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EMFacts Blog

    • 24 FEB 14

    The Controversy Manual (Recommended reading!)

    The controversy manual
    Brian Martin

    Brian Martin, The Controversy Manual (Sparsnäs, Sweden: Irene Publishing, 2014), 465 pages. ISBN 978-1-291-67241-1

    This book is available as a free download, by courtesy of the publisher. Irene Publishing is a non-profit operation, committed to providing works relevant to grassroots social change. I do not receive royalties, and the publishers are not paid for their work. If you would like to contribute a few dollars to support this venture, click on this button.

    From the back cover

    Climate change, psychiatric drugs, genetically modified organisms, nuclear power, fluoridation, stem cell research – these are just a few of the hundreds of issues involving science and technology that are vigorously debated. If you care about an issue, how can you be more effective in arguing for your viewpoint and campaigning in support of it? The Controversy Manual offers practical advice for campaigners as well as plenty of information for people who want to better understand what’s happening and to be able to discuss the issues with friends.

    The Controversy Manual provides information for understanding controversies, arguing against opponents, getting your message out, and defending against attack. Whether experts are on your side or mostly on the side of opponents, you’ll find advice for being more effective. While not taking sides on individual controversies, the emphasis is on fostering fair and open debate and opposing those who use power and manipulation to get their way.
    SNIP

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    • 21 FEB 14

    Electricity privatisation in Australia: A record of failure

    Press release from the New South Wales Electrical Trade Union (ETU):

    New report lays bare electricity privatisation’s “record of failure”

    Posted on 20-2-2014

    Prominent Australian economist Professor John Quiggin has launched a scathing attack on energy sector privatisation, concluding that it has failed to deliver promised benefits for consumers. Professor Quiggin examined 20 years of pro-privatisation reform in his report, “Electricity Privatisation in Australia: A Record of Failure”, which included a detailed economic examination of the outcomes of power sales in Victoria and South Australia.His research has revealed that many of the claimed benefits of privatisation have not been supported, with key findings including:

    * price rises have been highest in States with privatised electricity networks;
    * customer dissatisfaction jumped, with complaints to the energy ombudsman in privatised States leaping from 500 to over 50,000 per annum;
    * resources have been diverted away from operational functions to management and marketing, resulting in higher costs and poorer service;
    * reliability has declined across a wide range of measures in Victoria;
    * promised increases to investment efficiency have not occurred;
    * real labour productivity has reduced as employment and training of tradespeople was gutted and numbers of managerial and sales staff exploded;
    * private owners are receiving unjustifiably high rates of return based on the low investment risk; and
    * consumers in privatised states bear the cost of approximately 10 per cent per annum interest on private owners’ debt, compared to substantially lower government borrowing
    costs of three per cent.

    SNIP

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    • 19 FEB 14

    Recommended reading: Alison Wilson’s “Hold the Phone” companion books

    Some weeks ago Alison Wilson sent me two copies of her new companion set of books, Hold the Phone and Hold The Phone: Here’s Why.
    With all that has been going on the past few weeks with several submissions underway the book remained unread on the bookshelf.

    Only now have I had a chance to go through the books and I can fully recommend them to readers on this list. I will be delivering a copy of each to the state library for their reference section. It is unusual to have two companion books but with Wilson’s books they work well together. The first book Hold The Phone is a solutions based publication designed to give guidance on how to use wireless technology in such a way to reduce the risks to health. The companion book Hold The Phone: Here’s Why, works well as a handy reference book, not just for mobile phone use but also for other wireless devices, such as Wi-FI and smart meters.

    See more on www.holdthephone.co/

    Also follow the holdthephone blog. Here’s the latest entry about the latest latest MTHR spin:

    http://www.holdthephone.co/news/dont-be-misled-by-the-latest-study-saying-mobile-phones-are-safe-it-highlig

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    • 18 FEB 14

    Smart Meter “Malfunction” Causes Pennsylvania Apartment Building Fire

    From Kit Weaver

    I am writing you about a probable un-reported or under-reported story about an apartment building fire. I have concluded based upon my review that the fire was definitely caused by a smart meter.

