October 20, 2011

Mayor Milobar is characteristically cautious in his support of smart meters. "The science is there," explains Milobar but "things can change." Yes, the science is there. So is common sense.

You don't have to be a scientist to determine risk. Simply buy or borrow a radio frequency meter and make your own measurements. Hold your RF meter next to a smart meter and read the display. The reading will be about 10 microwatts. Now move back three metres (10 feet) and you'll find the power drops to one thousandth the earlier reading. That's because the strength of the radiation drops off dramatically with distance.

Compare that reading with summer sunlight: about 100,000 microwatts. The sun is one of the strongest sources of RF. To get some sense of the two readings, let's convert them into distances. If you were standing in the middle of Overlander Bridge and the strength of the sun represented a distance to the parking lot in Riverside Park (one kilometer) then the strength at the smart meter would be equal to a distance 2.5 times around the earth. Back away from the smart meter and the distance quickly recedes to 2,500 times the circumference of the earth. It's miniscule - - and the meter is off more than 99 per cent of the time!

If smart meters are dangerous, a reasonable person might wonder, how did we ever survive sunlight? If humans are that sensitive to electromagnetic radiation, we never would have evolved in the first place, never would have developed smart meters and we would never be having this conversation.

Now measure the RF from various household sources such as your, cordless phone, TV remote control, computer, cell phone, microwave oven, wireless outdoor thermometer, local TV and radio stations, power lines, wi-fi system, and you'll find that most radiate greater wattage than smart meters.

But does the accumulation add up to dangerous levels, you wonder? After all, not all RF is harmless. High energy waves such as ultraviolet, x-rays and gamma rays break the bonds of molecules in DNA which can lead to cancer. However, the accumulations of low energy waves do not add up to harmful ones. The effect is just more low energy waves; similar to turning on more lights in a room, it's simply brighter.

No harmful effects of low energy RF have been found and none are likely because of simple but scientific principle: in linear systems, effects are proportional to causes. As a precautionary measure, health organizations suggest you don't hold a cell phone close to head for long periods of time and I suggest you don't hold smart meters close to your head either, primarily because it would be uncomfortable.

Common sense won't stop people from making all sorts of claims that can never be scientifically tested. I might claim that my death wishes caused the demise of child-killer Clifford Olsen, not his cancer. There is no way of testing my claim because there is no known way in which my thoughts cause death. There is no way in which low energy waves have a profound effect.

If you prefer to rely on experts for advice, then find out what the majority say. There will always be some maverick scientists who are contrary by nature or who have been bought out by special interests. But it makes sense to ask the majority. If you ask 10 people for directions to Calgary and nine tell you to go east and one says west, which way will you go?

There may be reasons to oppose smart meters but radiation is not one of them.

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca