reprinted from

OEMNews 1(2):6-7, Winter 1994-1995.

Electric and Magnetic Fields

Possible health effects from exposure to power frequency electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) were reported in Soviet research in the late 1960s. These early studies reported that Soviet workers in high-voltage power switch yards suffered from a number of non-specific ailments. In the United States, scientific and public interest in EMFs increased with the publication in 1979 of an epidemiology study by Wertheimer and Leeper showing a slightly increased risk of leukemia among children in Denver who lived near certain power line configurations that seemed to have higher magnetic field levels than other types of lines. Since this study, increasingly sophisticated epidemiologic studies have been conducted, with mixed results, and the issue continues to gain public attention.

In 1977, DOE began research on electric field effects to address concerns for utility worker safety. The program has evolved to become a major multi-disciplinary applied research program that focuses on plausible hypotheses and mechanisms for biological effects from EMF exposure in the 60-hertz range. Because of the importance and ubiquity of electricity in an industrialized society, the potential health effects of EMF must be addressed. Coordinated research on the health issues surrounding EMF exposure is conducted by DOE, other Federal agencies, utility organizations such as EPRI, and international researchers.

In September 1994, the Office of Energy Management (OEM) hosted a workshop with biologists and epidemiologists to help determine what aspects of EMFs to measure in looking for possible causes of health effects. Currently, studies only consider the strength of the fields. OEM co-sponsored the Annual Research Review, the major international conference on EMF issues, held November 6-10, 1994, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Two DOE programs address EMF issues: the EMF Biological Mechanisms Research Program and the EMF Research and Public Information Dissemination (RAPID) Program. OEM has three team members involved in these programs. Imre Gyuk is program manager for the EMF Biological Mechanisms Research Program. Lynne Gillette is program manager for the EMF RAPID Program, established under Section 2118 of the Energy Policy Act. Roland George will administer the Department's responsibilities under RAPID for supporting the EMF Interagency Committee, the National EMF Advisory Committee, National Academy of Sciences activities, and solicitation of non-Federal contributions.

The EMF Biological Mechanisms Research Program conducts research designed to develop a scientific basis for addressing questions of possible EMF health effects. This goal-oriented, applied research program works closely with other public-sector and private-sector efforts to provide credible information to policy and decision makers.

The diverse nature of the work engenders cooperation between biological scientists, physicists, and engineers. The DOE EMF Biological Mechanisms Research Program works with Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), as well as with private institutions, the Veterans Administration, EPA, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

Complementary activities with EMF RAPID include multi-laboratory replication studies, workshops, information exchange, and technical conferences. Results of these research activities are used for the risk assessment model being developed for the EMF RAPID Program. The primary goal of this program is to identify and describe the underlying mechanisms through which EMF exposures affect biological systems. This information will lead to an understanding of dose/response relationships, so that definitive epidemiologic and toxicologic studies can be designed to assess possible health risks. A theoretical framework to explain EMF effects will help us predict the possible risk of EMF exposure to public health.

The EMF RAPID Program's goal is determining if EMFs associated with the generation, transmission, and use of electrical energy pose a risk to human health. The program adopts the hypothesis that exposure to electric or magnetic fields under some conditions may lead to unacceptable risk to human health. The focus of the program is not only to test the hypotheses for health effects suggested by some epidemiologic studies, but to identify any special conditions that may lead to elevated risk and develop measures to manage field exposures. EMF RAPID Program research is jointly directed by DOE and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). NIEHS manages the health effects and risk assessment segments of EMF RAPID, while DOE manages the engineering segment and shares responsibility for the communications segment. The program is jointly funded by both Federal appropriations and non-Federal contributions.

OEM's EMF outreach efforts include publication of a public information brochure called "EMF: Questions and Answers about Electric and Magnetic Fields Associated with the Use of Electric Power" and other documents. The EMF RAPID Program will distribute fact sheets for policy makers and handbooks for state and local health officials, and will establish an EMF Biomedical Science and Engineering Clearinghouse. The EMF RAPID Program is also co-sponsoring a public information hotline with EPA (1-800-EMF 2383).

The Engineering component of the EMF RAPID Program has three major areas of activities: I ) exposure assessment and source characterization - to determine characteristics of the electric and magnetic fields to which the general population and subgroups are exposed; to identify sources of extremely low frequency (ELF) and ELF-modulated EMF exposure; and to develop techniques for measuring various types of electric and magnetic fields and for assessing personal exposure; 2) field management to evaluate the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of options for managing EMF exposures from a variety of sources, and, if necessary, to develop techniques to reduce, avoid, or eliminate certain fields or field characteristics; and 3) quality assurance.

The EMF Program recently funded PNL to design and construct four new state-of-the-art EMF exposure facilities. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), PNL, and ORNL will each operate one of the facilities with support from NIEHS and the EMF RAPID Program. The facilities will be available to scientists engaged in cellular research on biological effects of EMF. They will also support major replication studies with carefully designed protocols to validate and determine the robustness of EMF research results. These studies should contribute significantly to the development of EMF risk assessment data.