    This is probably one of the more serious smart-related fires on record in that it does not just involve flames going up the side of a home. There is
    significant involvement of an apartment building plus there is quite a bit of video to go with it.

    This event is somewhat unique because once the smart meter blew, it was in an enclosed wooden shed attached to an apartment building, unfortunately an
    ideal situation for the fire to then take off rapidly involving the entire structure.

    There are even relevant videos now in the “comment” section.

    SNIP

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    • 18 FEB 14

    British Society for Ecological Medicine EMF/EMR and Health Conference

    ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION AND HEALTH: EVIDENCE, DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT
    9am to 5.30pm Friday 7th March 2014 – book your place now!
    Hallam Conference Room, Hallam St, London W1W 6JJ

    Come and hear leading scientists, medics and other experts present the latest information about health effects caused by exposure to electric and magnetic fields and radio-frequency microwave fields. The talks are aimed at people who do not have expert knowledge of electromagnetic radiation and health and will be suitable for members of the general public. However, enough detail will be presented to also be valuable for medical practitioners and other health workers. The speakers will be available to talk with participants during refreshment breaks and at lunchtime.
    SNIP

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    • 16 FEB 14

    A VALUABLE REPUTATION

    From Blake Levitt on the cheemf list:

    The piece below is long but an excellent read. The telecom and now smart grid industries, IEEE, EPRI, COMAR, and others use most of these same tactics. Researcher Jerry Phillips described Motorola’s intentional delaying of his research results in the film Full Signal; they used “product defense” groups like Exponent to influence state agencies considering smart grid legislation in Maine and elsewhere; plant review “papers” in states like Texas and Washington under bogus authors; “buy” domain names to guarantee that their contrived “sound science” pages come up whenever a search is done on BioInitiative or specific people like me and Henry Lai; make false test “replications” by changing test parameters to confuse outcomes and therefore contaminate the database; maintain databases on “friendly” journalists to plant stories and personally profile unfriendly journalists and scientists, etc. etc. Jim Tozzi is mentioned below — he worked with George Carlo and CTIA on discrediting Henry’s work. Bogus risk analysis is applied to federal regulation and the industry controls the lit reviews considered by agencies like FDA, FCC, DoE, EPA. It’s the exact same playbook as below and what is described in David Michaels’ “Doubt is Their Product.”

    SNIP

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    • 14 FEB 14

    The IEEE’s Forum on Very Bad Ideas

    The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE), that venerable organization responsible for our thermally based RF standards, likes to take the lead on promoting new technology. In a few weeks time they will be hosting a Forum on the Internet of Things (IoT). (I would like to see “di” inserted between the I and oT).

    Will the conference bring up the down-side of the IdioT concept (everything will be RF connected-even baby’s nappies). Of course not, its all about promoting the technology and any problems will have to be worked-out later by someone else. See below article on one of those problems.

    SNIP

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    • 12 FEB 14

    Here we go again: “New” MTHR report claims no health effects from cell phones, etc.

    Whenever I occasionally see a newspaper headline proclaiming new research has found that mobile phones are perfectly safe for everybody my first thought is: is it industry funded and secondly, who is evaluating the research.

    Well, its just happened again. On February 11, 2014 the New Zealand Herald published an article titled Cellphone cancer fear quashed, announcing the release of a ‘new’ report titled Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research Programme, MTHR Report 2012 released by the British Mobile Telecommunications and Health Research (MTHR) group. This report gives the findings of 31 individual research projects, funded by the telecommunications industry and UK government over 11 years.

    The NZ Herald article painted a glowing picture of unproblematic scientific certainty with statements, such as: A new international study appears to have put to rest the question over whether cellphones cause cancer – they don’t . The newspaper article also stated, under a photo of a young woman using a cellphone, that You can rest easy using your cell phone as cancer fears are quashed by experts.

