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Power lines and people : research
The association of health issues and power lines are well established and not new. Three aspects tend to be addressed by the causative research: power frequencies, magnetic fields and electric fields. Perhaps the highest profile epidemiology is around childhood leukaemia, but suicide and depression also feature. In some countries the issue of ‘dirty electricity’ is particularly prevalent: the imposition of radio frequencies from extraneous sources into domestic supply and wiring. The re-radiation of these frequencies is perhaps closer to the issues around mobile communications, so look to that research also.
- Extremely Low Frequency Fields, WHO Environmental Health Criteria Monograph No.238
- Stakeholder Advisory Group on ELF EMFs (SAGE). Precautionary approaches to ELF EMFs. First Interim Assessment: Power Lines and Property, Wiring in Homes, and Electrical Equipment in Homes (2007). Participants disagree considerably as to the conclusions (comments are published), with industry views tending to regard cost of any further precaution as disproportionate to quantity or quality of life preserved.
- National Grid ‘EMFs Info’: the industry expert view
- National Grid: on the three major UK epidemiological studies. (Note: correlation with childhood leukaemias is clear, but without laboratory experiments that show causation, the correlation remains a curiosity, not a cause for action.)
- (Industry) Energy Networks Association on concerns about EM fields and health
- Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines in England and Wales: a case-control study, Gerald Draper et al., BMJ 2005; 330:1290 (4 June)
- Other relevant papers by Gerald Draper
- The Health Protection Agency response to the Draper Report, 2005
- Further interpretation of the Draper findings
- National Grid selection: Suicide and depression abstracts
- The Human Radiation Effects Group, Bristol University
- Powerwatch
- Trentham Environmental Action Campaign
- SAGE (Stakeholder Advisory Group ELF EMF)
- Are low-frequency environmental electromagnetic fields a health hazard?: Royal Society Lecture 2004 on the consequences of finding that low level power frequency fields are harmful.
- An Evaluation of the Possible Risks From Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMFs) From Power Lines, Internal Wiring, Electrical Occupations and Appliances, California EMF program
- Assessment of Health Effects from Exposure to Power-Line Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, 1998
- Fields of Influence, Institute of Science in Society
Case examples
- Seabrook Avenue: DEATH ROAD; Frightening Toll of Killer Diseases Hits Residents in Shadow of High-Voltage Tower 23 in Same Street Die of Cancer and Heart Attacks Blamed on Massive Pylon Safety Report Likely to Brand Power Masts as Health Risk for First Time.
- Briefing Report on Electromagnetic Fields: Health Effects, Public Policy and Site Planning, CL Sage, SA Sage, J. Aust. Coll. Nutr. & Env. Med. Vol. 25 No.2 (August 2006)
Relevant research papers
- Low-frequency transient electric and magnetic fields coupling to child body, S Ozen, Radiation Protection Dosimetry 2008 128(1):62-67
- Residence Near Power Lines and Mortality From Neurodegenerative Diseases: Longitudinal Study of the Swiss Population, Huss A, Spoerri A, Egger M, Röösli M, American Journal of Epidemiology, Nov. 2008
- Exposure to Magnetic Fields and Survival after Diagnosis of Childhood Leukemia: A German Cohort Study, Svendson et al., Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention 16, 1167-1171, June 1, 2007
- Cell Activating Capacity of 50 Hz Magnetic Fields to Release Reactive Oxygen Intermediates in Human Umbilical Cord Blood-derived Monocytes and in Mono Mac 6 Cells, Lupke et al., Free Radical Research, Vol. 38, No. 9, September, 2004
- Residential exposure to electric power transmission lines and risk of lymphoproliferative and myeloproliferative disorders: a case-control study, Lowenthal et al., Intern Med J, 2007 Jun 2
- Magnetic fields and breast cancer in Swedish adults residing near high-voltage power lines, Feychting et al., Epidemiology, 1998 Jul;9(4)
- An independent perspective on extremely low frequency magnetic fields as a possible risk factor for the breast cancer cluster at the Brisbane ABC studios at Toowong Queensland, Don Maisch, 2007
