• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
C S S R 0 8’ 0 9
 
14 - 15 March 2009
C
O N F E R E N C E ON
S
C I E N T I F I C
&
 
S
O C I A L
R
E S E A R C H
 
Paper number: 7527269 
ASSOCIATIO OF HEALTH PROBLEMS WITH 50-HZ MAGETICFIELDS I HUMA ADULTS LIVIG EAR POWER TRASMISSIOLIES
1
Ainorkhilah Mahmood,
1
Azrinawati Mohd Zin,
1
Wan Zarina Wan Kamaruddin
 
and
2
Teoh Sian Hoon
1
 Department of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pulau Pinang 
2
 Department of Information Technology & Science Quantitative, Universiti Teknologi MARA Pulau Pinang 
ainorkhilah_sp@ppinang.uitm.edu.myABSTRACT Numerous studies have been conducted to look for evidence of association between power-frequencymagnetic field exposure and human health. Many studies of animals and cell cultures indicate thatimmune-system function is affected by power-frequency magnetic fields. However, only few studieshave looked for evidence of association between power-frequency magnetic field exposure andimmune-related illnesses in humans. This study used a cross sectional design to examine the dose-response relationship between magnetic field exposure of adults who live near power transmissionlines and incidence of immune-related and other chronic illnesses. Three hundred adults completedquestionnaires about their health and demographic characteristics. The exposure assessment methodused was short-term (spot) measurements of magnetic fields in homes. Derived health variables wererelated to homes magnetic field exposure. It was found that there are significant associations betweenemf exposure levels of adults living near transmission lines and allergy–related illnesses, namelyeczema, urticaria and asthma. Rheumatoid arthiritis and Myasthenia gravis, both representautoimmune–related illness, as well as type II –diabetes showed a proportional relationship withamount of exposure level. The results indicate that power-frequency magnetic field exposure mighthave a possible adverse effect on some allergy–related and immune-related illnesses.
Keywords:
Cross-sectional design, Magnetic-field exposure, Health hazard, Power Transmission lineInstructions, templates
1. ITRODUCTIO
Electric power transmission is one process in the transmitting of electricity to consumers. Power transmission lines are those high voltage lines that carry power from the power plant to substations near a populated area or between substations. Transmission lines generate both strong electric and magneticfields. There is a general perception amongst many communities that there are health risks resulting fromexposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) from power transmission lines.Previous studies have revealed that for some illness there is a degree of consistency in the evidencesuggested adverse health effects of living near high voltage power transmission line (Poole and Ozonoff,1996). The initial evidence of a link between EMF and cancer was provided in 1979 by Wertheimer andLeeper (Wertheimer and Leeper, 1979). They found that children who had died from cancer were 2 to 3times more likely to have lived within 40 m (131 ft) of a high-current power line than were the other children studied. Exposure to magnetic fields was identified as a possible factor in this finding.However, only few studies have looked for evidence of association between environmental power frequency magnetic field exposure and immune-related illness in humans. Beale, et al. examined eightimmune-related and chronic illnesses in a group of 560 adults living near extra high voltage transmissionlines in Auckland, New Zealand (Beale,
et al.
, 2001). Five of the eight health variables showed a linear dose-responses relationship with exposure. After adjustment for possible confounding, significantly
 