    Really?

    SNIP

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    • 12 FEB 14

    Should People Be Allowed to Drive Cars?

    Posted on February 11, 2014 by SkyVision Solutions

    Excerpt

    As a follow-up to a blog posting entitled, U.S. Proceeding with Mandatory Wireless ‘Vehicle to Vehicle’ Communications, additional information has been uncovered that would support the assertion that the ultimate goal of government technocrats would be to build an infrastructure to support “smart” self-driving vehicles. For their own safety, people would not be allowed to drive cars since they are too easily distracted and error-prone. In addition, self-driving vehicles could be programmed for maximum fuel efficiency.

    According a Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

    “NHTSA finds that it is helpful to think of these emerging technologies [such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications] as part of a continuum of vehicle control automation. The continuum, discussed below, runs from vehicles with no active control systems all the way to full automation and self-driving. While the agency is conducting research along the entire automation continuum, our emphasis initially is on determining whether those crash avoidance and mitigation technologies that are currently available (or soon to be available) are not only safe, but effective. However, because these same technologies are the building blocks for what may one day lead to a driverless vehicle, we have also begun research focused on safety principles that may apply to even higher levels of automation, such as driver behavior in the context of highly automated vehicle safety systems. [emphasis added]

    SNIP

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    • 11 FEB 14

    U.S. Proceeding with Mandatory Wireless ‘Vehicle to Vehicle’ Communications

    Don’s comment: And there are plans underway to one day have driver-less smart cars. While all this looks like being an emerging public health nightmare it may well turn out to be a Hacker’s wet dream. Imagine hacking in and controlling city traffic. Even more fun than Grand Theft Auto and the blood will be real….

    From: SkyVision Solutions … Raising Public Awareness and Finding Solutions to Smart Grid, Smart Meter, and Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation Concerns

    Excerpt

    “The vision of ‘talking’ cars that avoid crashes is well on the way to becoming a reality. And we’re not just talking about cars talking to cars, but about cars talking to bikes, trucks talking to motorcycles, and even buses talking to pedestrians. This promises to significantly reduce the number of deaths and injuries on our nation’s roads while unleashing a new wave of innovation from advanced traffic management systems and smart mobility apps to real-time traffic, transit and parking information.” – Scott Belcher, President and CEO of the Intelligent Transportation Society of America

    The geniuses at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are so concerned about your “safety,” they have decided to take it into their own hands and make it mandatory that your car wirelessly communicate with other vehicles on the road.

    As with so many other aspects of life, there is a top down push to remove control from the individual and transfer it to the “collective,” typically justified within the context of the “war on terror” or “it’s for your own good.”

    SNIP

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    • 11 FEB 14

    Conference: A Matter of Design. Making Society through Science and Technology

    A very interesting conference on the societal impacts of new technologies. Note mention of the Internet of Things which encompasses smart grids and smart meters. The huge controversy over heath impacts of wireless technology should be an essential topic for discussion at this meeting but deadline for submissions is 15 Feb. I see in the link provided mention is made of the need “for the identification of potential consequences of future developments.”
    Well worth keeping track of this conference, especially Sheila Jasanoff’s presentation…..

    Emerging ICT and Citizens’ Values: Anticipating and Responding to Challenges

    In this session, we consider the relationship between citizens’ values and emerging information and communication technologies (ICT). In particular, we consider how we can anticipate problems and proactively design social, technical and regulatory responses to them. Technologies such as wearable sensors, internet of things, social media, bio-banking and autonomous systems present several moments of design. The values that are intentionally and unintentionally ‘designed in’ to technologies achieve greater longevity and reach. As our lives are increasingly mediated by digital artefacts – to the extent that we live in a digital society and experience a digital culture – certain values, such as openness, can be amplified at the expense of others, such as privacy. Those technologies that achieve massive proliferation and normalisation profoundly affect the experience of contemporary life, for example by exaggerating our capacity to measure and remember events and adjusting the norms of our relationships with others over time and space. This capacity to transform the way we live, often in unpredictable ways, has been met with both delight and caution.
    SNIP

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    • 09 FEB 14

    Harvard Medical Doctor Warns Against Smart Meters

    Dr. David Carpenter MD, a graduate of Harvard Medical School and a physician who has worked in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and public health for over 18 years, has a few choice words for power companies that are forcing smart meters down the throats of their customers all over the United States.

