WSSC Hired an Industry Tied Expert To Investigate Health Effects of "Smart" Meters that Emit Radiofrequency Radiation

Listen into  a discussion at 1 hour and 35 minutes into WSSC Commission Meeting - September 18 2019

where Commissioners talk about WSSCs "study" on health effects. They thought North Carolina State University would do the report for $40,000 to 45,000.  

See it here http://wsscwater.granicus.com/player/clip/507?meta_id=19210

Then somehow that fell though, so WSSC hired an industry tied expert for half the price at just $20,000. 

Maybe the WSSC was unaware that EPRI is an industry funded consulting firm. 

SSC Answer: Per our correspondence, the request for quote was provided to you on September 15, 2020.

See request for work HERE

See scope of work for Leeka Khefits PhD HERE. 

WSSC paid her 20,000. 

Note Leeka Khefits, PhD is an industry consultant and has received funds from organizations funded by companies that use  smart meters and companies that have a conflict of interest. 

Watch the "expert" testify here.  She downplays the health effects from radio frequency . 

See her industry connections here. 

Professor Leeka Kheifets has has frequently been hired by utility companies to talk about Smart Meters, wireless and electromagnetic radiation health effects.

Many of her studies were financially supported by EPRI. 

The Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI an organization funded by the electric utility industry.  They conducts research on issues related to the electric power industry. EPRI's corporate members represent more than 90 percent of the electricity generated and delivered in the United States. 

For example, her study “Race/ethnicity and the risk childhood leukemia: a case-control study in California states, “This project was supported by a research contract from the Electric Power Research Institute to UCLA”

“Prior to UCLA, she was “a Technical Executive” at the Electric Power Research Institute, “where she directed a multi-disciplinary electric and magnetic fields (EMF) research program”

• The study Magnetic fields exposure from high-voltage power lines and risk of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in two Italian populations states, “Dr. received funding from EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute) for other research activity and not for the present study. All the remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.”

• Residential magnetic fields exposure and childhood leukemia: a population-based case–control study in California funded by EPRI 

• The study Race/ethnicity and the risk childhood leukemia: a case-control study in California states, “This project was supported by a research contract from the Electric Power Research Institute to UCLA”

  
  

Leeka Kheifets was an expert consultant to SDG&E on the health effects of smart meters.

“PG&E flew Leeka Kheifets, a University of California Los Angeles professor and epidemiology authority, to the event to address health concerns.”

UCLA Public Health Professor Responds to Smart Meter Questions

Industry scientist paid $14,681 for one day of testimony promoting Smart Meters

•  Leeka Kheifets, lately of UCLA, but also connected to the utility industry’s Electric Power Research Institute and the World Health Organization conflict-of-interest filled EMF Project, has frequently appeared for PG&E, APS, and other utility companies to vouch for Smart Meter and wireless safety. What does an industry “expert” like Leeka Kheifets get paid for her testimony? 

• APS retained Dr. Kheifets to present on behalf of the Company at the Commission’s September 8, 2011 workshop regarding radio frequency concerns for a total remuneration of $14,681.14.

Long time relationship with EPRI-- 

According to her UCLA Web page. Dr Kheifets is most familiar with research on effects of EMFs on human health. “Prior to her professorship at UCLA, she was Head of the Radiation Studies Program at the World Health Organization and was a Technical Executive at the Electric Power Research Institute, where she directed a multi-disciplinary electric and magnetic fields (EMF) research program”

October 2007 EPRI update : Dr. Leeka Kheifets, now an EPRI research consultant, is a member of the committee. 

More than 10 years ago the electric utility industry paid Leeka Kheifets $50,000 for a literature review. UCLA School of Public Health and Leeka Khefiets received $50,000 from EPRI for her work on the WHO workshop on EMF risks to children. UCLA calls it a “ joint WHO/EPRI” workshop. That’s a lot money for a review paper (250 hours @$200/hour) stated Microwave News.  

She was a member of the IEEE 2005 Subcommittee member, a long-term employee and on-going consultant for the Electric Power Institute (EPRI) and for various electrical utility corporations. 

 

Shortly after founding the International EMF Project, Michael Repacholi recruited Kheifets to join him. After leaving the International EMF Project she became a “Professor-in-Residence” of Epidemiology at UCLA, though she continues to be funded by EPRI and by electrical utilities. 

 

She is a member of the Independent Scientific Advisory Group to Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM)[127] and a Member of ICNIRP’s Standing Committee on Epidemiology. She was a member of IARC’s Expert Workshop on ELF (Extremely Low Frequency) electromagnetic radiation which in 2001 declared such radiation to be a possible carcinogen. She voted in favor of this finding.

 

 

She did not report that she has been a grant reviewer for the Fondation Santé et Radiofréquences y Swiss National Science Foundation. Fondation Santé et Radiofréquences, is a research foundation created under the leadership of the French Ministry of Research and with public interest status. Half of the budget is State funded, and the other half is provided by industry. Among the industries that contributed to the creation of this foundation were Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson France et Motorola, Bouygues Telecom, Orange France et SFR, TDF et Towercast. 

She has participated in projects funded by the Swiss Research Foundation on Mobile Communication de Zurich. Among the five founders of this organization are Swisscom a Swiss telecommunications company, telephony and mobile telephony and Internet service provider; Orange; Sunrise, a Swiss telecommunications provider based in Zurich; and, 3G Mobile, which was liquidated in 2011).

Childhood leukaemia and distance from power lines in California: a population-based case-control study states “This work was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute” 

Examples of her research that found harmful effects after exposure to radio frequency radiation. 

• Associations of Maternal Cell-Phone Use During Pregnancy With Pregnancy Duration and Fetal Growth in 4 Birth Cohorts. Maternal cell-phone use during pregnancy may be associated with shorter pregnancy duration and increased risk of preterm birth, 

• Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy and child behavioral problems in five birth cohorts.Maternal cell phone use during pregnancy may be associated with an increased risk for behavioral problems, particularly hyperactivity/inattention problems, in the offspring. 

• Prenatal and Postnatal Cell Phone Exposures and Headaches in Children.cell phone exposures were associated with headaches in children, 

• Cell phone exposures and hearing loss in children in the Danish National Birth Cohort.We observed weak associations between cell phone use and hearing loss at age 7,

• Cell phone use and behavioural problems in young children.The findings of the previous publication were replicated in this separate group of participants demonstrating that cell phone use was associated with behavioural problems at age 7 years in children, and this association 

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20877339 Conclusions:Our results are in line with previous pooled analyses showing an association between magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia.