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Re: Microwaves for You
> Those of you interested in possible health risks from
> microwaves should look at the first two articles in th American J.
> of Epdemiology for 1997,vol 145,1-17 by Dolk et al...
> A cancer cluster was observed near the Sutton Coldfield TV and
> FM tranmission towers... The second paper attempts
> to see what the relationship is for another 20 high powerd TV and
> FM stations in Great Britain. A decline in risk for adult leukmia
> with distance was significant, but the overall excess was small
> but significant,
This is, to put it mildly, a very selective reading of those articles!
Far all antennas sites, the RR for adult leukemia for residence within 2 km of
the antennas was 0.97 (0.78-1.21). Only by expanding the area to 10 km was
the "significant" RR of 1.03 (1.00-1.07) found.
In the study of all antenna sites, the decline in risk of adult leukemia with
distance has a p-value of 0.052 according to the authors. Examination of the
data shows no sign of this (if anything the trend is to increasing risk with
distance).
The actual data is:
Distance (km) RR (Observed/expected) for adult leukemia
0.0 - 0.5 0.87
0.5 - 1.0 0.87
1.0 - 2.0 0.97
1.0 - 3.0 1.15
3.0 - 4.9 1.09
4.9 - 6.3 1.06
6.7 - 7.4 1.05
7.4 - 8.3 0.96
8.3 - 9.2 1.01
9.2 - 10 1.01
For the other cancers studied, there was no significant excess incidence of
cancer within 2 km of the antennas, and no decline in risk with distance.
For the 20 different antenna sites, the RRs for adult leukemia in the 2 km
zone ranged from 0.00 to 2.00 (median = 0, no cases at all observed for 11 of
20 sites). For the 10 km zone, the RRs ranged from 0.35 to 1.38 (median =
1.00).
For all five types of the types of cancer looked at in the combined analysis
of all sites, the RRs were 0.62 to 1.12 (median = 0.97) in the 2 km zone, and
0.90 to 1.09 (median =1.03) in the 10 km zone.
The larger (all antenna sites) analysis does not support the cluster found at
Sutton Coldfield, and does not support the "cluster" reported by Hocking et
al.
John Moulder (jmoulder@its.mcw.edu)
Radiation Biology Group
Medical College of Wisconsin