My friend Stanley Fishman, author of the acclaimed cookbooks Tender Grassfed Meat and Tender Grassfed Barbecue, lives in California and, like many folks around the United States, has been dealing with the physical stress of having a smart meter installed at his home against his will.
The option to use an analog meter and have this health sucking device removed from one’s home has only recently become available in some localities. Unfortunately, the pace of getting them removed has been painfully slow in some cases.
Whether you are waiting your turn to get your smart meter removed or still fighting for the right to opt out in the first place, here are some steps you can take based on what Stanley discovered to proactively protect yourself from a smart meter’s harmful effects.
1. Q-Links. A Q-Link is a pendent that has been designed to strengthen the electromagnetic field of the body. The electromagnetic field generated by our bodies does protect against emissions. It was designed by a Stanford academic who specializes in the study of fine energies.
The Q-Link contains certain metals and a computer chip, and is powered by being worn. This sounds strange, and some may consider it to be hokum. But it really did help Stanley, who ended up wearing it almost 24/7.
There are a variety of Q-Links available. Some can be quite expensive, as they are made for decorative purposes as well, though the basic no frills model is much cheaper. All models work the same, except there is the classic version and a more modern version that is supposed to work better.
In Stanley’s opinion based on his research, the difference between the two is hard to find. In summary, the cheapest model is very helpful, and there is no need to buy the expensive decorative models. The link comes with a cord that works fine, and there is no need to get a gold or silver chain. Stanley feels the Q-Link was the most effective protection he and his wife found against the smart meter installed at their home.
2. Metal. Find out where the meter is and place a lot of metal between it and your home. This is difficult to do, as the meter is usually attached to one of your walls. The idea is to place some metal shielding between yourself and the meter. The meter emits dangerous EMFs in a fan shaped curve, so it is best to have metal for a number of feet to the sides of your wall directly opposite the meter.
Stanley’s meter was opposite the kitchen, directly opposite some kitchen cupboards. He tried foil, that did no good. Eventually, he placed a number of old aluminum pans in the cupboards opposite the meter, propping them up so they formed a shield. This did help, but not as much as the Q-Link.
3. Distance. The closer you are to the meter, the more emissions you get. Every foot makes a significant difference. Be sure that everyone sleeps as far from the meter as possible, and spend as little time in close proximity to the meter as possible. This can be quite difficult, depending on the layout of your home. It is also best to stay away from the meter when you are outdoors. Stanley ended up spending most of his time in the end of his house that was furthest from the meter. The further away you are from the meter, the better.
Ultimately, Stanley tried many other things as well, but the above three strategies were the only ones that made a difference.
None of them solved the problem completely, but using all three of them did help a great deal. There are a lot of expensive devices that are supposed to protect against smart meters and dirty electricity. After evaluating them, Stanley was not confident that they would help, so he did not try them. Other people may have found other ways that help, but this is what he found.
The best protection is, of course, to get the smart meter removed or never have it installed in the first place – to opt out. The more of your neighbors that opt out, the better for everyone, as smart meters bounce signals from house to house. At least getting the smart meter out ends the dirty electricity problems, and will usually put you a lot further from a smart meter, and ends the transmission of your power usage.
This is not true for everybody, as people who live in apartment buildings can be near too many smart meters, as often the meters for every apartment in the building are placed together, often concentrated near one or two apartments.
Thank you Stanley, for providing your wisdom to all of us. There are many people out there struggling with health issues related to their smart meter, and hopefully these strategies can help them until they are able to move or opt out of those unhealthy devices once and for all!
Note: If the health dangers of smart meters is new to you, click here for information on smart meters from a Harvard MD who has worked in the area of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and public health for over 18 years.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
More Information
Are AMR Devices Safer than Smart Meters?
Reducing Exposure to Dirty Electricity
The Health Hazards of Wireless Baby Monitors
Harvard MD Speaks Out about the Health Dangers of Smart Meters
Hi there. I am a professional engineer that works for a rural utility. We have many different types of meters that we install on our system. There is currently no hard and fast definition for what a “smart” meter is. This is a political “buzzword”. There are no longer purely analog meters being installed throughout most of the U.S. Almost all meters are electronic in some fashion. Some of the newer meters are equipped with a “Zigbee” chip which allows them to communicate via a wireless communication with customers equipment in the house. There are others that employ RF to communicate with a hub or other neighboring meters to send meter read information back to the utility. Ther are still others that employ powerline carrier communication that inject a signal in the 12-24 kHz range onto the powerline to transmit the meter information back to the utility. All of these would technically qualify as “smart” meters.