C S S R 0 8’ 0 9
 
14 - 15 March 2009
C
O N F E R E N C E ON
S
C I E N T I F I C
&
 
S
O C I A L
R
E S E A R C H
 
Paper number: 7527269 
elevated odd ratios were obtained for both asthma and combined chronic illnesses at higher exposurelevel.In 1989, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) issued an “Entity PositionStatement” which stated that “there is no enough relevant scientific data establish whether commonexposure to power-frequency field should be considered a health hazard” and “there is general agreementthat more research is needed to define safe limits of human exposure to power frequency fields” (Miller and Anderson, 1989). Therefore, further research is needed to confirm or negate reports of effects of weak fields, and to determine mechanisms and relevance of these effects to actual health hazards.Continued study in this complicated area will enhance our understanding of biological systems, as well ashelp identify levels and types of ELF exposure that may be deleterious to human health.Our research is conducted to investigate the association of health problems with magnetic fields fromtransmission lines. The magnetic field exposure levels of adults living near extra high voltage transmissionlines were measured. The dose-respond relationship between magnetic field exposure of adults and their health problems were also examined.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
ELF had not been considered hazardous to health until the early 1970s. Health risk associated withsuch field include in wide variety of ills ranging from disruption of normal circadian rhythms to childhoodcancer (Poole and Ozonoff, 1996). These fields are non-ionizing; they are too weak to disrupt molecular  bonds leading to genetic damage in living cell. Given the small amount of energy that is deposited inconnection with exposure to ELF fields, any health effects due to weak long-term exposure would have to be produced by a to-date unknown biophysical mechanism. Despite this, researchers have been intrigued by this possibility.In 1998, study by Bonhomme-Faivre
et al.
found evidence that chronic human exposure toenvironmental low frequency EMFs can cause neurovegetative, haematological and immunologicaldisorders (Bonhomme-Faivre
et al 
., 1998). In Denver, Savit compared 356 children with cancer to 282controls through random digit dialing. The study found an association between high current configurationhomes and twofold increase in cancer, but no association was found between EMF measurements andcancer (Savit, 1999).Ahlbom
et al 
. give a comprehensive overview of the relevant epidemiology (Ahlbom
et al 
., 2000). Theresults from this suggested that childhood cancer mortality was associated with the existence of power lines near the children’s homes, and particularly with such power lines that were indicative of highmagnetic field exposure. Although the implications by many were considered implausible, and despiteseveral methodological problems in the study, that work has been followed by several attempts to replicatethe findings. To date, close to 20 studies on childhood cancer and residential exposure to ELF fields have been published (Ahlbom
et al 
., 2000)In parallel with the childhood cancer research, possible associations between other implicated diseasesand ELF fields have been explored. Most of this research was directed towards other forms of cancer: brain tumours, leukemia in adults, and male and female breast cancer are forms that have attracted thegreatest interest. Despite these efforts, however, results have been inconclusive.Outside the cancer field, cardiovascular disease may be the area that has attracted most of the interest.This way based on physiological experiments which noted that ELF magnetic fields appeared to affectheart rate variability (Sastre
et al.
, 1998). These experiments were followed by a utility worker studyshowing that chronic heart disease mortality was not associated with ELF exposure but that arrhythmiaand myocardial infarction mortality was (Savitz
et al.
, 1999).
3. METHODOLOGY
Topographic maps of the Seberang Perai area were obtained from Tenaga Nasional Berhad, TNB atBandar Baru Perda, Pulau Pinang. These maps were used to locate streets running beneath or adjacent tooverhead transmission lines connecting substations in the national grid. Once the areas were identified,
 
C S S R 0 8’ 0 9
 
14 - 15 March 2009
C
O N F E R E N C E ON
S
C I E N T I F I C
&
 
S
O C I A L
R
E S E A R C H
 
Paper number: 7527269 
research assistants were sent to locate houses within 200 metres from the extra-high-voltage transmissionlines and houses located more than 200 metres from any power line. Residents between the ages of 18 and70 years who had resided for more than 6 months were invited to participate in the study. A total of 400 participants agreed to participate. 300 of the participants live near the extra-high-voltage transmissionlines whilst the other 100 participants (these are the controls) live far from the lines.50-Hz magnetic field flux densities were measured using a single-axis Unilab Model H28729 magneticflux density meter. Spot measurements were taken at the gateways of participants’ houses and thereadings were recorded. Generally, spot measurements give a single, instantaneous measurement of themagnitude of the magnetic field in one or more spots in a residence. Magnetic flux densitiesmeasurements were done by one of the interviewers at the above house. The measurements were repeatedseveral times to get more accurate readings. The readings were then recorded and the average values werecalculated. All the values were tabulated for analysis purposes.A questionnaire was developed specially for the study, to collect relevant demographic, general behavioral and health information. The questionnaire is divided into three parts. The first part includedquestions to determine age, gender, education, occupation and length of time living at present address.The second part included questions on health problems and medication use, whereas in the last part of thequestionnaire, the participants were asked about their lifestyles. At the end of the questionnaire, participants were asked to rate their general health over the past six months on a 5-point scale from“terrible” to “excellent”.Participants completed the questionnaires by mean of interviewing. The interviewers were trained onall the skills relevant to data collection, which included making natural responses to typical questions by participants about the effects of magnetic fields, questionnaire administration and field measurement.Interviews took about 30 minutes and took place in a quiet area in each participant’s home at a timeconvenient to the participants. Interviewers worked in pairs for personal safety reason and to facilitatesupervision of children during interview of a parent.All the data entry and analysis will be done using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS)version 13.0 software, licensed to UiTM. Participants’ responses to questions about their health weresorted into eight variables, which were analysed to test hypotheses about association between magneticfield exposure and health problems. Four of these variables reflected either general health or particular types of health problem. These variables are self-rated health, chronic illnesses, allergy-related illness andautoimmune-related illness. The other four variables reflected specific diseases, namely colds and flu,Type-II diabetes, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. In this paper, only the association of allergy-relatedillness and magnetic field is discussed. The EMF exposures and characteristic of participants living near and away from power lines were compared. The correlation between distance and the magnetic fieldreading was analysed using Pearson Correlation. The association between the health condition of the participants and the magnetic field reading was analysed using Chi-Square analysis.
4. RESULTS AD DISCUSSIOS
In this study, the sample consists of 400 respondents in Seberang Prai Utara and Seberang Prai Selatan.The sample is divided into two groups. The first group is the 300 respondents who live near to the voltagetransmission line of which the distances from their houses are less than 200 meters. The second group (thecontrol group) is the 100 who live at a distance of more than 200 metres from the transmission line. Thedemographic information of the two groups of respondents is as in Table 1.
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...