Alasdair Philips is qualified in both Electrical and Electronic Engineering, as well as Agricultural Engineering. In 1998, he started the British organization Power Watch, which is committed to uncovering the specific details of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect our health and how we can practically protect ourselves against detrimental effects.

"The British organization Power Watch, founded by Alasdair Philips, is committed to uncovering the specific details of how electromagnetic fields (EMFs) affect your health and how you can practically protect yourself against detrimental effects.

"While the international safety standard for power fields, such as those emitted from overhead power lines, is set at 1,000 milliGauss, more than 20 studies have linked exposure at a mere 4 milliGauss to childhood leukemia.  

"Certain home appliances are particularly troublesome, in terms of the EMF emitted, such as electric heaters, electric stove rings, microwave ovens, electric blankets, and hair dryers.

"Under current guidelines, we are now allowed to expose ourselves to one billion-billion-billion-fold more energy within a particular part of the electromagnetic spectrum than our ancestors were exposed to 100 years ago. Therefore, it is prudent to reduce your EMF exposure as much as you can, particularly where you sleep, and to try to make your home into an "EMF safe zone" to allow your body to rest and restore from the daily assault of radiation.

"Russ Loader and his wife Kathy moved into an apartment on Colborne St. in Oshawa eight years ago. The building was new and clean, and it is run by Gateway Community Homes; most of the tenants pay rent geared to income.

"Russ and Kathy -- he's a teacher, she's an interior decorator -- pay market rent. They were happy to move in, but they really wanted the apartment across the hall, with its precious view of the park and the peony garden.

"They got their wish a few years ago, but, in moving across the hall, they moved into hell. Shortly after unpacking, they began to get sick . . .

Links to articles and videos that report links of Smart Meters to house fires:

Electrical explosion at Naples Bay Resort  December 19, 2011  "A Vanguard Utility Services electrician was reportedly installing a new FPL Smart Meter . . . when an electrical fault and arc occurred, creating a fireball."

MFB probes smart-meter fire risk / Metropolitan Fire Brigade / Power  November 7, 2011 ". . . public alert about smart meters because it was "too early" to draw any link. . ."

Pickering smart meter explodes / Toronto and GTA / News / Toronto Sun  October 4, 2011  Video  Couple may have to pay for replacement . . .
Fire investigators probe link between smart meters and house fires / Herald Sun The Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board has launched an investigation into a possible link between smart meters and house fires. 

Local 2 Investigates Smart Meter Fires November 14, 2011  It's a danger homeowners called about when they were stuck with no electricity and major damage to their homes. 

Fires Spark During Smart Meter Installations August 19, 2010   Arlington Local News

Improper Smart Meter Installation Causes Fires Smart Meters installed with power on - Fire results

Arcing Meter Hazards / Smart Meter Fire in DiamondHead  November 12, 2011  PGE cutting costs at expense of safety

Man says Smart Meter caught fire and shut down his business  November 25, 2011 Under investigation . . . 

Smart Meter Fires and Explosions EMF Safety Network documentation

Fire at 160 Santa Rosa, San Francisco  Smart Meter "incompatible with house wiring?"

"Meters that endanger: shocking details from a whistleblower."

An Oshawa couple says the high electromagnetic field in their apartment is causing health problems, Lucy Lopez reports.

A couple in Oshawa have very high magnetic fields coming from a conduit under their floor. Both are suffering from ill health and the landlord refuses to fix the problem. Health Canada has weighed in saying that while IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) has classified low frequency electromagnetic fields as a "probable" (they should have said "possible") carcinogen, Health Canada doesn't recognize the adverse effects of this energy!

Read Response.

"About 200 customers of the Central Maine Power Company recently noticed something odd after the utility installed smart meters in their homes: in some cases other wireless devices stopped working, or behaved erratically.

"The 425,000 installed smart meters all broadcast in the 2.4GHz frequency range. Unfortunately, so do many of the consumer gadgets we take for granted these days including routers, electric garage doors, fire alarms, clocks, electric pet fences, answering machines, and baby monitors . . .

"Given that we can't change the smart meters ourselves, it looks like consumers will have to get good at fixing their own electronic issues once their home becomes "metered."

