Dear Editor:
Recently I’ve read several letters to the editor suggesting that smart meters are dangerous. It is my opinion that these letters, especially Una St.Clair’s, published August 4, are inaccurate.
For example, Ms. St.Clair’s suggestion that the World Health Organization claims that wireless devices can cause cancer in humans is a misrepresentation. In fact, the WHO alleges merely that there is a tenuous (not necessarily causal) link between cell phone use and one type of brain cancer. Overall, that smart meters (or other wireless devices) cause cancer is far from convincingly demonstrated. Ms. St.Clair also mentions a separate condition known as “electrohypersensitivity,” which is not recognized as a genuine illness.
Her claim that “All wireless systems are notoriously easy to hack into” is a fallacy – information security depends on many factors, and it doesn’t make sense to assume that a breach in this case is inevitable or even likely.
Ms. St.Clair also asks if we want BC Hydro to be able to pilfer our private information and sell it to marketers. Thankfully, she doesn’t claim that such a thing might occur. Then she tells us that “People just hate Spy Meters.” Clearly, some people are opposed to smart meters. But is it for valid reasons, or because of dishonest rhetoric and baseless alarmism?
Smart meters are a promising technology that can help consumers cut down on energy use. They can also allow time-of-use pricing that provides a discount for using energy at times of day when energy use is lowest.
There are real issues we need to be concerned about, such as the damage being done to our environment. The controversy surrounding smart meters is distracting, and potentially even destructive, because it threatens the introduction of technology that could help us become more energy efficient.
Anti-smart meter activists begin with the premise that the devices are harmful to us, and seek to provide evidence for that view by misrepresenting facts and inventing conspiracies. If you’re interested in the issue, don’t take these people at their word. Go online and read about it for yourself.
Sincerely,
Ian Robertson
Merritt, BC