They installed a smart meter on my home last summer early in the morning since I had stopped them earlier in the summer. I had notified the electric company that I did not want a smart meter placed on my home. Then, a month later, they came without notice and just put it on. I have noticed a dramatic drop in energy since they installed it. It is on the same wall as my bedroom. I also seem to have developed vertigo. I’m not sure if this is a result of the meter, but prior to it, I had no health issues.
Sarah, I don’t know…the lady said she had hives and the bees left right when the meter was put in as well as the many birds that came in.
Wifi is a lot weaker of a signal and you can shut it off at night! BIG difference
It’s the same thing as wifi people.
Here in BC we are just now getting Smart Meters. I don’t know what is true and what is not about Smart Meters. I wonder if the same kind of controversy was around when the electric bulb and radio were invented. I’m still doing my research.
Thanks Sarah for this info. We are buying a house in Southern CA and “of course” it will have a smart meter. I will call SDGE and get it turned off. I’m hoping they “really” turn the thing off. When they installed the one on our current home we say our utility bill “go up” rather than down. These companies are so phony and liars!
Cara, they should not just “turn off” the “smart” part of the smart meter. They should actually replace the smart meter it with a different, analog-type meter. The new meter should have dials, that look like little clocks, and/or spinning black and white counters (very old-fashioned looking). If it has a digital display be suspicious and look for the letters “FCC” in small print. If you see “FCC,” then it has the potential to emit radiofrequency radiation and is a smart meter. They may claim that they have the “smart” part turned off, but I would not believe it. Besides, even if they do have it turned off at the present time, they can just turn it on remotely if it is ZigBee Chip enabled–and they do not have to tell you that they are activating the “smart” part of it. That is why I would not settle for one that has an FCC notation on it . . . no matter what they told me.
Beth, people have reported a wide variety of health problems that began or got worse within a short time of having a smart meter installed. Some of the anti smart meter sites have a long list, which is pretty frightening to read.
For myself, I had no symptoms or health problems at all, for years, prior to the installation of a smart meter. I slept like a baby, through the night. Within a short time of having the meter installed, I started waking up at night, several hours into the night, every night. Just like you.
I also developed a ringing in my ears, for the first time in my life. You also had the ringing.
These may be the two most common effects that people have reported.
I also began to get problems I had not had for over five years, like headaches, sinus problems, feeling tired and low energy, catching an occasional cold, night cramps, and fatigue at various times. These problems motivated me to find solutions, and I tried dozens. The ones Sarah mentioned in her article were the ones that helped. My measure of whether something helped was how I felt, and how my symptoms changed. I think being as far away from the meter as possible was the most effective, but there was a huge improvement when we put a metal barrier between us and the meter, and the Q link helped a great deal. Hope this helps.
Stanley,
Would you mind also answering my question? Were you exposed to wifi or cell phones prior to the installation of the smart meter? Sounds like if you were, they did not cause a problem?
This would be of great help to me in understanding this matter.
Thanks!
Steph
Steph,
Yes, I was exposed to cell phones and wifi for a number of years before the installation of the smart meter. Very heavily at times. And they did not cause a problem that I was aware of.
Hi Sarah (and Stanley),
Thanks for the post, article links and info. I also live in CA and when they started installing in my neighborhood I called Southern California Edison in February and was put on the delay list. We woke up last Thursday (April 26) to find a ‘Smart Connect’ meter installed. There was a hang tag on our door announcing this with a phone number to call. I called- it never connects. I called SCE and they have no idea how this could have happened or when they can replace with the analog. I have filed two complaints with the Public Utilities Commission- bogus phone number and disregard of delay list. There was a PUC ruling on April 19th approving an opt-out option, with fees. One cannot sign up for that until May 9 so my belief is the installation company is taking advantage of that window and disregarding the delay request.
I believe in the precautionary principle and wish we, as a country, could adopt that guideline. I would like proof there is no harm done- we have been mislead and lied to so often it’s de riguer when it comes to supposed safety.
I love the idea of the boxes over the meters! Wish we’d thought of it. I also know you can buy analogue meters online and install them yourself or have them installed. We thought we headed off the problem ‘following the rules’.
Keep up the research and independent thinking!
What improvements did Stanley notice with the Q-Link? How did he determine that it was working for him?
I felt better with it on. All of the symptoms I had were lessened. I experimented a few times with leaving it on or taking it off. Everything was better when it was on.