Report finds no health threat from PG&E SmartMeter

A long-awaited report on the possible dangers of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. SmartMeters found that radiation from the wireless devices does not threaten public health - at least not in any way proven by science.

The intensity of the meters' radiation falls well within federal limits for wireless devices, according to the report from the California Council on Science and Technology. And those limits are more than adequate to prevent the electromagnetic waves from heating human tissue, which the report calls the only proven health threat from waves of that frequency. But the report, requested last year by two California assemblymen, left open the possibility that other negative health effects from wireless devices may exist. That idea remains the subject of fierce international debate. As such, the report is unlikely to end the controversy surrounding PG&E's SmartMeters, which critics blame for triggering headaches and nausea in people who consider themselves sensitive to electromagnetic radiation.