I wish to correct misconceptions regarding the issue of smart meters.
Kell Peterson of Kelowna compares merging of provincial and federal taxes to the issue of electromagnetic pollution and labels protest against smart meters a "democratic failure."
I submit that taxation is far from implementation of scientific principles.
There is ample scientific evidence that microwave radiation affects biological systems (Johansson, Havas, Panagopoulos, Hardell, Lai, Grigoriev, et al). There is ample evidence and testimony that radiation causes a host of symptoms - some proven, others contentious.
The bottom line in this argument is not about the effects of radiation, but the money-making potential derived from the implementation of scientific principles. Those who are against imposition of a smart meter system of electricity monitoring have nothing material to gain through their protests. In criminal legal cases, cui bono? (who benefits?) is particularly relevant. Those in favour of deploying smart meters represent vested interests.
Nowhere, at the moment, is it more relevant than the concerted efforts of both B.C. Hydro and FortisBC to deploy smart meters (note the military term "deploy").
Thus, we have Dr. William H. Bailey being brought in to defend smart meters as a "product defence consultant" at an upcoming hearing in British Columbia. In the first instance, it is relevant that Bailey's doctoral thesis is in the "new" discipline of neurospychology with a doctoral dissertation entitled "Avoidance behaviour in rats with hereditary hypothalamic diabetes insipidus" conferred by the City University of New York. Therefore, Bailey is neither a medical doctor nor a physicist, and no matter how much credibility having a PhD after his name confers, it does not qualify him to make assertions about the effect of microwaves/electromagnetism on the human body.
Bailey's expertise is even less relevant when he tries to apply the scientific research to human beings. "Ideally," claims Wikipedia, "controlled experiments introduce only one independent variable at a time, in order to ascertain its unique effects upon dependent variables. These conditions are approximated best in laboratory settings.
"In contrast, human environments and genetic backgrounds vary so widely, and depend upon so many factors, that it is difficult to control important variables for human subjects.
"Of course, there are pitfalls in generalizing findings from animal studies to humans through animal models."
The situation becomes laughable when in Scotland, an individual attempted to speak on the identical issue until it was discovered in true "Emperor's New Clothes" fashion, that the so-called expert had a PhD degree in geography. If, as Peterson suggests, "science is the only basis on which a government should act," which science would Peterson prefer: good, bad or inappropriate?
There is also the issue of human experience. In Ireland, where Bailey is also an adviser to the Irish government, there has been a cluster of unusual deaths and cancers near a police station. Police and emergency services here use a signal called Tetra, which is being introduced to B.C. through the Sepura company.
We have the experiences of those who died driving cars that mysteriously accelerated and crashed. Why was Bailey recruited to defend the manufacturer if microwave radiation was not involved? Were lab rats driving the cars? Did any of the victims suffer diabetes insipidus? The automaker is accepting fault, but according to Victor Nixon, a computer expert, the "fix" was a small piece of card covered in foil - a standard procedure for protecting sensitive equipment from microwave radiation.
When the Tetra mast was deployed at the police station near my home, the police could not leave the premises because the signal from the mast over-rode the remote locking mechanisms on their cars.
Further, I was parked in my car recently near a hotel festooned with more than 20 communications masts. First, the emergency lights started flashing. The doors locked. The windows would not work. I was trapped in my own vehicle. The next day, when I took the car to the dealership and told my story, staff explained, "Oh, well, you were parked under a mast..." They knew.
Experience and common sense, then, indicate that if scientific evidence can be distorted and microwave radiation from communications equipment can affect the physical environment, then human beings are also being affected.
This suggests that Peterson needs to review the science and/or experience first hand the effects of microwave radiation. It also suggests that those who are making "silly arguments" as your headline indicates, are not those shouting for protection through the precautionary principle. Conversely, any silliness rests with the political establishment which bows to the demands of vested interests at the expense of the health of the general public.
It is here we find the real "democratic failure."
John Weigel,
Leixlip, Ireland