South East Qld Environment Campaigners - http://www.hahaha.com.au/seqenv
The evidence against high power lines re health is growing.
Jen
-----Original Message-----
From: Cheryl Kemp [SMTP:bio@midcoast.com.au]
Sent: Tuesday, 30 November 1999 17:07
To:
Subject: Fw: Electricity and cancer
http://www.the-times.co.uk/news/pages/Sunday-Times/stinwenws02039.html?999
Fresh evidence found of cancer risk near pylons Jonathan Leake and Chris Dignan November 28 1999
A BRITISH scientist has produced the most
powerful evidence yet of a link between cancer and electricity
power lines. His study confirms that people living near them are
exposed to radiation levels dozens of times greater than the
legal limit.
The research, to be released this week, firmly links the power
lines with childhood leukaemia and other forms of cancer. The
levels recorded in some areas were two times higher than the
legal maximum allowed for adult nuclear power workers -- the
group permitted maximum radiation exposure.
Its most serious implication is that more than 23,000 homes built
under or near power lines are unsafe, especially for children.
The effect of the fields can extend more than 100 yards either
side of the lines.
Professor Denis Henshaw, of Bristol University's human radiation
effects group, showed three years ago that there was a
theoretical mechanism whereby power lines could increase human
uptake of the radioactive gases produced naturally in the soil
and also of traffic pollutants. His latest study quantifies this
effect in the field and shows that power lines are indeed linked
to childhood leukaemia and other cancers. Henshaw took 2,000
field measurements to support his research.
A university insider described the findings as dynamite.
"The study has serious implications for the electricity
industry, which could face huge compensation claims and pressure
to move its pylons."
Children are especially vulnerable to radiation and pollution
damage because they have more growing and dividing cells than
adults. Such cells are far more prone than adult ones to become
cancerous when exposed to hazardous substances.
The research will be published in the International Journal of
Radiation Biology. Its editor, Professor Gordon Steel, said it
was a comprehensive study of how electric fields of the kind
generated by power lines and, to a lesser extent, domestic
appliances, could increase the uptake of radioactive gases and
pollutants by humans. Details will be revealed at a press
conference at the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in London on
Wednesday.
The study, funded by the Department of Health and the Medical
Research Council, is backed by another carried out by Sir Richard
Doll, due for publication in The Lancet on Friday. Doll, who
discovered the link between tobacco and lung cancer, has collated
details of every childhood leukaemia case in the past four years
to try to find common causes, including links with electric
fields.
Childhood leukaemia has long been seen as a target for such
studies since it occurs in clusters, suggesting a common cause
that is probably linked to local environmental factors. Clusters
associated with power lines have been noted for years but the
electricity industry has insisted such associations were too weak
to be significant.
Three years ago Henshaw discovered the complex interactions
between the alternating electric fields surrounding power lines
and the radioactive breakdown products of naturally occurring
radon gas. His theory was dismissed by the electricity industry
and, more importantly, the government's National Radiological
Protection Board (NRPB).
Henshaw is understood to have shown that in some areas children
living near power lines could receive doses of 95 millisieverts
of radiation a year, compared with the maximum for homes of one
millisievert. Nuclear workers are allowed a maximum dose of 50,
soon to be reduced to 20.
Henshaw was unwilling to comment on the study before publication
but said: "It is clear that if there is radon gas or traffic
fumes in the air near pylons, then people living nearby will
suffer increased exposure because of the electric field."
The National Grid and electricity distribution companies could
find themselves in a difficult position. A spokesman said it was
too early to comment.
The findings will be welcomed by victims and their families, some
of whom have tried to sue for compensation. Ray and Denise
Studholme, of Bolton, launched the first legal case of its kind
in Europe in 1994, when they took Norweb, the electricity
supplier, to court after their son Simon, 13, died from leukaemia
in 1992. They had to drop their action in 1997 after an American
study, now criticised as flawed, raised doubts over a link. This
weekend Ray, 51, said he would consider restarting legal action
in the light of the new evidence.
Copyright 1999 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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