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Comments and Mail From Our Readers
June and August 2001
Last modified on:
Friday, March 15, 2002 14:08:40
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August 31, 2001
I hope you can help shed some light on my problem. To start my dad just recently died of a tumor (cancer) and 2 days ago my mum was told also she has cancer. After what our family went through in 6 weeks of finding out dad had it and pass away so quick, now we are all going through it again so quick. This brings to mind the sub-station directly behind my parents house. They built the house 44 years ago and me and my two older brothers were all brought up there. Me and one brother are now quite concerned that it might be why this is happening. My mother has asked me and my husband and 2 children to come and live with her as she is on her own. We are moving in 3 weeks from now, but we are worried about the stories about electromagnetic radiation that has been coming up in the news stories lately. If you have any ideas or information about this it would be great. Also 3 of the other neighbours have already died from cancer in the past and one was two days before my dad. thank u
Reply from Dr. Robert Goldberg: As you may know from looking at the articles on our web site, there are suggestions that exposure to electromagnetic fields from sources such as substation may be associated with a small increase in the risk of cancer. Evidence is strongest for childhood leukemia with exposures to power line fields characterized by average magnetic field intensities of 4 milligauss (0.4 microtesla) or more, but there are suggestions of increased cancer risk in adults as well, mainly with occupational exposures to much higher fields. There really is more that we don't know about this association than what we clearly understand, and many experts feel it is most likely that there is no real risk at all based on the substantially unsuccessful efforts that have gone into trying to pin down an effect in animal experiments. Unfortunately, cancer is a fairly common disease in older people and there are many neighborhoods or workplaces that experience cancer "clusters" (unusually high rates) for no apparent cause. It is impossible to determine exactly what risk you might be taking in moving into your mother's home. As a starting point, you might consider getting some measurements made by the utility company or a private contractor to see if you are really getting elevated exposures from the substation. The most reliable risk estimates for childhood leukemia suggest a doubling in the risk of leukemia, which in the US would mean about 2 more cases per 100,000 children, with relatively high exposures (2 to 4 times higher than exposures typical in the average home). There are many things we all do that have much more substantial and well established risks associated with them, like driving a car. You will have to decide for yourself the best course of action for your family, based on personal and financial considerations and your own assessment of the indications of possible electromagnetic field risks that might be involved. Regards, Bob
June 12, 2001
Dear Sir, We are currently building a new home and one possible route for the primary line (19000 volts) is about 10 feet from the side of the house, where our master bedroom is. Also the step down transformer would be about 50 feet from the attached garage. Please let me know if these distances are safe. Thanks, Ron
Reply from Dr. Robert Goldberg: Dear Ron, The magnetic field levels produced by a transmission or distribution line depends on certain specific technical characteristics, primarily the amount of current going through the line and the arrangement of the phase conductors. It is not possible to predict the field produced by the line near your future home exactly (the utility company should have the information needed to do it), but a 20 kilovolt line 10 feet from your bedroom is very likely to make a measurable contribution to your exposure. While EMF health risks are not conclusively proven, the situation you describe is likely to result in an increased magnetic field exposure that is well above average for people in the US and this is not a situation that I would recommend accepting without examining it further. I think you should start by looking into the field levels produced more closely, and perhaps read some of the information on epidemiological studies that have suggested an increased cancer risk, especially for childhood leukemia, associated with average exposures in excess of 4 milligauss. Some of this information is available without charge on our EMF-Link Website, and additional more detailed material is also available there for purchase. If you are unable to resolve the placement of the line, you might want to consider reconfiguring your house plan so that the room closest to the line is not occupied for as much of the day as a bedroom would be. The transformer situation is a little more ordinary. Transformers are generally wired so that the magnetic fields they produce decrease rapidly as you move away from them. You are unlikely to see any measurable fields from the transformer in your garage area. Again it depends on how much current is passing through it so you might want to confirm my guess with calculations or measurements from the utility company. Regards, Bob
June 12, 2001
Is there any information about the effects of cellular transmission towers on pregnancy? We work on the 3rd floor of an office building approximately 15 feet from a newly constructed cellular tower.
Reply from Dr. Robert Goldberg: There are some well-known hazards of radiofrequency non-ionizing radiation for pregnant women, but the best evidence seems to suggest that levels of exposure causing adverse effects must be of high enough intensity to produce significant heating (of the fetus and placenta). There were a few reports of adverse effects at slightly lower levels in some animal studies, but energy is deposited in the body unevenly and even in these cases there was probably localized heating although the average body temperature didn't show an increase. There have been some studies at other frequencies (for example, power frequency exposure of pregnant women from electric blankets) and the more recent results have generally not shown adverse effects. Exposures from cell phone towers, unless you are standing within a few feet of the antenna element, are tens of thousands of times less than radiofrequency exposures that produce any detectable body heating. Most research at the moment assumes that such low level of exposure from cell phone base stations is very unlikely to produce an adverse effect, and laboratory and epidemiology studies have therefore concentrated on the much higher exposure levels produced by the hand-held phone itself (which is used very close to the body and therefore produces much higher levels of human exposure even though the power output is lower than the towers). As far as we know, then, the cell tower exposure you are experiencing is extremely unlikely to produce any adverse effects. The only small element of uncertainty I have in giving you this answer comes from the fact that the wireless technology is relatively new and we don't have a history of uneventful human exposure to look back on. Also there have been very few experiments done using this specific radiofrequency signal or exploring all possibilities (such as drug interactions). In general, it takes a great deal of effort to completely rule out any possible risk but as far as we know, this is unlikely to be a concern. Regards, Bob
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