EMF's

[lemit]

I don't know if this is the right place for this.

 

It's been a long time since I researched this subject and I want to be brought up-to-date, so I won't say anything, I'll just ask:

 

What research is being done on EMF's and what results have been achieved recently?

 

Anybody?

 

Thanks.

 

--lemit

[Moontanman]

I don't know if this is the right place for this.

 

It's been a long time since I researched this subject and I want to be brought up-to-date, so I won't say anything, I'll just ask:

 

What research is being done on EMF's and what results have been achieved recently?

 

Anybody?

 

Thanks.

 

--lemit

 

EMF? Electromagnetic Fields? to answer this question I think you'll have to be more specific. Are you talking about EMF in relation to "what"? Biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, UFOs, geology, brains, ?

[lemit]

EMF? Electromagnetic Fields? to answer this question I think you'll have to be more specific. Are you talking about EMF in relation to "what"? Biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, UFOs, geology, brains, ?

 

Sorry.

 

Yes, Electromagnetic Fields, also known as ELF's, due to their Extra Low Frequency.

 

There have been many studies of the effects on humans of EMF's. They were inconclusive the last I heard, although ten years ago people seemed to think that within five years research would be concluded that would be definitive. I have not heard any news stories since then.

 

(In some of the threads I start, I simply throw out a question, hoping other people will do my research for me. I hope I'm not going to have to follow up on this myself.)

 

Just to throw out something to maybe encourage other people to follow up, two early cases, one an elementary school in California, the other a residential street in Connecticut, showed extraordinary cancer clusters--of course, a cancer cluster in an elementary school is in itself significant. I remember, anecdotally, that the incidence of breast cancer in Connecticut was six times normal and included two male breast cancer victims. The results in the California school were roughly the same, with schoolboy breast cancer victims.

 

So anyway, any news?

 

Thanks.

 

--lemit

[freeztar]

The wiki on this is pretty good (lots of external references).

 

The preponderance of evidence suggests that the low-power, low-frequency, electromagnetic radiation associated with household current

does not constitute a short or long term health hazard, and whilst some

biophysical mechanisms for the promotion of cancer have been proposed

(such as the electric fields around powerlines attracting aerosol pollutants[10][11]), none have been substantiated.[12][13][14][15][16][17]

Nevertheless, some research has implicated exposure in a number of

adverse health effects. These include, but are not limited to, childhood leukemia (references below), adult leukemia[18], neurodegenerative diseases (such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)[19][20][21], miscarriage[22][23][24], and clinical depression.

 

Electromagnetic radiation and health - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[lemit]

The wiki on this is pretty good (lots of external references).

 

Electromagnetic radiation and health - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Yes, that does look pretty good. A problem has always been that the power industry is, well, powerful, and has generally been very "helpful" to underfunded government agencies looking into health problems they may have caused.

 

I haven't read the book Thank you for smoking, but I love the movie. In it, the main character, Nick Naylor, having decided he needs to stop being a shill for the tobacco industry, becomes a shill for the cell phone industry. I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, although I've known about a bunch of conspiracies in my life. It does seem, though, that no matter how well the research documents the cancer clusters and other peculiar occurrences in a strange proximity to power lines, the research is never quite complete.

 

I'm not very hopeful. The only thing I can do is to try to persuade someone to start looking at the data--all of it--possibly in the manner of the tobacco company lawsuit. I think a case can be made. It won't be easy, but I think it's possible.

 

--lemit

[freeztar]

I don't know, it seems to me that no conclusive evidence has been found supporting carcinogenicity from ELF. Every study I find that supports it is refuted by another study.

 

I found another good resource that you might enjoy perusing.

 

In one large study by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Children’s Oncology Group, researchers measured magnetic fields directly in homes (4). This study found that children living in homes with high magnetic field levels did not have an increased risk of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The one exception may have been children living in homes that had fields greater than 0.4 microtesla (µT), a very high level that occurs in few residences. Another study conducted by NCI researchers reported that children living close to overhead power lines based on distance measurements were not at greater risk of leukemia (5).

 

To estimate more accurately the risks of leukemia in children from magnetic fields resulting from power lines, researchers pooled (combined) data from many studies. In one pooled study that combined nine well-conducted studies from several countries, including a study from the NCI, a twofold excess risk of childhood leukemia was associated with exposure to magnetic fields above 0.4 µT (6). In another pooled study that combined 15 studies, a similar increased risk was seen above 0.3 µT (7). It is difficult to determine if this level of risk represents a real increase or if it results from study bias. Such study bias can be related to the selection of study subjects or possibly to other factors that relate to levels of magnetic field exposure. If magnetic fields caused childhood leukemia, certain patterns would have been found such as increasing risk with increasing levels of magnetic field exposure.

Electric and Magnetic Field Exposure (EMF) and Cancer - National Cancer Institute

 

So, it seems that at certain (apparently rare) exposure levels, there might be some effect with Children. Though, again, the last sentence seems to no support any effect.

 

Another interesting tidbit from that link:

 

# What have scientists learned from animal experiments about the relationship between magnetic field exposure and cancer?

 

Animal studies have not found that magnetic field exposure is associated with increased risk of cancer (2). The absence of animal data supporting carcinogenicity makes it biologically less likely that magnetic field exposures in humans, at home or at work, are linked to increased cancer risk.

 

I would love to read that study. They don't have a link to it though. Might dig for it later...

Animal studies can certainly be much more controlled. This is very convincing evidence, imho.

 

And finally, from WHO, I found some more info on typical Tesla values under power lines and in homes.

 

Most electric power operates at a frequency of 50 or 60 cycles per second, or hertz (Hz). Close to certain appliances, the magnetic field values can be of the order of a few hundred microtesla. Underneath power lines, magnetic fields can be about 20 µT and electric fields can be several thousand volts per metre. However, average residential power-frequency magnetic fields in homes are much lower - about 0.07 µT in Europe and 0.11 µT in North America. Mean values of the electric field in the home are up to several tens of volts per metre.

WHO | Electromagnetic fields and public health

 

So the typical ELF exposure in a N. American home is about 25% of the value used in the leukemia study cited above (which itself did not find sufficient correlation at 0.4µT).