BC Human Rights Tribunal prepared to hear argument on
electrical sensitivity as a disability
Smart meter opponents face an uphill climb in their effort
to haul BC Hydro before the British Columbia Human Rights
Tribunal.
In a preliminary decision released this week, tribunal
member Enid Marion ruled that a complaint by the Citizens
for Safe Technology Society was “overly broad” in its
allegations that smart meter installations were harmful to
an array of Hydro customers who believe they suffer adverse
health effects from exposure to the wireless digital
meters.
The tribunal gave the group 30 days to narrow down its
complaint to represent only people “allegedly diagnosed with
EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity) who have been advised
[by physicians] to avoid wireless technology.”
The tribunal said if the group meets that requirement, it
could lead to a full hearing “on the discrete issue of
whether or not EHS is a disability for the purposes of the
[B.C. Human Rights] Code.”
That’s a long way from ordering a full hearing on whether
Hydro violated the Code with its program which concludes in
December to replace older analog meters with new wireless
digital meters for all of its customers.
The group believes Hydro could achieve the same result with
wired-in meters, but failed to consider health implications
for some customers.
Technology Society director Sharon Noble said Thursday she
expects the group will continue the case, and that it has a
large number of EHS sufferers who could be represented.
“This is a recognized disability,” Noble said. “Other
tribunals and commissions have recognized it. So it’s only
matter I think of defining who belongs in this class, what
the symptoms are, how you diagnose it.”
She said there are “a few” doctors in B.C. who have
diagnosed it in their patients.
“We just have to make sure that there are enough doctors and
they have the proper tools that the [tribunal] will
recognize it.”
Perry Kendall, B.C.’s medical health officer, said there
does not appear to be “any objective evidence” to support
the idea that very low levels of microwave radiation are
harmful.
He said some individuals are more aware of electricity or
electromagnetic radiation, just as some people have better
hearing than others.
“But that isn’t necessarily linked in any way to symptoms,”
Kendall said.
He said blind studies show that those who believe they
suffer from EMS are no more successful at detecting exposure
than others in the same test who don’t profess a
sensitivity.
“You would expect that if people were sensitive, it would
show up in these experiments, that they would get symptoms
reliably when they were exposed to what was seen as the
noxious agent.”
Cindy Verschoor, spokesperson for Hydro’s smart meter
program, noted that meters are “one source among hundreds
that are active in our everyday environment.”
She said the intensity of radiation from the devices — which
communicate electricity consumption data to neighbourhood
receivers — is well below Canadian health and safety
thresholds.
“The meters have been confirmed safe by B.C.’s provincial
health officer, by Health Canada, and by the World Health
Organization,” Verschoor said.
Studies found that the meters are transmitting for less than
three seconds over a 48-hour period.“If you sit next to your
smart meter without moving for 20 years it would be less
[exposure] than one 30-minute cellphone call,” she said.
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