Childhood leukaemia linked to power lines - again.

[k4kyv]

Public concern about the safety of high voltage power lines will be heightened today by a study showing children living within 200 metres of the overhead electricity cables have a 70 per cent increased risk of developing leukaemia.

http://msn.netdoctor.co.uk/uk/msn/news/index.jsp

[Art]

Interesting. There is a similar conversation in progress on a home inspectors blog. Here is a copy of my comment:
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You are very close to the edge of scientifically supportable statements when you say living near power lines causes illness in humans and therefore constitutes a home inspection defect.

It is known that ionizing radiation damages cells directly by breaking cell components and indirectly by the product of some of those breakages attacking other parts of the cell. EM fields are not ionizing radiation so this doesn't apply

It is also known that high levels of electromagnetic radiation (eg microwave oven) can cause heating at the molecular level. However, this is a very high level of EM radiation concentrated in a small area.

As stated the EM radiation causes heating at high levels. There have been experiments in England and LA where 450MHz energy was used to treat specific melanoma quite successfully. So this would tend to reinforce the concept that RF energy can damage cells. In this case unwanted cells but you get the picture.

Every test of exposure to lower levels of EM radiation (eg. cell towers and normal proximity to transmission lines.) that I have heard of has been inconclusive. Yes, there is a link suspected between childhood leukemia and proximity to transmission lines. However, it is weak and cannot be statistically validated as separate from other environmental or heredetary elements. If we ask the question: are there populations living near power lines that do not exhibit increased leukemia in children? The answer is yes, there are. Additionally, if we ask if there are population hot spots where leukemia is more prevalent that are not exposed to transmission line EM fields. Again, the answer is yes.

My sense is this goes well beyond the scope of the home inspector and I think you may be getting into uncharted and possibly dangerous waters.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

It's all due to Halliburton and the aliens at Area 51.

[k4kyv]

It's all due to Halliburton and the aliens at Area 51.

We just need to go to year-round DST.  There is evidence that DST reduces the risk of cancer.

[Steve - WB3HUZ]

But don't sit too close to the TV or all effects will be negated.

[Bacon, WA3WDR]

I believe it was Aliso Viejo, in Orange County, California, where the local council proposed a rule against the use of dihydrogen monoxide.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,1176710,00.html

I guess someone told them that dihydrogen monoxide was simply water, before they got a chance to approve the regulation.

[WA1GFZ]

bull Crap Tesla lived to 89 and got a bigger dose than any other human.
Look at the crap they treated the wood poles with and you will find the real problem.

[WB6VHE]

Greetings All!

For those interested, here is what might be the definitive paper on this subject;
of course the average J.Q. Public won't understand a damn thing in it, but members of the
AM brotherhood, being technically inclined, will be able to extract the essence of the work.

Robert K. Adair
"Constraints on biological effects of weak extremely-low-frequency electromagnetic
fields"
Physical Review A, Volume 43, Number 2
January 15, 1991
Pages 1039-1048

The essential result presented here is that external EM fields of the 60Hz variety
are completely swamped at the cellular level by the EM fields generated in the cell
thru Brownian motion (i.e., the intra-cellular themal noise is much, much stronger
than the fields set up at the cellular level by external sources such as power lines,
even in relatively close proximity)!!  There is always some wee-wah claiming that
these fields cause this-and-that disease, no matter what scientific evidence is offered
to the contrary.  I would be concerned, however, if I were one of those who constantly
has a cell phone glued to the ear:  a watt or so of RF at 800 MHz right next to your
brain for hours on end is of way more concern than the 60 Hz power lines behind your house!!

For those interested who don't have access to a library carrying Phys Rev, I'll be glad
to provide a copy of the article; it'll be easy enough to scan it and email it, or can use
USPS as well.

73!

[KB2WIG]

But, We ALL know Tesla was an extra, terrorestrial being and therefore was not effacted by the waves...











Nanook rubs it in...

[W1RKW]

Does an EM field exist on a transmission line if there is no load?

[WA1GFZ]

Hey yuppies with cell phones cooking their pea brains. What a cool way to thin out the heard.
I grew up in a neighborhood that had the second biggest trunk line in CT.
running right through it. I don't know of a single sick kid and there were a bunch of us.
I would be more concerned with the agent orange they used to kill all the trees and brush under the poles going through the woods. The whole area was dripping with this nasty oil for days. We were smart enough to avoid
that for a long time but it was only because the oil would get us dirty.

[WB6VHE]

There will still be an EM field with no load, but it will be different from the field with load.
With no load, there is still an AC potential on the lines, which means an alternating
electric field surrounds the line.  This generates a magnetic field; but when there is a current
flowing in the lines, there is also a magnetic field component due to the current, and this
changing magnetic field generates an electric field component.  The "static" (no current)
fields are still there, but with a load there  are additional field components, both electric and
magnetic.  According to the calculations in Prof. Adair's paper (see above), the induced
electric field in the human body (the part generated by the changing magnetic field that's
generated under load) is the most penetrating, but it is still about 1000 times smaller than
the field that comes from thermal noise!  Adair also shows that the electric field
generated internally by a person walking along through the earth's magnetic field is labout
the same as that typically encountered from power lines, and the field generated by riding
in an airplane (moving through the earth's magnetic field) is greater than a fairly
hefty power line field.  So, we would expect all frequent fliers to come down with some
form of cancer!!  Also, runners would show an increased incidence of leukemia as well!!

[WB6VHE]

Yeah, GFZ, I'm with ya!  The nasty chemicals used on and around power poles
are most likely way more dangerous than the EM fields.  As for the yuppies w/cell phones
growing out of their heads, it will be interesting to see how things go ten or twenty years
from now.  Of course, we may not notice much difference as far as brain power goes!

[W1RKW]

So if the EM field is stronger under load I wonder who would be responsible for contracting leukemia or any other disease, the end user or the supplier? Of course that's assuming there is a link.

There will still be an EM field with no load, but it will be different from the field with load.
With no load, there is still an AC potential on the lines, which means an alternating
electric field surrounds the line.  This generates a magnetic field; but when there is a current
flowing in the lines, there is also a magnetic field component due to the current, and this
changing magnetic field generates an electric field component.  The "static" (no current)
fields are still there, but with a load there  are additional field components, both electric and
magnetic.  According to the calculations in Prof. Adair's paper (see above), the induced
electric field in the human body (the part generated by the changing magnetic field that's
generated under load) is the most penetrating, but it is still about 1000 times smaller than
the field that comes from thermal noise!  Adair also shows that the electric field
generated internally by a person walking along through the earth's magnetic field is labout
the same as that typically encountered from power lines, and the field generated by riding
in an airplane (moving through the earth's magnetic field) is greater than a fairly
hefty power line field.  So, we would expect all frequent fliers to come down with some
form of cancer!!  Also, runners would show an increased incidence of leukemia as well!!