Smart meters

I am submitting this comment in response to HHS’s Request for Information on Electromagnetic Fields (EMFs), Radiofrequency (RF) Radiation, and Wireless Radiation Exposure. I am responding from the perspective of a person who has experienced and continues to experience problems with EMFs, RF Radiation, and WI-FI. I discovered these as the source of my headaches about eighteen years ago and I have had to take numerous steps in my life to avoid these things. When I lived in a city surrounded by towers, I lived with headaches every day and night. So I had to move to a place in a tiny village where I had no cell phone service in the house. When I moved here, there was only one cell tower within half a mile of my house, now there are three. I have hard cabled computer and Internet, not WI-FI, and I have hard wired phones, no walk-around phones. I also have no microwave. I do own a cell phone but I only use it when I am away from home, and then I use it with a shield covering it. I had to pay thousands of dollars to remove the smart meter from the side of my home (the utility company refused my request to replace it with an analog meter), have it mounted on a power pole away from the house and bury the lines from the meter to the house, because whenever I was in the room where the smart meter was mounted on the outside, I could not stay more than several minutes before I got a headache and had to leave the room. When driving across the country, I can point out the location of cell towers and commercial broadcast towers because of the location of the pain drilling into my head (left side, right side, front or back). When I am somewhere that has WI-FI, I get a headache (and almost everyplace has WI-FI!). When traveling, I have to request a motel room as far away from the WI-FI router as possible, and even then I have sometimes had to leave in the middle of the night because of a severe headache. I’ve even had to leave some stores because of the headache I get from their WI-FI. When these things are strong, I sometimes also get nauseous. When I get away from the sources of EMFs and RFs, I feel fine. I am not the only person I know who is affected in this way. One of my cousins has now taken to wearing a hat lined with EMF/RF-blocking material because of the severe headaches he experiences. He even has to wear this in the office where he works. I support HHS taking an active role in examining the potential health and environmental effects of wireless radiation. Questions about human health should be addressed by federal agencies with appropriate expertise in medicine, biology, epidemiology, and public health, and the experiences of individuals and families who report being affected should be considered alongside the scientific evidence. I urge HHS to carefully evaluate these experiences and the scientific evidence, identify gaps in current research, give particular attention to children and other potentially vulnerable populations, and establish appropriate federal research priorities regarding wireless radiation and public health. Thank you for providing individuals and families with an opportunity to be heard.

I am extremely sensitive to EMF fields. Since moving to a new home with a smart meter, I’ve had to live in people’s basements that don’t have them. It’s the only way I feel good. When I’m in my home I get headaches, dizziness, nausea, and eventually my muscles feel very weak. It’s hard to stand, and I have an overall feeling of sickness. I am a career woman. I work very hard. I enjoy supporting myself and my children. I fear my future and my health. I’d like to feel good in my home and be able to work and look forward to the future. I beg that there be some kind of parameters around certain electromagnetic fields that are stronger and can have serious declining health, risks. I have asked my gas and electric company to remove the smart meter and put an old-school analog reader on it and I will pay the extra monthly fee for them to read it and they have declined. Please help.

I am a retired RN from California. I had exposures to cell phones, wifi, and electronic devices on the job. I have exposures to cell phones, cell phone towers, wifi and power lines in my personal life. I had exposure to smart meters, which, when implemented coincided with neurological symptoms. After opting out of the smart meter installation and going back to an analog electric meter, the neurological symptoms ceased. Scarato, T. (2025). U.S. policy on wireless technologies and public health protection: Regulatory gaps and proposed reforms. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, 1677583. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1677583 Melnick, R. L., Moskowitz, J. M., & International Commission on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields (ICBE-EMF). (2026). Exposure limits to radiofrequency EMF do not account for cancer risk or reproductive toxicity assessed from data in experimental animals. Environmental Health, 25(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-026-01288-6 Lai, H., & Levitt, B. B. (2024). Cellular and molecular effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields. Reviews on Environmental Health, 39(3), 519–529. https://doi.org/10.1515/reveh-2023-0023 Panagopoulos, D. J., Karabarbounis, A., Yakymenko, I., & Chrousos, G. P. (2021). Human-made electromagnetic fields: Ion forced-oscillation and voltage-gated ion channel dysfunction, oxidative stress and DNA damage (Review). International Journal of Oncology, 59(5), 92. https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2021.5272

Please follow the many studies, including those by the NIH, about the harm and DNA damage that wireless radiation, RF radiation from Smart Meters, and EMFs can cause especially to children, when making decisions about how these are implemented and often forced on citizens. In my state of Massachusetts our utility companies are able to charge us unrestricted fees if we choose to not have a dangerous Smart Meter installed. This is wrong. We should not be charged several hundred dollars per year to opt out of dangerous radiation. Thank-you.

