phone infrastructure is needed to support the use of the phones, and cell phone towers themselves appear to be a cancer risk.
If you are interested in EMR and health please sign up for the email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. This link also includes a search facility to allow you to search the website for topics of interest.
Link to original source post: http://www.thrivemovement.com/cell-phones-more-than-voice-in-your-ear.blog
by Katherine | 5 Nov, 2014 | Events, Latest News, Videos
Earlier this year 92014) electropollution consultant Paul Waddell from www.safespace.net.nz gave a lecture on electropollution. Thank you for Vinny Eastwood for filming the lecture and making its available to everyone on youtube.
You can access part one of the presentation at this link and part two will be added when it is available.
http://www.naturalmedicine.net.nz/childrens-health-and-development/see-paul-waddells-lecture-on-electropollution/
NB: If you would like to get updates on the smart meter issue in New Zealand please join the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. There is also a search option at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz to allow you to find articles about other topics of interest on this website
by Katherine | 5 Nov, 2014 | Latest News, Take Back Your Power
If you have been wondering why there are so many people that you know battling cancer or some other degenerative disease, perhaps the answer may be as close as the DECT cordless phone base on your friend’s bedside table, the smart meter on their bedroom wall, the wi-fi router on their work desk, or the smart phone in their breast pocket…or perhaps all of these things in combination…?
Modern wireless technologies that produce radiofrequency radiation (RFR) that can damage DNA (with high enough exposures) are in common use and believed by most people to be safe?
A new post on the website of the award-winning smart meter documentary Take Back Your Power* examines the proliferation of wireless technologies and asks whether we are unwittingly putting our health at risk through uncritical adoption of new high-tech gadgetry.
Here’s the link:
http://www.takebackyourpower.net/news/2012/10/07/electropollution-and-the-decline-in-health-of-a-nation/
NB: If you would like to get updates on the smart meter issue in New Zealand please join the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz. There is also a search option at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz to allow you to find articles about other topics of interest on this website
*If you are inspired to want to run a screening of the award winning documentary Take Back Your Power (www.takebackyourpower.net) in your community or local cinema please contact us through this link. Thank you.
by Katherine | 17 Oct, 2014 | Events, Latest News, Users Feedback
What happens when a doctor and his local community ask questions about a proposed Cell Phone Tower in their neighbourhood ? The answers will shock you. This is a ‘Must See’ Movie – and here is your opportunity to see it for free.
When? Tuesday 28th October at 7.00pm
Where: St Heliers Centre, 100 St Heliers Bay Rd, St Heliers, Auckland 1071
(If you are not in Auckland, please let friends and family in Auckland know about the screening in a timely manner so they don’t miss out.)
Booking essential: Tel 5756098
There will be free refreshments after the movie.
Paul Waddell from www.safespace.net.nz will be available to answer questions.
If you are interested in the microwave radiation and health issues, please consider joining the email list for www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz to get updates on what is happening with the smart meter issue in NZ. (If you are in Australia, please visit www.stopsmartmeters.com.au.)
by Katherine | 14 Oct, 2014 | Latest News
A test of a smart meter modem (Sierra Wireless EWM GRPS 100) carried out in Auckland, New Zealand showed that the level of microwave radiation it produced might exceed the level allowed under NZ’s national standard NS 2772.1:1999.
The test equipment was located 20cm away and the amount of microwave radiation when the modem was operating at its highest power was 4,458.886 microwatts per square metre. (NS2772.1:1999 is 4,500,000 microwatts per square metre for the 900 MHz frequency band at which the modem was transmitting.)
This suggests that microwave exposure at a distance of less than 20cm might exceed NS 2772.1:1999. (When the calculations are done which show the microwave radiation exposure at less than 20 cm have been done, I will add the results to this post.)
Website editor’s note: Since post was published an engineer friend has confirmed to me verbally that the amount of RF at produced by the smart meter would be well in excess of 4.5 million microwatts per square metre at the antenna. However, he has not yet supplied a graph to illustrate this.
Given that the scientists who compiled the BioInitiative Report (www.bioinitiative.org) consider that 1,000 microwatts per square metre is a suitable upper limit for human exposure, the level of radiation produced by the modem is a serious concern.
The limited test data that is available for smart meters in use in NZ has shown that they transmit intermittently rather than constantly. Also, they may not operate at full power in many situations. However, a home owner has no way of controlling how much radiation is produced other than having the modem removed or the smart meter replaced.