    Dr. Carpenter adamantly insists that there is no evidence whatsoever that smart meters are in any way safe for human beings. He goes on to say that there is, in fact, ample evidence that demonstrates “convincingly and consistently” that exposure to radiofrequency radiation (RFR) at elevated levels for long periods of time increases the risk of cancer, damages the nervous system, and adversely affects the reproductive organs. Dr. Carpenter says that an informed person should demand that they be allowed to keep their analog meter. The two minute video interview with Dr. Carpenter below is well worth watching.
    SNIP

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    • 08 FEB 14

    Powerwatch Press release: British Journal Cancer PR spin is misleading

    PRESS RELEASE
    Powerlines and risk of childhood leukaemia: British Journal Cancer PR spin is misleading

    In an embargoed Press release (to Fri.7th Feb 00:01 hrs) the BJC have a headline claiming “OVERHEAD POWERLINES DON’T RAISE LEUKAEMIA RISK IN CHILDREN”.
    Their important new paper by Bunch, et al 1, does not show this. The authors have analysed a great deal of data for all high-voltage powerlines of 132,000 volts (132 kV) and above. The main association of electrical power and incidence of child leukaemia (CL) has been the magnetic fields (EMFs) from all sources that are associated with our use of electricity. A recent large meta-analysis by Zhao, et al, 2 has confirmed an approximate doubling at 0.4 microteslas, as does the new EC SCENIHR draft report 3.

    An earlier paper by the same research centre (CCRG) by Draper, et al 4, showed an association of childhood leukaemia CL with proximity to 275 kV and 400 kV lines. The CCRG later reported that the EMFs had fallen off within 100 metres from the powerlines to levels below those produced by other electrical causes (including underground cables running under our pavements and house wiring)
    SNIP

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    • 07 FEB 14

    Video on cell phone radiation and institutional corruption

    Harvard Law School: At Center for Ethics event, cell phone radiation and
    institutional corruption addressed (video)

    Note that this news item and video may be available for a limited time.

    On Nov. 3, Dr. Franz Adlkofer, former executive director of the VERUM Foundation for Behavior and Environment, spoke to a Harvard Law School audience as part of the lectures and events series hosted by the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics. In his lecture, “Protection Against Radiation is in Conflict with Science,” Adlkofer discussed the difficulties he and other scientists face when presenting research on the carcinogenic effects of electromagnetic fields emanating from cell phones. He also discussed the institutional corruption which he says obstructs their research.
    SNIP

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    • 06 FEB 14

    Greens leader Christine Milne a Keynote speaker at Smart Grid Australia conference

    From Smart Grid Australia

    SGA Conference, Parliament House, Canberra, 5th March 2014

    SGA’s first conference for 2014 will concentrate on our smart grid future and what is needed to make it happen. We have an opportunity to discuss this with key politicians, both within the conference setting as well as in an informal way, during cocktails and the diner.

    We have keynote speaker confirmations from:

    Hon Ian Macfarlane, Minister for Industry
    Hon Gary Gray, Shadow Minister for Resources and Energy
    Hon Senator Christine Milne, Leader of the Australian Greens

    SNIP

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    • 06 FEB 14

    Towards the Smart Survellance State.

