RE: Question: EMF Researcher Made Up Data, ORI Says (Science,2July, 1999)

[John Moulder <jmoulder@MCW.EDU>]

>  Or simply as Dr. Moulder (utilities' expert of choice when it comes to

>justifying T-line projects) would have it:  P F F (power-frequency fields).



I've testified in exactly three transmission line projects in the 

last eight years (two of them local) -- I don't think that exactly 

make me "expert of choice".  In none of those cases was I asked to 

"justify the lines" -- that's the job of people who know supply and 

demand.  My job in such hearings is to tell people what we know, and 

don't know, about the possible health risks from 60-Hz magnetic and 

electric fields.



In point of fact, fears about health effects are rarely a substantial 

issue in transmission line projects.  In part this is because 

long-haul transmission lines are not the major source of exposure in 

the US; it is the distribution system that accounts for most of the 

"high exposures" in the US epidemiology studies (magnetic field 

strength being proportional to current not voltage).  Most objections 

to transmission lines are esthetic (they're ugly), environmental 

(crossing rivers, wetlands, parks, etc) or based on worries about 

presumed effects on property values.



To me the major reason not to use "EMF" is that it implies that all 

electromagnetic fields and non-ionizign radiation is the same -- for 

example, you see "EMF" used to describe static fields, powerline 

fields, mobile phone RF radiation and radar.



In both scientific and public discourse, you should call it by a 

precise descriptor -- it is a "static magnetic field", a 

"power-frequency electric field", " 900 MHz radio-frequency 

radiation", etc.

-- 



John Moulder (jmoulder@mcw.edu)

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