Smart meters: Opting out may not accomplish much

Margie Alfonso says she lived 76 years without any significant health problems, but less than a year after a gas utility put a "smart meter" on her home, she developed cancer which has now reoccurred in various forms four times.

She says the meter was installed on her home without her knowledge, and certainly without her permission.

And that has been the complaint of many people who are fighting for a moratorium to stop the deployment of smart meters, at least until their potential effects on health can at least be studied.

PSO, which is in the middle of putting about a half-million of the devices in place in Oklahoma, says they're safe.

But researchers from around the world are saying that's not true, and that simply because the devices don't exceed current standards in the US that doesn't mean they're not harmful.

In fact, the World Health Organization has classified non-thermal radiation emitted by the meters, and many other wireless devices, as possibly carcinogenic.

The American Cancer Society has this statement on its website:

Smart meters have not been studied to see if they cause health problems. Studies have looked at RF radiation from other sources. Exposure to large amounts of RF radiation, as from accidents involving radar, has resulted in severe burns. No other serious health problems have been reported.

That, Alfonso says points to the problem - the possible effects have not been studied.

Daily, more people step forward claiming to suffer adverse health effects from the meters, and other wireless devices.

Alfonso admits she can't be sure whether a smart meter contributed to her cancers.

"I'm not saying that I can prove for sure," she told KRMG. "But I am saying that it does go through walls, (and) it's a huge amount of radiation pulsing every 15 seconds."

Recently, banks of the meters were installed at apartment complexes in south Tulsa and Bixby.

Immediately, some residents began feeling sick - and KRMG will follow up with their stories as we continue to investigate the issue of smart meters.