Smart Meters Opt Out Option, Senate Bill 600

1. Health Risks Due to Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR) Exposure: Doctors have documented medical problems occurring immediately upon installation of a smart meter. Some of these problems have become serious disabling and/or life-threatening while others are common symptoms such asleep, cognitive problems, and headaches. Some symptoms include tinnitus, hearing loss, nosebleeds, dizziness, nausea, anxiety, and more are also noticeable.
2. Some people are more vulnerable: Genetics and overlapping conditions such as multiple chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue syndrome. Irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, and mold sensitivity. Women are more vulnerable than men because of thinner bones, less blood volume and other factors. The disability resulting from this radiation is recognized by the US Access Board, the National Council on Disability and Social Security.  11,000 pages of evidence were entered into the FCC’s record in the landmark lawsuit EHT  et al v. FCC (2021) showing clear and convincing evidence of harm from RFR human  exposure levels allegedly considered safe by FCC. RFR is categorized as a group 2B possible carcinogen by the IARC, The International Agency for Research on Cancer, yet no monitoring of ill health effects or levels of radiation exposure are required to be monitored by any existing US health agency or the EPA. The EPA monitors other known Group 2B possible carcinogen’s like lead, but was defunded for doing the same for RFR leaving those most vulnerable unprotected.
3. Abundant, long standing evidence of harm including biological effects in military studies (US Navy (1931, 1972), Gordon (1974), DIA (1976), NASA (1981), Air Force concluded in 1988 “Experimental evidence has shown that exposure to low intensity radiation can have a profound effect on biological processes.” The record of evidence of harm in a 2021 DC Circuit of Appeals contained over 11,000 pages of mostly abstracts of peer reviewed research studies showing the harmful biological effects of this radiation (Environmental Health Trust, et. al. v. FCC)
4. Mechanism of harm: oxidative stress leading to inflammation, autoimmune conditions, cell membrane effects, apoptosis/cell death, mitochondrial effects and breaching the blood brain barrier.  Smart meters were the triggering factor for 69% of people with EMR Syndrome (Golomb, unpublished research presented at the 2021 EMF Medical Conference).
5. Conducted Emissions or “Dirty Electricity” (DE): DE is produced by smart meters. Frequencies other than 60 Hz ride on a building’s power circuits. These frequencies below 10 MHz, are known by both FCC and the International Commission on Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) to cause adverse neural and muscular effects. The work of Dr. Samuel Milham informs the general public about the dangers of lower kHz frequencies that ride on a building’s power circuits and remain as unregulated and uncontrolled. This undesirable electrical noise is generated from the smart meter’s switch mode power supply or SMPS typically operating in the range of 2 kHz – 50 kHz. Consumers are expected to install their own noise filters at their own expense to make their electric utility delivery service safer , if they are informed enough to know they need to do it to protect their health.
6.  Privacy Concerns: Smart meters continuously gather detailed energy usage data, raising significant privacy issues related to how this information is stored and accessed by utility companies. Privacy Concerns: Who owns your data and what is it being used for? The “Green Button Technology” allows businesses from around the world to have “unfettered” access to your data to build out 3rd party cottage industry data mining and marketing applications without accountability to the end user.
7.  Cybersecurity: IoT or Internet of things can be easily hacked because it has very low layers of encryption creating physical safety issues. 5G+ was passed over for cybersecurity review. (check NCFST website for more on this one). Lack of Cybersecurity and data breaches: Hash the Texas Hacker stripped smart meter data from an entire neighborhood during the Dallas, Texas Ice Storm in 2021. He was able to easily decipher the smart meter data ‘secrets’ that were spilled, as to who got power restored and who didn’t during that prolonged storm event because the levels of data encryption are so weak.
8. Lack of Control Over Data: Many consumers feel uncertain about how their energy usage data is collected and utilized.
9. Billing Inaccuracies: Reports of inaccurate readings from smart meters can lead to unexpectedly high energy bills. Large voltage transients resulting from the smart meter’s SMPS operation can be and often are used as the ‘highest peak’ to bill an entire 15-minute period at in order to generate usage monthly bills. These voltage transients are electrical noise and not actual usage, but the customer is expected to pay for this wasted voltage anyway as though it was consumption usage. These transients need to be regulated so they are filtered out and customers are not overcharged for the electricity usage. Otherwise, the increased billing acts as an unapproved rate increase.
10. Cost of Installation (for RFR mitigation): Customers are expected to absorb all the risk and cost of risk of smart meter installations if they want to further restrict their smart meter RFR exposures due to an ADA recognized illness or prevention of an illness. There are no ADA housing subsidies granted to perform shielding and other RFR attenuation methods for those in housing that has been deemed unsafe for their occupancy.
    • PA Act 129 conflicts with the ADA: Utilities do not allow reasonable ADA accommodation for those who are requesting them because of the state mandate to use the meters. An analog meter costs only about $50.00 or is free if it is still on the house. A smart meter costs hundreds of dollars and is subject to constant software updates and technical refreshes every 7-15 years as it becomes technically obsolete
    • Loss of safe housing: People disabled by EMR Syndrome are unable to find safe housing anywhere in PA because of this mandate. People have had to choose between their health and living in Pennsylvania. People have moved out of state, away from their families and doctors because of the severely disabling medical problems that occurred because of smart meter installation. 
    • The only accommodation now allowed by utilities is to place the smart meter on a pole away from the customer’s residence. The expense associated with installing smart meters can be a viable concern for many. People who have experienced medical problems as a result of smart meter installation have spent tens of thousands of dollars on shielding, electrical filters, physicians, engineering and other fees associated with remediation of a meter. Others have spent equivalent amounts going off grid
11. Incompatibility with Older Systems: It is recognized that some older appliances may not be compatible with smart meters. It is also recognized that some consumers cannot have appliances that connect wirelessly with smart meters. Electrometrical analog meters and/or non-communicating digital meters are needed to provide a reasonable access accommodation to those that are disabled by RFR and cannot tolerate RFR communicating digital smart meters. Power companies, who receive federal funding through the Department of Energy or other federal agencies, must be ADA compliant in how they process an ADA access accommodation for those that are disabled to protect vulnerable customers from imminent harm, such as those that have EMR-S and/or electrical or metal medical implants.

