It takes courage to be even a little ahead of the curve as an elected representative. We see this on the federal level, where typically bills are passed that are already law in many states.

In the arena of safe technology — legislation that attempts to put any kind of guardrails on the steadily increasing levels of wireless exposure we are all experiencing 24/7 — we have a situation where the people who are being impacted the most dramatically are children and the EMF-disabled (EMF stands for “electromagnetic frequency” of the sort emitted by wireless devices like cellphones, routers, smart meters, cell towers, etc. The current estimate is that 1-2% of the population are experiencing disabling symptoms, while 30-40% are in the early stages with headaches, fatigue, brainfog and attention issues).

Neither of these groups are well suited for knocking on (or down) doors at the State House. Children generally do not know they are being impacted and the EMF-disabled often have challenges accessing public spaces.

State Sen. Paul Mark gets this, and he also gets what it means to be EMF-disabled because before he went to law school he worked as a lineman for Verizon. Back then it was already known that telecom workers in high-exposure environments were at risk for injury. The senator also cares about kids and it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out our current exposure limits are inadequate.

These were set in 1996 based on tests lasting less than an hour on eight rats and five monkeys who were food-deprived and then EMF-exposed to the point where they no longer pressed the lever for more food. Clearly, one hour of torturing mammals has little to do with cradle-to-grave exposure or a classroom where 20 children connect to a commercial router every day. All those laptops emit radiation and the result is a very “hot” space.

Environmental Working Group, a D.C. nonprofit, published a peer-reviewed study that said children’s exposure limits should be hundreds of times lower than the current standards. In 2021, the FCC’s decision to not review them was deemed “arbitrary and capricious” by a federal court of appeals given the 11,000 pages of submitted evidence demonstrating biological harm.

What’s a senator to do? We know after a Freedom of Information Act request that the Department of Public Utilities solicited testimony in 2014 from tobacco scientist Peter Valberg to quell the “vocal” ratepayers who were concerned about the impending smart meter rollout (see hilltownhealth.org). Now National Grid will be rolling them out in 2024 and Eversource in 2025.

Sen. Mark is the vice chair of the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy. He and the chairperson want to move a no-fee smart meter opt-out bill out of committee. But there is a rift with the House side so … what’s going to happen? The uncontested certainty is banks of smart meters installed on the other side of children’s bedrooms in low-income housing, continuing America’s long tradition of experimenting on communities experiencing systemic inequity.

Meanwhile in Silicon Valley, tech moguls are signing contracts with their nannies to not allow their children on screens, and older children attend screen-free schools. I wonder what they know?

It’s easy to agree teenagers are facing a mental health crisis. But screen time and deliberately addictive app design is just one side of the coin. No one’s told them about the industry warning buried in their phone about keeping it a certain distance from their bodies, not to mention sharing the research about wireless and depression, anxiety and attention issues. Sen. Julian Cyr’s bill would make sure they see the warning.

Sens. Mark, Cyr, Moore and others need your help need your help to move five EMF-related bills out of committee by Feb. 7. The Wi-Fi in Schools bill will direct the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to establish a set of best practices protective of student health. Now we know that with a few mouse clicks we can reduce exposure from routers by 90% without compromising connectivity (see techsafeschools.org/mitigation).

Hawlemont, Full Circle and Hartsbrook schools have reduced student exposure after reviewing the science. Will yours be next? We know that Chattanooga, Tennessee’s smart grid is hard-wired and safe. These bills are overdue baby steps. Let’s get them out of committee. Take five minutes and sign on to Massachusetts for Safe Technology’s action item by Sunday, Jan. 28 at ma4safetech.org/take-action. Your cells thank you!

Jonathan Mirin of Charlemont is a co-founder of Hilltown Health, artistic director of Piti Theatre Company and creator of the award-winning documentary “Canary in a Gold Mine” which is available for free for Massachusetts residents until Feb. 7 in honor of this historic opportunity at ptco.org/canary. He is currently reaching the end of a three-year process of working with the Charlemont Planning Board to update their 20-year old cell tower bylaw and welcomes interested Charlemont residents to contact admin@hilltownhealth.org.