Speakers touched on the financial, political, and privacy implications of BC Hydro's installation of wireless smart meters, but health issues were front and centre at a meeting of people opposing the meters' adoption last week.

Curtis Bennett, a Kelowna electrician and thermal-imaging specialist, said of the signals sent by wireless meters, "We're messing around with some real big deals.
"We're not electrically compatible with these frequencies."

Bennett and Brian Thiesen, chairman of the Kamloops chapter of the Coalition Against Smart Meters addressed a crowd of about 55 people at the Merritt Civic Centre on Thursday.

Mike Goetz, a Merritt city councillor who stressed that he was appearing as a private citizen rather than representing the City of Merritt, also spoke.

Local anti-meter activist Walter Vohradsky organized the meeting.

Both Bennett and Thiesen detailed their concerns regarding the effects of wireless signals on human bodies, noting that electrical impulses power our nervous systems.

Bennett first shared his professional work with thermal imaging, which uses infrared cameras to detect differences in temperature according to how much heat radiates from a given object. He said he has used thermal imaging professionally to detect faulty wiring.

Looking at two images showing the difference between the heat radiating from a woman's face before and after an hour-long cellphone call, Bennett said, "We're not meant to hold radiating devices against our body."

Bennett noted that under Health Canada's Safety Code 6, devices that emit radio frequency-electromagnetic fields (RF-EMF) are limited to a range of three kilohertz to 300 gigahertz.

He added, however, that the range is based only on the temperature changes detected by a "meat probe in a dummy" and neglects the effects of such radiation on a live body.

"We're essentially little electrical conductors."

Later, Thiesen showed the audience online videos that indicated the strength of a smart-meter signal is about 100 times, or "two orders of magnitude", greater than that of a cellphone.

Thiesen said, "It's pretty well the reverse of what Hydro's telling you."

Based on the same videos, Thiesen said smart meters send out hundreds of thousands of signals on a constant basis.

"I wish this was not the science we had to use but the public utilities commission has been blocked from doing any studies."

Bennett said he became involved in the movement against smart meters after Health Canada and BC Hydro dismissed his concerns on the basis that the meters complied with Safety Code 6.

"'Humans aren't electric,' that's all they said."

Early in Bennett's presentation, a heckler suggested that Bennett is unqualified to discuss the effects of RF-EMF and his findings are unbelievable.

The man shouted out his criticisms from the back of the room, prompting a backlash from several members of the audience. A woman asked, "Who are you working for?"

Vohradsky invited the man to sit down and listen to the presentation. However, the man dismissed the meeting's credibility and then left.

During his presentation, Thiesen also discussed health concerns stemming from the meters and RF-EMF.

He said numerous studies found a correlation between RF-EMF emissions and cancer.
"I can't say that this is the exact or only cause. That's not what I'm trying to do. Can we say that something's going on here?"

He noted that University of California-Santa Cruz lecturer Daniel Hirsch, an expert on nuclear policy at the school, found that research comparing cellphone and smart-meter emissions was faulty and smart meters exposed people to higher levels of radiation.

Thiesen said various jurisdictions in Europe have placed limits on the use of WiFi devices, naming Switzerland as an example. However, the News could not confirm his claim that the former Soviet Union banned microwave ovens in 1976 due to health concerns.

Thiesen argued that BC Hydro's adoption of smart meters is part of an overall strategy to charge more for electricity due to higher peak-time prices and privatize the Crown corporation.

"They're telling you everything is safe so they can get at this money."

Both he and Goetz said that BC Hydro's claim that wireless meters would be cheaper than a wired option was false.

Goetz said, "Anything that's wireless is more expensive because there's a radio in it."

Echoing Thiesen's statements, Goetz said signals from individual meters would compound in strength.

Thiesen also questioned the security of data collected by the meters. He said securing that information would be an unending battle that would not have occurred with wired meters.

Thiesen urged people to secure their meters so that installers must speak to the building's occupants. He urged them to continue fighting even if they already have a smart meter.

"If you don't say no, you've said yes.

"We're talking about tyranny. Your vote doesn't count."

Goetz agreed that choice and due process were ignored.

"I don't want to be a guinea pig for that stuff."

He said citizens could not simply voice their opposition, however.

"We have to be the tip of the spear. We have to be the solution to the problem."

BC Hydro spokesman Dag Sharman will discuss smart meters with council in Merritt next Monday.

Other Merritt city council and mayoral candidates in attendance at the meeting were Larry Petrie and Bob Baird.