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Thegovsays:
 Because the use of electric power is so widespread, humans are constantlyexposed to electric and magnetic fields. Studies conducted in the 1980s showed alink between magnetic field strength and the risk of childhood leukemia. Afterreviewing more than two decades of research in this area, NIEHS scientists haveconcluded that the overall pattern of results suggests a weak association betweenincreasing exposure to EMFs and an increased risk of childhood leukemia....now the rest of the story....
Living near big power line may upAlzheimer's risk
 Feb 5, 2009NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older people living within 50 meters of major powerlines are at increased risk of dying from Alzheimer's disease or senile dementia, researchfrom Switzerland shows.The risk increased steadily with the amount of time a person had been living in closeproximity to a 220-380 kV power line, Dr. Anke Huss of the University of Bern andcolleagues found. These are extra-high voltage lines used for long-distance transmissionof large amounts of electricity.Huss and colleagues were able to look at census and mortality data for over 95% of theSwiss population, which strengthens the power of the findings. Nevertheless, theresearcher told Reuters Health, the results should be interpreted with caution because thisis the first study to link residential magnetic field exposure to Alzheimer's mortality.Huss said she would like to see other research teams, preferably in other countries, look into the issue.Extremely low-frequency magnetic fields are produced by electrical appliances andwiring as well as by power lines. The World Health Organization has stated that thesemagnetic fields are possible human carcinogens. In 2007, WHO concluded that there wasnot enough evidence to link extremely low-frequency magnetic fields to Alzheimer'sdisease, but called for the relationship to be a "key research priority," Huss and her teamnote in the American Journal of Epidemiology.To investigate the relationship between residential exposure to power lines and risk of neurodegenerative disease, the researchers looked at 1990 and 2000 census data and2000-2005 mortality data for 4.7 million people 30 and older.Overall, Huss and her colleagues found, people living within 50 meters of a 220-380 kVpower line were 1.24 times more likely to die of Alzheimer's disease than those living atleast 600 meters away from these power lines.People who lived for at least 5 years near a 220-380 kV power line were at a 1.51-foldincreased risk. For people who lived close to a large power line for at least a decade, risk 
 
increased by a factor of 1.78, while it was doubled for those who had been living near apower line for at least 15 years. Results were similar when the researchers looked atdeaths from senile dementia.While 9.2% of the Swiss population lives within 600 meters of an extra-high voltagepower line, only 0.3% live within 50 meters of one, Huss noted. "It's not a huge amountof people."People are much more likely to be exposed to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields athome, but such exposure can easily be controlled, according to Huss. While householdappliances such as radio alarm clocks can produce magnetic fields similar to thoseemitted by power lines, the researcher pointed out, reducing risk is a simple matter of avoiding being very close to such devices for long periods of time; for example, notsleeping with one's head close to a radio alarm clock or keeping an electric blanket on allnight long.At present, the researcher added, there is no accepted biological mechanism to explainwhy magnetic fields might increase Alzheimer's risk. Given the consistency of thefindings, she added, "There might be something going on even if we don't know what itis."SOURCE: American Journal of Epidemiology, January 15, 2009.
Large study links power lines to childhoodcancer
 June 2005http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7460Children living near overhead power lines may have an increased risk of leukemia but theassociation may not be causal, UK researchers say.The confusing message, which comes from the largest study to date - of over 29,000children with cancer - is that since "there is no biological mechanism to explain thehigher risk", the results, "although statistically significant, may be due to chance".The study - a collaboration between the Childhood Cancer Research Group at theUniversity of Oxford and National Grid owners, Transco - looked at cancer data inEngland and Wales between 1962 and 1995, for children aged up to 15 years old.They were able to map how far each child lived from a high voltage overhead power line.Comparing the children who had cancer with a control group of 29,000 children withoutcancer but who lived in comparable districts, found that children whose birth address was
 
within 200 metres of an overhead power line had a 70% increased risk of leukemia.Children living 200 to 600 m away from power lines had a 20% increased risk."To put these results in perspective, our study shows that about five of the 400 cases of childhood leukemia every year may be linked to power lines - which is about 1% of cases," says Gerald Draper at Oxford University, who led the study. "The condition isvery rare and people living near power lines should have no cause for concern."However, the results are controversial, coming just one month after the major UKChildhood Cancer Study report, which declared that there was no risk to children livingthese distances away from power lines.
"Statistical artefact"
Although a link between childhood cancer and power lines has been suggested byprevious studies, it has only been associated with high exposure - those living withinabout 60 m of an overhead power line. At the distances Draper looked at, theelectromagnetic field created by the power lines should be too low to have any healtheffects, he says. They were much lower, for example, than those constantly experienceddue to the Earth's magnetic field."We don't think it is possible that a magnetic field of these low magnitudes could have acausative effect on childhood leukemia," Draper says.The increase in leukemia risk for those living at distances greater than 60 m was "difficultto interpret, but is most unlikely to be due to any residual electromagnetic field, or otherexposures related to the power line", says David Grant, scientific director of LeukemiaResearch. "It cannot be excluded that it is a statistical artefact."But given the statistical significance of their results, the researchers had considered othertheories. One established link with the disease is low exposure to infection soon afterbirth - an effect seen most commonly in babies born to higher income, middle-classfamilies, where early social mixing between infants is rarer. Draper's group looked at thepopulation characteristics in areas immediately surrounding power lines.They found that some were built in areas of low income housing and others in high-income areas. Looking at social status data alone, there was a 10% increase in leukemiafor those in middle-class families, but these results were found to be independent of power line location data.
Corona ions
Another theory that the researchers tested, first mooted controversially in 1999 by DennisHenshaw at Bristol University, UK, concerned "corona ion" effects. Henshaw proposedthat the air immediately surrounding a high voltage power line or pylon becomes ionisedby the electric field.
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