I was a small business owner/community organizer whose business was targeted and shut down by the FDA for the sale of all natural herbal products (no extracts or synthetics) several years back. My staff and I coordinated a community protest which attracted the attention of several major AP news outlets which showed favorable coverage for what our community leaders (including veterans and chronic condition sufferers) had to share which ultimately led to the overturning of the citywide ban (and a year later a nationwide DEA ban was overturned). Less than 6 months after this ban was overturned I began to experience issues with my electronic devices (around the time when the Pegasus cell phone hacking software was leaked into the US black market) which originally targeted my e-mails and locked me out of several of my accounts (Facebook, G-mail) & was persistent in distracting me from being present at my business. I reported the incident and spent dozens of hours at various customer services repair locations receiving the runaround (whom at that time did not acknowledge the Pegasus virus and said that such an attack was impossible on their platforms which was later proven to be false around that time). As a person in the public spotlight whom had caught the negative attention of powerful people potentially either in Big Pharma or elsewhere I believe that I was a target after the major national news publications and coverage which my name was featured involving this controversial issue. By the end of the following year I began experiencing audible & tactile hallucinations after what I believe to be a coordinated attack that was induced by the stress of the situations, the uncertainty of what was going on with my devices at the time and most importantly worsened and influenced by the remote access into my personal devices. My hallucinations persist to this day (even after being completely sober off of all medicines and even herbals for several years before getting psychiatric treatment with some prescribed medication). There were numerous times when it seemed like my condition was improving and my devices would start overheating and I would notice correspondence with my newer electronic devices also overheating and acting strange. This (along with TDCS neurofeedback therapy which taught me about my brainwaves and their relation to electricity with weekly measurements and 4 QEEG scans) inspired me to invest in an EMF reader, gauss meter, multimeter a non-ionizing fan and several other debugging tools which I use when I experience my symptoms flair up. Sometimes they are mild with all of the treatment and holistic practices such as breathing exercise as well as combining with sinewave generators. I also eliminated owning a smart phone and only have a flip phone and a home phone which has caused my symptoms to improve & only allowing hardwired non-wireless signals in my apartment (also has improved the functionality of my devices). I have been notified several times that my info has been leaked onto the dark web as well since these issues started. My symptoms still persist and I get weekly treatment for them and although milder occasionally flare up which leads me to believe that there is an issue with the IOT in my apartment and also noticed that using the non-ionizing fan improved my symptoms briefly when I sit next to it before they worsen again after a brief period of time which leads me to belief that EMF and perhaps electrostatic combined with IR (from my lights in my home) could be impacting my condition and as air gapped as my apartment is, I have to believe it can only be an IOT attack, the dormant qwest/centurylink lines that are not functional for connection or a smart meter related issue that is influencing the electrical outlets and using the sensors of my refrigerator to crank out more EMF/electrostatic or Ferromagnetic waves based on my debugging. The smart meter box/ped cans at my apt complex are loose and there are exposed wiring which has been reported to both the power company (United) and Centurylink but neither have been repaired and the ped cans are loose all over the neighborhood. This is at the Bridge Square Apartments in Brighton, CO with strange IR signals coming from the north parking lot where the smart meter also is. If you read the reviews for this apartment complex online you can see that it looks like several other residents were dealing with mental health issues hear and strange targeting activity which may just be an unfortuitous coincidence as I just moved here in March and my other activity/phenomena was been going on for many years. There is also a business adjacent to that lot which after researching online has ties to testing military technology for large companies whom are aligned with support for a foreign country which I will not name (even anonymously).

I have electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Being exposed to cell towers and smart meters causes an electrical current/buzzing feeling running through my body. LED lights also cause me health issues. I can't drive at night at all and only when absolutely necessary during the day because of LED street lights and headlights. They give me migraines and cause extreme pain in my eyes. I have to wear sunglasses and keep my eyes closed if I am in a car as a passenger at night which is only when absolutely necessary. I have had 4 LED street lights in close proximity to my home for 2 years now since  the electric company came and changed the HPS lights to LED.  Because of the electromagnetic hypersensitivity, when the LED streetlights are on I feel an electrical current/buzzing running through my body while INSIDE my home.  I suffer from debilitating migraine headaches brought on by these LED lights even  when I am inside my home.  I am also confined to my home after dark because of them and even before as they come on at  least an hour before it is dark. I can't even look out my window when they are on because if I happen  to look the wrong way and catch a glimpse of them, I will get a migraine.  LED lights have detrimental effects on humans, insects and all wildlife. It is  no different than poisoning all of the citizens and wildlife. Why would ANY city allow this  to happen let alone do this to their citizens?

