• Is this a democracy or a police state? • Smart meters are as harmful as coffee Is this a democracy or a police state? I still do not understand the very existence of this entire Smart Meter argument. The
• Is this a democracy or a police state? • Smart meters are as harmful as coffee
Is this a democracy or a police state?
I still do not understand the very existence of this entire Smart Meter argument.
The respected WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer classified RF from cell phones as a “possible human carcinogen” (Class 2B) and a cell phone’s RF/EMF output fails to come even close to that of a Smart Meter.
It’s an old argument but here it goes: Concerning my health and RF, I can choose not to use cell phone and choose to use landlines instead. I can choose not to use a microwave oven and choose to use a standard oven instead. I can choose not to use WiFi for my computer and choose to use a wire instead.
Now this next point is very important for all to listen to, understand, and think about.
I can choose not to smoke tobacco rather than smoke tobacco, but in the State of Hawai‘i, I cannot smoke in a work place, restaurants, bars, hotels (with exceptions), elevators, museums, libraries, galleries, hospitals, auditoriums, movie theaters, schools, banks, retail stores, food courts, restrooms and common areas in apartment buildings.
Why don’t I have the legal and moral right to smoke in these places, and understand smoking may or may not cause cancer just as RF may or may not cause cancer?
Okay, we all know second-hand smoke is a health hazard. Do we also know second-hand RF is also a health hazard? RF’s second hand nature is a lot stronger and carries much further than smoke.
Now ask yourselves should it be legal for someone to force me keep a cigarette burning in my house 24/7 and allow my neighbor, who lives close to me to blow their cigarette smoke from their window into my home 24/7? This is could possibly lead to my death from cancer.
With that, RF, a class 2B carcinogen on my home, and/or on the home of my neighbor could possibly lead to my death from cancer too. Do we all know the meaning of ‘possibly.’ It’s a gamble.
Either this technology will be abolished or someone will have to tell me in so many words:
“Chris, we are going to force you and your neighbor to attach this technology to your homes, which could possibly give you and/or members of your ohana cancer, whether you want it or not, despite there being a saver way of billing you, and there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.”
Do we all know what just happened? A violent act was just committed against myself and my family, the U.S. Constitution is just a piece of old paper, our country is no longer a free country, and no one has the right any longer to protect themselves or their ohana against possible physical harm.
Is this a democracy or a police state? It really is that simple.
Chris Schaefer, Kapa‘a
Smart meters are as harmful as coffee
I appreciate your concerns Mr. Schaefer.
I understand that concerns exist, which is why I am a tireless advocate for personal choice in this matter. I hope that those that have concerns exercise the offer to defer installation at this time and will be able to opt out in the future, when a program is available, after we seek and receive permission from the PUC.
I hope that you and others have read the WHO IARC study, available at www.who.int.
Please read the study and make up your own mind. I have.
As I am sure you are aware, cigarette smoke (second-hand smoke too) is a class 1 carcinogen. It shares this position with benzene, which you smell when filling up your car. Alcohol is also ranked a Class 1 carcinogen. Exposure as a painter, eating salted fish, working with wood dust, and of course solar radiation are all Class 1 Carcinogens.
Diesel exhaust — which our kids breath while getting on and off buses everyday and that construction workers are surrounded by — frying exhaust from restaurants, shift work that involves circadian disruption are some of the items found in level 2A.
On the third tier (Class 2B) is where you will find EMF radiation which also includes carpentry and joinery, gasoline engine exhaust, occupational exposures in printing processes, surgical implants and of course, drinking coffee.
According to WHO and the IARC EMF waves are nowhere near the concern of the carcinogenic effects of tobacco. As the listings above show there are many other things we are exposed to either by choice or as a byproduct.
Mr. Schaefer, we are not forcing you and/or your neighbors to have an advanced meter installed on your home. There is no violent act being committed. Numerous studies also indicate that the further a person is away from a source of EMF the lower the exposure.
Regarding gambling and possibility, it is possible that I may die on my way into Lihu‘e today. Yet, I will be driving in to attend to business — I am making a personal choice, the same choice we can all make with an advanced meter.
If we are going to abolish this technology, shouldn’t we start at the top of the list and get rid of the Class 1 and Class 2A carcinogens first since they are so much more harmful and are known to be harmful?
Again, I respect your concerns even though I do not share them at the level you do. I believe in democracy and believe it is important for us to preserve each others rights, including the right to drink beer, smoke cigarettes, fill up your car and drive it even with the toxins being produced.
I also believe it is my right to have and benefit from technology that will make my life better.
You are right, It really is simple.
Pat Gegen, Kalaheo