You can see the test report here:
EMC Report for AMS Sierra Wireless EWM100 GPRS Modem Meter (3)
End Note: Unfortunately, even though this modem would be capable of exceeding 4.5 million microwatts output (the approximate legal limit for a cell phone tower transmitting at 900 MHz) I have been informed that the modem is still compliant with the NZ National Standard, the reason being that time-averaging of smart meter pulses over a six minute (360 seconds) period is allowed. This means that because under normal operating conditions, the type of modem used in the test would produce radiation intermittently rather than constantly, the times at which it is not producing radiation (a zero level) can be counted in the assessment with its compliance with the standard.
NB: If you would like to keep up to date with the smart meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz Thank you
by Katherine | 9 Oct, 2014 | Government and Electricity Industry Positions, Latest News, Privacy, Users Feedback
An earlier post on this website (since corrected) erroneously stated that having a smart meter could mean that householders could have their heat pump turned off remotely by their electricity company. (In actual fact, some smart meters may be able to turn down heat pumps down to their lowest setting, but they should not be able to turn them off altogether… please read on for more details and to learn whether you may be affected if you have a heat pump that may be able to be controlled via a smart meter.)
My initial error (in stating that a smart meter with a ZigBee chip* could potentially be used to remotely turn off a heat pump) was kindly pointed out to me by Graeme Purches from Trustpower. In an email he wrote:
“There are probably less than 20 meters in NZ that are equipped for this [turning off heat pumps and other devices remotely], and they are installed as part of field trials to test their capabilities.”
He added:
“At the end of the day, the direction the industry is headed is that people will in the future be able to determine at which price point they want their appliances to start and stop. The control will be in the hands of the consumer, unlike controlled hot water, which is a network load issue and can legitimately be controlled in return for lower price because those using the option have hot water storage. You can’t ‘store’ the heat from a heat pump so the industry would never want to control those.”
I decided to investigate the issue of how smart meters may be used to remotely control heat pumps (without the householder’s consent) in more detail.
My initial (and as it turned out, incorrect) information about heat pumps having mandatory “demand response functionality” came from the website of the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment.
In following up on this issue, I first tried to access the current standard for heat pumps and found that while there was one in existence, I could not access it unless I either went to the central library in Auckland (not very practical) or paid a couple of hundred dollars (not feasible either).
I therefore sought the advice of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Agency (EECA).
A helpful staff member wrote an email that explained the following:
1) That having “demand response functionality” is not currently mandatory in NZ.
2) That some of the heat pumps on the NZ market do have “demand response functionality”. This “demand response functionality” cannot be used to turn the heat pump off altogether but it can be used to turn the heat pump down to its lowest setting.
3) That manufacturers can choose to show that their heat pump has demand response functionality on the label on their heat pump. You can click on the image to make it larger. The tick mark which is circled in red indicates that the appliance has “demand response functionality”.
Presumably heat pumps that have “demand response functionality” will contain a ZigBee and/or some other radiofrequency radiation (RFR) producing device to allow the appliance to communicate with a smart meter. I have no idea whether appliances which have “demand response functionality” will be producing RFR all the time or intermittently or whether the default setting for the appliance will have the “demand response functionality” switched off.
However, if you do not want extra RFR in your environment and/or you do not want to risk your electricity company being able to control your heat pump via a smart meter in your home, it would seem prudent to avoid buying items with “demand response functionality” indicated by the label.
Please note that I do not know whether it is mandatory for manufactures that make appliances that have “demand response functionality” to declare this capability on the label. For this reason it would be prudent to ask the retailer whether any appliance you would like to buy has any “demand response functionality”, regardless of the label. If you already have a heat pump and it not longer has its label, please see the info at the bottom of this post.
Conclusion
So there you have it. It does appear that some smart meters in NZ (those than contain ZigBee chips*) may have the capacity to remotely control some heat pumps, although this feature may not yet be active. It also appears that there are heat pumps on the NZ market which have “demand response functionality” which could allow them to be controlled via a smart meter.
*In NZ, smart meters that contain ZigBee chips include:
WEL Networks Ltd “smart box” (actually a Landis+Gyr smart meter) and the Landis+Gyr smart meters being installed by Network Tasman Ltd and Counties Power in South Auckland/Franklin. These contain a “silver spring” brand “network interface card” which includes a modem and a ZigBee. The default mode for the ZigBee on the “silver spring” brand “network interface card” has been stated to be inactive, so these ZigBee chips, may not yet be functional. (Presumably they could be activated remotely by a power or lines company should the company with an active link to the smart meter modem decide to do this.)
