Appliances also a hazard: Canadian experts say evidence is still
inconclusive
Hydro Power transmission lines are emitters of electromagnetic fields
that a California report links to disease in humans. Overhead power
lines and household electrical appliances very likely increase the
risk of developing cancer, according to preliminary findings from
an eight-year study into the health effects of electromagnetic fields.
The California study, considered the largest project examining the
effects of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on health, suggests hundreds
of thousands of people, particularly children, are at risk from
life-threatening illnesses linked to the emissions. Pregnant women
are also at greater risk of miscarriage.
The latest findings were commissioned by the California Public Utilities
Commission, which is expected to publish the full report within
several months. Scientists also reviewed a large number of previous
studies from around the world and carried out new research in the
San Francisco area.
The researchers said their findings show EMFs increase the risks
of life-threatening illnesses, including childhood leukemia, adult
brain cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a degenerative disease
that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.
"People have a right to be warned, but whether a major effort
to reduce EMFs is appropriate must still be decided," said
Vincent DelPizzo, a senior member of the research team from the
California Department of Health Services.
Fergal Nolan, president of the Radiation Safety Institute of Canada,
a national independent safety group, said: "So far, the information
that's been available says the evidence is inconclusive. "Assertions
have come out and have said EMFs have been causing cancers, but
no reliable scientific evidence has come out to date to support
that."
"This may tip the balance, I don't know yet," said Tony
Muc, president and chief physicist with Canadian-based Radiation
Health and Safety Consulting. The findings could be "as significant
as conclusions about smoking and lung cancer," he said. "Now
the evidence is strong [on tobacco-related cancer] despite the early
debates decades ago whether or not smoking was harmful."
However, Mr. Muc, who has studied the issue for 30 years, said:
"I am in the camp that would still say, pending a further look
at this particular study, that it remains inconclusive." Mr.
Muc taught non-ionizing radiation with an emphasis on environmental
health and safety issues at the University of Toronto for more than
20 years.
Neither specialist would comment on the specific findings because
they have not reviewed the research and its methodology.
"If the study comes out and shows conclusively that EMF exposure
from power lines and home appliances, your ovens and clothing irons
and kettles, cause cancer, well, that is a very serious matter,"
Mr. Nolan said. "Certainly, it would be significant."
"All you have to do is look out the window and see there are
power lines everywhere," he added. "If one is exposed
to EMF from all kinds of sources in common use, that is obviously
a serious matter. It would become a public health issue."
Regardless of conflicting findings, governments, communities and
individuals across the country have taken some precautions.
In some cities, power lines running along or over highways and residential
areas now are carried by much higher poles. A more costly option,
removing them from the air and placing them underground, has been
considered but the option is very costly.
"There appears to be a lot of concern in the public and the
workplace about this, to the extent when a power line or a cellphone
tower are proposed near neighbourhoods [people don't want them there],"
Mr. Nolan said.
In 1994, a major study involving 223,000 men who worked at electric
utilities in Ontario, Quebec and France linked exposure to magnetic
fields to elevated rates of leukemia. It reviewed the cancer experience
of workers employed at Ontario Hydro, Hydro-Quebec and Electricité
de France from 1970 to 1989. Over the study period, the men developed
4,151 cases of cancer, of which 140 were leukemia and 108 were brain
cancers.
It found those exposed to above-average magnetic fields had leukemia
rates as much as three times the level of those exposed to weaker
fields. It also found the incidence of brain cancer among workers
exposed to the most intense magnetic fields was 12 times that of
those exposed to weaker fields, but the result was considered inconclusive
because of the small number of cases involved.
The latest findings could prompt a string of lawsuits against power
companies or domestic appliance manufacturers.
In Britain, Ray and Denise Studholme believe their son Simon would
still be alive if he had not been subjected to a strong electromagnetic
field in his bedroom. The boy slept in a room where his head was
less than one metre from an electricity meter and a burglar alarm
in a hall cupboard. According to the family, tests after their son's
death revealed the two appliances gave off an EMF more than six
times the recommended safe limit. Simon was diagnosed with leukemia
in November, 1990. He died in September, 1992, aged 13. The family
hopes to use the study's findings to launch a case against their
electricity supplier. "If I had known about the electromagnetic
fields, Simon would not have been sleeping there," Mr. Studholme
said. "Within six months of moving here, he used to get up
in the morning complaining of headaches and feeling light-headed."
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