A recent ad by BC Hydro for wireless smart meters has an illustration of what they look like.

Customers who have been concerned about electromagnetic radiation effects have asked and can see the difference between a smart meter and an existing meter. Hydro claims they have implied consent.

Many people are sending letters and emails to refuse installation and attaching a copy to the existing meter. Some are barricading their meters with wooden boxes, leaving space of meter reading, or putting chains on them.

Dr. David Hirsh, a nuclear scientist with the University of California, calculated that the exposure from smart meters is roughly 100 times greater than from cell phones because it is full body radiation and is cumulative because smart meters are on all the time, even if data is only collected a few times a day, producing latent effects that could take decades to manifest. It has been explained by doctors, engineers and scientists on YouTube videos that it is non-thermal radiation that breaks down DNA, causing cancer, and it has been predicted there will be a cancer epidemic in 10-15 years. Children are at greater risk because they have thinner skulls and have more fluid in their heads; electricity flows through fluid. Even if the meter is on the edge of the property it will radiate back through the wall.

Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty has admitted the smart meter program in his province is not cost effective. A letter of refusal, drawn up by a lawyer, can be obtained from dsnobel@shaw.ca.

Beverley Sinclair,

Invermere