Fair Use Statement

Thursday, August 9, 2001
Risks to health are too high
BY ROGER CONANT, PH.D.

Source: PioneerPlanet.com.

Magnetic fields emitted by transmission power lines in backyards likely cause miscarriages, leukemia, brain cancer and Lou Gehrig's disease. They may cause breast cancer, Alzheimer's disease, suicide and heart problems. These are the findings of a recent $7 million evaluation conducted by the California Department of Health Sciences. The department determined these magnetic fields could lead to a six-fold increase in miscarriages.

The Washington State Department of Health says exposure to intense magnetic fields explains the five-fold historical increase in childhood leukemia.

The British National Radiological Protection Board found an association between magnetic fields and childhood leukemia. The German Federal Ministry for the Environment concludes sleeping children in their beds are especially vulnerable. The World Health Organization has just characterized these magnetic fields as a Group 2B Carcinogen. (All of these studies and many more are available through the Power Line Task Force Web site, at www.powerlinefacts.com.)

Fortunately, the studies are unanimous in agreeing the danger from magnetic fields appears only at intensities greater than four times the average household intensity. Those who live in old houses with badly outdated wiring may have a problem. Microwave ovens and electric blankets can be dangerous. Children appear to be especially vulnerable.

And those who live very near transmission power lines have a big problem. They are continuously bathed in high-intensity magnetic fields.

This is not an abstract issue. Xcel Energy is proposing to build a transmission line through the southeast metro on the site of an existing line. Xcel's own data suggest those who live next to the line currently are exposed to between 54 and 256 times the average household magnetic field intensities -- well into the recognized danger zone. While the proposed new line would temporarily cut these exposures in half (the California evaluation suggests this will not help), the fields would soon return to nearly their original levels.

Similar lines exist all over the state. Xcel data (available on our Web site) show nearby power lines threaten hundreds of homes located in the metropolitan area. Low-frequency magnetic fields have been a concern ever since 1979. The concern was somewhat alleviated by major studies conducted between 1997 and 1999, which yielded results some claimed showed there was no evidence of a problem.

Xcel wrote in 1999, "There is no evidence of health effects from power lines or exposure to EMF, even at high levels." The utility industry's research arm, the EPRI, found the "data concerning EMF and other cancers to be inadequate."

But last year, three separate groups of researchers reviewed these studies, and all agreed the three studies should have identified an association between magnetic fields and disease. The three studies' original authors led one of these groups.

Unfortunately, the earlier invalid results continue to confuse the issue. The National Institutes of Health was misled, as was the National Research Council and even our own Department of Health. All have expressed concern over magnetic fields, but, influenced by the three studies, said they could not conclude there was a problem. These outdated positions are still cited by those who wish to downplay the issue.

Xcel no longer claims there is no evidence. It now says the evidence is not "convincing," and it does not constitute "proof." It thereby parrots the tobacco industry, which in 1954 claimed the association between smoking and lung cancer "is questioned by numerous scientists" and asserted, "there is no proof that cigarette smoking is one of the causes."

The tobacco industry was wrong then, and Xcel is wrong now. There is strong evidence, and it is frightening.

As individuals, most of us can avoid the dangers of magnetic fields. Children should not be permitted to sleep in vulnerable bedrooms. Pregnant women should avoid sources of such fields.

However, those who live near transmission power lines cannot avoid the dangerous magnetic fields. Without relief, members of these families will get sick and may die. The utility industry should move or bury those lines that represent a clear and present danger.