Background: In 2003 the teachers at La Quinta, California middle school complained that they had more cancers than would be expected. A consultant for the school district denied that there was a problem.

Objective: To investigate the cancer incidence in the teachers, and its cause.

Method: We conducted a retrospective study of cancer incidence in the teachers' cohort in relationship to the school's electrical environment.

Results: Sixteen school teachers in a cohort of 137 teachers hired in 1988 through 2005 were diagnosed with 18 cancers. The observed to expected (O/E) risk ratio for all cancers was 2.78 (P = 0.000098), while the O/E risk ratio for malignant melanoma was 9.8 (P = 0.0008). Thyroid cancer had a risk ratio of 13.3 (P = 0.0098), and uterine cancer had a risk ratio of 9.2 (P = 0.019). Sixty Hertz magnetic fields showed no association with cancer incidence. A new exposure metric, high frequency voltage transients, did show a positive correlation to cancer incidence. A cohort cancer incidence analysis of the teacher population showed a positive trend (P = 7.1 10 10) of increasing cancer risk with increasing cumulative exposure to high frequency voltage transients on the classroom's electrical wiring measured with a Graham/Stetzer (G/S) meter. The attributable risk of cancer associated with this exposure was 64%. A single year of employment at this school increased a teacher's cancer risk by 21%.

Conclusion: The cancer incidence in the teachers at this school is unusually high and is strongly associated with high frequency voltage transients, which may be a universal carcinogen, similar to ionizing radiation . . .

Link to Dirty Electricity Website

"The slow spread of residential electrification in the US in the first half of the 20th century from urban to rural areas resulted by 1940 in two large populations; urban populations, with nearly complete electrification and rural populations exposed to varying levels of electrification depending on the progress of electrification in their state. It took until 1956 for US farms to reach urban and rural non-farm electrification levels. Both populations were covered by the US vital registration system. US vital statistics tabulations and census records for 1920-1960, and historical US vital statistics documents were examined. Residential electrification data was available in the US census of population for 1930, 1940 and 1950. Crude urban and rural death rates were calculated, and death rates by state were correlated with electrification rates by state for urban and rural areas for 1940 white resident deaths. Urban death rates were much higher than rural rates for cardiovascular diseases, malignant diseases, diabetes and suicide in 1940. Rural death rates were significantly correlated with level of residential electric service by state for most causes examined. I hypothesize that the 20th century epidemic of the so called diseases of civilization including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes and suicide was caused by electrification not by lifestyle. A large proportion of these diseases may therefore be preventable . . .To read study, click Download below

Link to Dirty Electricity Website

"High frequency voltages present on the electricity power wires in homes, offices, schools and factories should be considered a potential pollutant.  An inexpensive and simple to use instrument is described for measuring these voltages. 

 "The lack of connection between the human data and the experimental data (animal and mechanistic) severely complicates the interpretation of these results. The human data are in the "right" species, are tied to "real life" exposures and show some consistency that is difficult to ignore. This assessment is tempered by the observation that given the weak magnitude of these increased risks, some other factor of common source of error could explain these findings. However, no consistent explanation other than exposure to ELF-EMF has been identified."

"This report suggests that the "some other factor" is high frequency currents, i.e., much higher frequency than the power line frequency. High frequency voltage can cause currents to flow in humans by direct contact, or by capacitive coupling capacitive coupling. The effects on humans will depend on the magnitude, wave form, duration, and path taken through the body. The voltage causing these currents should be considered a pollutant.

Link to Dirty Electricity website

" . . . Of particular concern is the high-frequency current created by computers and other electronic devices, which is often called "dirty current." This current is created by numerous devices and is conducted nearly everywhere. The wiring in buildings then acts as antennae for the current, silently and insidiously assaulting those who play and work nearby.

"In other words, the wires that deliver electricity have also become conduits for deadly high-frequency radiation, a form of electrical pollution that has largely escaped attention by the medical community.

"The increased prevalence of this radiofrequency current has coincided with an alarming increase in the prevalence of ailments such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, attention deficit disorder, diabetes and asthma . . .