Conclusion

My bill SB 600 solves these issues by giving consumers the choice to opt out of smart meters. I urge everyone to support this bipartisan solution that prioritizes consumer rights, health, and freedom over corporate profits.

Resources

The overwhelming majority of testimonials and studies conducted by independent groups, scientific institutions, medical professionals, and regulators have found considerable evidence of harm from smart meters as described below.

1. BioInitiative Report

• Links radiofrequency radiation (like that from smart meters) to various health effects, including cancer and neurological damage.
• Criticism: Not peer-reviewed; heavily criticized by scientific bodies for methodological flaws and cherry-picking data.
• Used widely by anti-EMF activists but rejected by most regulatory agencies.

🔗 BioInitiative 2012 Report

2. Dr. Magda Havas (Trent University, Canada)

• Has published articles and presentations suggesting smart meters and other EMF sources may affect human health.
• Work is controversial and not widely accepted in the scientific community.
• Focuses on electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) and heart irregularities.

🔗 Havas’s Publications

3. Citizens for Safe Technology / Stop Smart Meters!

• Activist organizations that document anecdotal complaints about smart meter health impacts (e.g., insomnia, headaches, dizziness).
• Provide no controlled, peer-reviewed evidence.
• Serve more as advocacy and awareness groups than research sources.

🔗 Stop Smart Meters
🔗 Citizens for Safe Technology

4. Environmental Health Trust (EHT)

• Founded by Devra Davis, a former public health official.
• EHT argues that RF radiation is a Class 2B carcinogen (IARC classification) and criticizes wireless technology safety standards.
• Often uses precautionary language, but their conclusions are not in line with WHO or national health agencies.

🔗 Environmental Health Trust

Claim vs. Fact