Re: ‘Safety is the key’, a letter to the editor in the Feb. 21 edition of The NEWS.
We see BC Hydro’s Gary Murphy has been busy getting his latest spin sheet out to the local newspapers.
His mantra remains pretty much the same — that smart meters send out safe radio waves that are no different than the radio and TV signals we have been living with for decades.
This is not quite true. What Murphy leaves out is that these waves are sent out quite differently than televisions or radios. They emit micro-bursts of high level radiation which allow them to efficiently penetrate living cells.
He goes on to say these bursts of communication only occur for 1.4 seconds per day. However, only 18 months ago in an interview with Focus OnLine, Murphy did not disagree with a report citing the measurement challenge presented by smart meters.
He conceded there are so many shifting factors it is impossible to know exactly how frequent or powerful transmissions will be, but he predicted these bursts would occur “perhaps every 30 minutes or more.”
Murphy also asserts that the World Health Organization confirms “our wireless meters pose no known health risks.” Again, he fails to mention the tiny detail that the WHO has placed wireless technology in the category of Group 2B carcinogens.
Fern and Laurence Wayman
Qualicum Beach