I am one of the growing number of people who has had my life disrupted from wireless devices, even though these common devices meet the current FCC guidelines. I became ill in 2012 when a smart meter was installed on my home with no notification of dangers to my health. I became ill with a condition known as Electromagnetic Sensitivity, which sounds mild enough, but has been a devastating life change. I have been misled by the US government, the FCC, and the wireless industry who state that the radiation that made me ill is safe. It is unusual to recover from this condition once one has become seriously ill as I have. When I am exposed to radiation from wireless sources such as cell phones, wi-fi, cell towers, wireless smart meters, and other wireless devices, I experience adverse health effects including headache, nausea, dizziness, exhaustion just from brief exposures. Brief exposures take three days or more to recover from. If the exposure is longer, even at very low levels of radio frequency radiation, recovery can take three to six months during which I am too ill to risk leaving my house. Longer exposures cause a headache which does not resolve for months, prolonged dizziness and profound exhaustion along with skin rashes, insomnia, systemic edema, metal confusion and difficulty concentrating, stomach and joint pain, and irritability among other symptoms. Recovery is slow and partial, it does not return me to health, just a more functional level of existence. Before the effects on my life from developing wireless radiation sickness I enjoyed an active social and creative life. I painted and exhibited my work in galleries. I enjoyed social dancing and was taking five dance classes a week learning tango and salsa that I drove an hour away from home for. These activities are no long possible. Once the smart meter was installed I became so seriously ill that I could barely care for myself and repeatedly requested that the utility company remove the meter. I was diagnosed with Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity, but my doctor's letter was ignored by Edison. Finally, nine months later an analogue meter was installed and I assumed I would get well. That did not happen. It was necessary to totally change my life. I had to get rid of my mobile phone, cordless phones, microwave oven, and now have to sit over two feet away in order to use my wired computer and have to be three feet away from electric appliances in order to use them. I can not travel anywhere in a car without reacting to cell towers. I can not go into stores because of wi-fi. I can not go anywhere in public, church, concerts, art galleries, etc. because almost everyone carries a cell phone. At this point I am confined to my house. Friends shop for food and deliver it for me. I only leave my home a few times a year for dental and eye appointments. I have consultations with my physician by phone to limit exposures. I am very isolated from direct human contact. The FCC adopted its human exposure guidelines in 1996 based on science from the 1980's. This ignores the large and growing body of science showing biological harm even at non-thermal levels. Please read and respond to the link to one of these studies below. Becoming Electro-Hypersensitive: A Replication Study. Dieudonne, M. Bioelectromagnetic 40:188-200. (2019). 

I am very interested in EMF regulation. Our world envelops us more and more with EMFs and no way to avoid exposure. I think public education is needed to make everyone aware of this invisible danger to our health and learn of ways to mitigate it. If EMFs could be minimized rather than maximized in smart meters, appliances, cell phones, cars, etc then we could live healthier lives. Rather than having connectivity be prioritized, I would love a world where our health is the priority.

It is affecting many people in buildings and homes with the 5G frequencies meter boxes high voltage regulations and when you go to the hospital you come out more sicker because of the magnetic field that it has the frequencies with WiFi throughout the corridors and the patient's room. Please take notice and prevention. My suggestion is due Obama insurance care

In 2017, I was diagnosed with GAD due to strong feelings of stress/panic, muscle tension (especially in jaw), and trouble breathing. I was given fluoxetine and took magnesium and a B-vitamin complex, which all seemed to help. Since my marriage in 2020, my family has sought to decrease our RF/EMF exposure because of health issues my husband was experiencing (he has submitted his own comment). By then, I had stopped taking fluoxetine because I hoped to get pregnant. My anxiety improved over the first few years of our marriage, so that I now no longer consider myself to have GAD. I suspect that my anxiety symptoms improved because of my family's efforts to reduce RF/EMF exposure; my symptoms reappear at times that correlate with RF/EMF exposure. I first realized this when my favorite armchair was positioned over an ungrounded extension cord running to a nearby lamp: whenever I had been sitting in the chair for a while, I would feel extremely anxious and tense and have trouble breathing, even if nothing stressful was going on. When my husband wrapped the cord in aluminum foil and attached a grounding wire to it, the problem went away. I have noticed similar recurrences of my anxiety symptoms, as well as increased brain fog, memory trouble, concentration trouble, obsessive/repetitive thoughts, and general malaise when exposed to smart meters up to about 30' away, a smart garage door opener about 20' away, and bluetooth and wi-fi at distances exceeding 10'. I usually notice the feeling before I realize what's causing it, and when the source is turned off, the symptoms go away, sometimes instantly and sometimes fading more slowly. We recently discovered that dirty electricity may also cause me problems. We were living in a house where I was having all of the symptoms I've already mentioned stronger than normal, and my husband asked me to sit on a couch where I had felt those symptoms particularly strongly before while he systematically turned the circuits in the house on and off until we isolated the circuit that the garage freezer was on. I felt fine when the circuit was on and the freezer was not running, but once the freezer kicked on, even though it was halfway across the house from me, I felt like a wave of something hit me: I was aware of everything happening around me, but I felt zombie-like, and it took massive effort to think or respond to anything. I also felt this sensation recently in a hotel with wi-fi routers on a shared grid, but it improved when we were moved to a room without a router. Additionally, I notice a dull headache if I put my iPhone 6 to my head to talk on a call, so I usually use speakerphone. I have not been able to upgrade my phone despite increasing compatibility issues because anything newer causes sharper headaches, even on speakerphone. The headache lasts for at least 15 minutes after the call ends. Taking magnesium and B-vitamin supplements still tends to reduce but not eliminate my symptoms when I am exposed to something.