    The recent launch of the EU Metis Project, which stands for Mobile and wireless communications Enablers for the Twenty-twenty Information Society, will be part of a new communication and surveillance system, i.a. enabling the police to ‘remote stopping’ your car, as well as constantly tracing it’s whereabouts. This capability is to be built in as ‘standard’ for all new cars in the region…. Introducing SmartBand – keep track of everything in your daily life, from how well you slept to how many calories you’ve burned. This innovative wristband from Sony comes with the Lifelog Android app to record how you interact with your world every day – all your calls, special moments, pictures, social activities, workouts, entertainment, and more, remembered forever. Stylish, discreet, and waterproof, SmartBand lets you see your life as you live it. Watch how the Lifelog app helps you log your day, every day….. (and makes life easier for the NSA)

    Read more →
    • 06 FEB 14

    ‘Take Back Your Power’ Wins Transformational Film of the Year Award

    Press Release

    Excerpt

    5 February 2014

    ‘Take Back Your Power’ Wins Transformational Film of the Year Award

    SEATTLE, Washington (February 5, 2014) – The hard-hitting documentary ‘Take Back Your Power’ has been named winner of the AwareGuide Transformational Film of the Year. The crowdfunded film exposes in-home surveillance issues, customer billing corruption, potential health risks and other problems associated with utilites’ plans for upgrading to a centralized “smart” energy grid. It finished atop the list of 33 worldwide finalists along with ‘The Ghosts In Our Machine’, co-winner of the award. “This is a victory for a growing majority who want to restore sanity to the roles played by technology and government,” said Josh del Sol, producer and director of Take Back Your Power. “The issues unveiled in our film leave viewers rocked and inspired to see solutions. Winning this award means people are ready for a positive transformation. ” “A Transformational film,” according to AwareGuide founder and CEO Gary Tomchuk, “seeks to inspire the movement of society towards ideals, values and practices that create a better world for everyone. They focus on solutions for subjects such as consciousness, environment, health, and social issues.”

    SNIP

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    • 05 FEB 14

    Public consultation on the Preliminary Opinion on Potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF)

    Today, the European Commission and its Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks, SCENIHR, launch a public consultation on the preliminary opinion “Potential health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF)”. The consultation will run until 16 April 2014. Interested parties are invited to provide comments on the scientific evidence of this preliminary opinion online. In addition to the online consultation, the draft opinion will be subject to a public hearing in Athens, Greece, on 27 March 2014, followed by a Workshop on EMF the next day. The preliminary opinion addresses issues of public concern, such as potential health effects from radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF EMF) emitted by mobile phones and broadcast transmitters, as well as from extremely low frequency (ELF) magnetic fields originating from power lines and any electrical household appliance at home or in the office.
    SNIP

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    • 05 FEB 14

    Mission Statement for ‘Radiation and health in Frontiers in Public Health

    From Dariusz Leszczynski

    Posted on February 2, 2014 on Between a Rock and a Hard Place

    The Mission statement for the new specialty of ‘Radiation and health is now available on-line in the Frontiers in Public Health website.

    More information about the ‘Radiation and health (link here) will be posted as soon as it will become available (specialty was just established and is under development). Also my personal profile in the Frontiers is under development and will be updated shortly.

    Dariusz Leszczynski

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    • 02 FEB 14

    Half of users abandon Australian smart meter trial

    Half of users abandon smart meter trial
    By Andrew Colley on Jan 30, 2014 6:14 AM (2 days ago)

    Audit questions price tag for under-subscribed retail program.

    The Australian Government’s $100 million intelligent energy grid trial has blown its budget and failed to meet key objectives, the national auditor has found. The Smart Grid, Smart City Program, which has been shuffled among no less than four administrative departments since its establishment in 2009, is due to publish its findings within months. The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has discovered that the program did not attract and retain enough household participants to its retail trial – the largest in the program – to produce “statistically useful” results. Furthermore, while the retail trial attracted less than half the optimal number of participants proposed by the consortium that won the grant for the program, AusGrid, it nonetheless cost the full $20 million budgeted for the program due to “increased implementation costs”.
    SNIP

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