They don’t want to wait a minute more.
And a delegation to the Columbia Shuswap Regional District board meeting last Thursday hoped directors would agree that long-term health effects should be established before BC Hydro is permitted to install smart meters.
Steve Corrie, rep for the delegation that filled the regional district boardroom, asked directors to send a letter to B.C. Health Minister Michael de Jong, asking him to “invoke the precautionary principle and implement an immediate moratorium on the mandatory installation of wireless smart meters until the major health and safety issues and problems identified… are thoroughly and objectively assessed and acceptable alternatives can be made available.”
Noting 30 other B.C. communities have requested a moratorium on the smart meters, Corrie told directors that while Victoria and BC Hydro say the electromagnetic radiation from the smart meters is safe, a wide range of effects have been experienced – erratic heart issues, migraines, nausea, digestive problems, insomnia, nerve pain, depression, short-term memory loss and cognitive problems, among them.
He says international scientists have testified that Canada’s safety code regarding the smart meters is inadequate and outdated.
And, he adds, Canadian scientists have cited “certain gaps in the existing literature related to long-term, low-level exposure and brain functions and reproductive outcomes, as well as the effects of long-term exposure among children…”
“The potential human and monetary costs are too great to ignore,” he said, noting past problems that were initially thought to be safe included asbestos and smoking.
Corrie also questioned the province’s determination to install smart meters without conferring with the public.
Following the presentation, Area D Falkland/Silver Creek/Ranchero director René Talbot expressed concerns for the amount, and type, of information the meters might be capable of gathering.
“BC Hydro is collecting information they don’t need,” he said, making the motion to ask the health minister to invoke the precautionary principle as requested by the delegation.
This was seconded by Area E Rural Sicamous director Rhona Martin.
But Area F North Shuswap director Larry Morgan disagreed.
“I can’t support this, the burden of proof is on people. There’s been a lot of hype, I’m gonna call it hysteria,” he said. “I don’t think it’s our role to endorse or reject this, it should be outside of our area.”
Martin said that while she has been aware of protests, she does not have a lot of information because BC Hydro has failed to provide any.
“I think the information could be disastrous if it got into the wrong hands,” she said of what information the smart meters might gather and her concerns that computer hackers might be able to determine if occupants were not at home.
Martin asked that the board defer a decision to approach the health minister until BC Hydro has been given an opportunity to appear before the board.
The motion was passed unanimously, a move that was not well-received by the delegation.
“We are saddened by the delay the CSRD has taken, since BC Hydro will continue to install the meters, and more harm could befall those innocents who don’t even know what is happening,” says Corrie. “The precautionary principle does not deny BC Hydro’s plans; all it does is throw the burden to prove no harm on the shoulders of BC Hydro. In the absence of scientific consensus the project should be stopped, since the risks are too great.”