The same woman who want ed me to go to the PSC meeting, sent me a url for an online petition (imagine how important that wil be!) which explains their objections.
They say they have safety objections!!! What a hoot!!!!!
We Say NO to Wireless Smart Meters in the State of Maryland!
We oppose the mandatory installation of wireless smart meters in Maryland and claim the right to keep using our analog utility meters, at no cost to us, and to refuse the installation of wireless smart meters.
DESPITE WHAT SOME PEOPLE SAY, SMART METERS ARE NOT SAFE!
There is ample evidence that smart meters pose major risks to us all: they can harm our health, invade our privacy, breach our private security, interfere with other wireless devices, cause fires, produce billing inaccuracies, increase prices, undermine our quality of life, and even endanger our national security.
YET THESE METERS ARE BEING DEPLOYED WITHOUT ANY ADEQUATE RESEARCH INTO THEIR DANGERS OR PRECAUTIONS TO ENSURE THEIR SAFETY.
SMART METERS BOMBARD US WITH WAY TOO MUCH PULSED MICROWAVE RADIATION
Smart meters generate microwave radiation, 24x7, in all directions inside and outside our homes, schools, stores and places of work. Pacific Gas and Electric reported that up to 190,000 messages can be communicated via one smart meter in only 24 hours. In a world already inundated with electromagnetic/radio frequencies (EMF RF), these meters are designed to communicate with each other constantly and will eventually link to all the ?smart? appliances in our homes, to produce an atmosphere even more saturated with EMF RF--an atmosphere in which we will be expected to live.
IN THE U.S., OUR FCC HUMAN EXPOSURE GUIDELINES ARE WOEFULLY INADEQUATE
Many experts are telling us that our current Federal Communications Commission guidelines for EMF RF exposure are seriously outdated and do not protect our health and safety. These inadequate, thermally based guidelines do not address the hazards of 24x7 non-thermal radiation generated by smart meters.
U.S. AND INTERNATIONAL GROUPS WARN OF SERIOUS HEALTH DANGERS
In May 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health Organization classified EMF RF fields as a class 2B possible human carcinogen. Other groups have documented harmful effects, including the American Academy of Environmental Medicine; Sweden?s Karolinksa Institute; Powerwatch in the UK; the international BioInitiative Working Group; and the European Parliament. There are many others. Entire countries such as France, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Finland, and Israel, are taking precautions to protect their citizens from the dangers of excessive wireless exposure.
CUSTOMERS WHO ALREADY HAVE SMART METERS ARE COMPLAINING!
In addition to long-term health effects, wireless smart meters are causing more immediate health problems. Throughout the US and as far away as Australia, reports are pouring in of ringing in the ears, dizziness, insomnia, strong headaches, nausea, heart palpitations, memory loss, inability to concentrate, anxiety and pain that began after smart meters were installed. Some people have even had to quit their jobs or leave their homes.
SMART METERS CAN INTERFERE WITH IMPLANTED MEDICAL DEVICES
Wireless smart meters are capable of interfering with implanted medical devices such as deep brain stimulators for Parkinson?s disease and pacemakers. During a Black Hat security conference in August 2011, a security researcher with diabetes demonstrated how a third party can transmit wireless commands to remotely disable his insulin pump.
SMART METERS ENABLE WARRANTLESS, UNAUTHORIZED GOVERNMENT/CORPORATE SURVEILLANCE
A February 2012 Congressional Research Service Report reveals that smart meters will be able to disclose people?s daily schedules, their usage of appliances and electronic equipment, their absences from home, and the types of medical equipment they rely upon. Current CIA Director David Petraeus recently confirmed that governments can and will use wireless smart appliances as spy devices. Smart meters will track more private information than the GPS devices in our cars?and the US Supreme Court recently declared that GPS tracking required a warrant.
THE SMART GRID IS A BOON FOR HACKERS AND ENDANGERS NATIONAL SECURITY
The Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency recognize the hacking and cyberattack dangers from smart meters and the smart grid in which they are embedded, and former CIA Director James Woolsey called the program ?a really, really stupid grid.? Cyber expert David Chalk asserted in April 2012, ?Unless we wake up and realize what we're doing, there is 100% certainty of total catastrophic failure of the entire power infrastructure within 3 years,?
THIS TECHNOLOGY IS MADE TO ORDER FOR DRONE SURVEILLANCE
In May 2012, US government agencies will be authorized to operate drones for surveillance, and in the fall of 2015, privately operated drones will be authorized. Wireless communications, including smart meters, are vulnerable to monitoring by drones, enabling marketing companies and other groups to gain direct access to our private information.
SMART METERS CAN CAUSE MALFUNCTIONING BABY MONITORS AND HOME SECURITY SYSTEMS
Reports are coming in of smart meter interference with a variety of household wireless gadgets such as garage door openers, Wi-Fi, home security systems, cordless phones, wireless headsets, patio speakers, and baby monitors.
THEY CAN ALSO BECOME FIRE HAZARDS, DAMAGE OUR APPLIANCES, AND INCREASE OUR MONTHLY BILLS
Improperly installed smart meters or faulty meters have led to fires, inaccurate billing, and damages to appliances and other electronic devices. In addition, some customers have reported huge increases in their monthly electric bills.
LONG-TERM AND CUMULATIVE EXPOSURE TO SUCH MASSIVELY INCREASED EMF RF RADIATION HAS NO PRECEDENT IN HUMAN HISTORY.
WE REFUSE TO BECOME HUMAN GUINEA PIGS.
The smart meter section of the US Energy Policy Act of 2005 indicates utilities must gain approval from their customers in order to install smart meters, not undemocratically impose these meters on us.
We have not been consulted about this program, and we do not give our consent.
Therefore, we, the undersigned, submit this petition as a claim of our right to retain and keep using our analog utility meters, at no cost to us, and to refuse the installation of wireless smart meters. Why People Are Signing [omitted by me]
Recent Signatures
[omitted by me. Even though they are on the webpage, I don't know if they agreed to that, and although they probably woudl have, they definitely didn't agree to have their names here.]and 635 more?