ECN - February 2015

These groups often quotes WHO statements — that they’ve evidently not read —about RF exposure and its relationship to human health.

WHO states that current research literature reports no correlation between long-term exposure to low-level RF fields and human health problems.

Meanwhile, studies of smart
meters that use RF links indi-
cate that, when active, they
emit no more RF energy than
a cell phone — often less. Due
to their low duty cycles, their transmitters are typically active for a total of no more than three
minutes per day. Additionally, rarely does one see a homeowner or business operator with their
head pressed against their electric-energy meter. Please send pictures if you do.

The behavior of technical markets, however, is not that different from nontechnical ones, where perception all too often is reality. The industry has done a poor job in answering either concern effectively, as frivolous as they may seem to insiders. Most of the utilities’ statements I’ve found on these topics have appeared either on company or industry-association websites or in fliers like those that accompany monthly energy bills. Admittedly, mine has not been an exhaustive search on the subject, but what I’ve found thus far reminds me that if McDonalds only placed their advertising messages on hamburger wrappers, they’d still be looking forward to serving their first million.