The Citizens for Safe Technology Society (CST), a nonprofit against smart meters and other wireless technologies, is trying to bring BC Hydro before the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal, alleging that the utility's smart meters have harmed customers.
According to a Vancouver Sun report, tribunal member Enid Marion ruled that the group's complaint was "overly broad" in a preliminary decision earlier this week, and the tribunal has given CST a 30-day period to change its complaint to include only people "allegedly diagnosed with EHS (electromagnetic hypersensitivity) who have been advised (by physicians) to avoid wireless technology."
CST Director Sharon Noble told the Vancouver Sun that the group has many EHS victims and will move forward with its case.
BC Hydro spokesperson Cindy Verschoor, however, assured the Vancouver Sun that the smart meters' radiation levels are very low and that the equipment is safe for customers.
"The meters have been confirmed safe by [British Columbia's] provincial health officer, by Health Canada and by the World Health Organization," she said.
Meanwhile, on CST’s site, the group posted an open letter to BC Hydro on Aug. 27.
“You assert your contractual right to ‘access’ to your equipment. We concede that you may continue to access our properties for the purpose of reading our present analogue meters. If an analogue meter needs replacement, you may replace it with another analogue meter,” the group wrote. “Our problem is not with what you are ‘accessing’ - it is what you are seeking to leave behind. Your right of access does not go so far so as to entitle you to install a device that continuously generates toxic radiation.”