It is possible other smart meters contain ZigBee chips; some EDMI smart meters which are very common in NZ have the potential to include a ZigBee chip.
If you are in any doubt about whether the smart meter at your home has a ZigBee chip, your electricity retailer should be able to tell y0u.
If your heat pump no longer has its label you can find out about its “demand response functionality” through the following procedure:
1) Go to this link:
http://www.energyrating.gov.au/for-industry/regulation-information-for-industry/meps/
2) Scroll down the link above until you come to this text:
Next steps for households and businesses
3) Click on the word “Compare energy ratings”…as above and you will get to this link:
http://reg.energyrating.gov.au/comparator/product_types/
4) At the link above you will see a list…pick “Air Conditioners” by clicking on this link Air Conditioners – AS/NZS 3823.2 and you will get through to this link:
http://reg.energyrating.gov.au/comparator/product_types/64/search/
At the link above you will see a row of black buttons…one is Download CSV.
Click on this and you will get an Excel file. Open the file.
The field that indicates whether a heat pump has “demand response functionality” is labelled “BE” at the top of the column. The word “TRUE” in the “BE” column indicates the heat pump has “demand response functionality”. The word “FALSE” in the “BE” column indicates that a heat pump does not have “demand response functionality” .
by Katherine | 3 Oct, 2014 | Events, Latest News, Take Back Your Power, Users Feedback
Just a reminder that there will be a second community screening of the award-winning smart meter documentary Take Back Your Power in Marton on October 16. Full details are at this link:
https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/october-16-take-back-your-power-marton/
Please let family and friends in this area know about this screening.
Also: If you are on Facebook you may like to visit this new group and let your friends know about it.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rangitikei-Smart-Meter-Watch/1472539493022803
Thank you!
by Katherine | 2 Oct, 2014 | Latest News
A spate of fires involving “smart” electricity meters overseas (and subsequent recalls of some smart meters) has increased interest in the potential of smart meters to cause fires in NZ.
There was a spate of smart meter associated fires in Christchurch in 2010, as you can see from this link: http://www.3news.co.nz/nznews/fireprone-meter-boxes-causing-concern-2010060317
I asked the NZ Fire Service for information about meter box fires in NZ and below you can see the information kindly supplied to me. However, it does not differentiate between the type of meter from which a fire originated as the NZ Fire Service does not keep this level of details in its statistics, as you can see from the comment by the officer who supplied the data. The statistics go until 2010, similar to other statistical data on the NZ Fire Service website.
(Click on the table to make it bigger.)
If you have suffered a fire originating from your meter, please consider letting me know the brand and model meter that you had, and whether your meter was mounted outside in a meter box or inside as part of your meter board. You can contact me through this link:
If the meter was destroyed beyond recognition in the fire and you did not previously know what sort of meter you had, your electricity retailer should be able to supply you with this information.
A good source of information about smart meter-associated fires is this link:
http://www.takebackyourpower.net/news/category/fires-damage/
UPDATE: Since this post has been written, www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz has been notified of a fire at a school in Northland as well as a house fire in NZ. Please see this link for details.
To stay up to date with the smart meter issue in NZ, please sign up to the free email list at www.stopsmartmeters.org.nz
by Katherine | 25 Sep, 2014 | Smart water meters
In mid-August 2014 I found out that the Waikato District Council was planning to vote on adopting water meters in Huntly, Ngaruwahia and Raglan and that the Council also would also vote on whether to continue to monitor smart water meters in NZ “with a view to implement when the technology when it becomes cost effective and proven in NZ.”
I subsequently wrote to the Council to inform the Mayor and Councillors about the potential health risks from wireless “smart” water meters, and encouraged other people to write as well.
Please see these links for details:
https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/letter-sent-to-mayor-and-councillors-of-the-waikato-district-council/
https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/uncategorized/some-ideas-to-help-you-write-to-the-mayor-and-councillors-of-waikato-district-council/
Unfortunately, the Council voted in favour of the resolution, as you can see from the document below. Two Councillors did not support the motion. (Click on the image to make it bigger.)
NB: If you live in the Waikato District Council area and are concerned about this issue, please contact me through this link: https://stopsmartmeters.org.nz/contact-us/
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