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Re: NIH: Electric fields pose cancer risk
> Any more info about the background (copy-paste from any original
> source?) would be greatly appreciated.
----Begin text of NIEHS press release-------
PANEL EVALUATES ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS FOR HEALTH EFFECTS
An international panel of experts convened by the National Institute of
Environmental Health Sciences reported to the institute today that electric
and magnetic fields like those surrounding electric power lines should be
regarded as a "possible human carcinogen."
The panel vote 19 to 9 was based largely on epidemiological evidence in the
face of animal and other laboratory studies that the panel agreed did not
support or refute the population studies. Because of the conflicting studies,
eight members found the EMF fields not classifiable as to carcinogenicity,
while one member of the panel said EMF probably is not carcinogenic to humans.
Two long-term studies in rodents demonstrated no carcinogenic response, while
one showed an equivocal response in one sex of one species. The panel said
that neither these studies or other lab work proved or refuted the
epidemiology.
The epidemiological studies showed a slight increase in childhood leukemia
risk from power line/residential exposures and an increase in chronic leukemia
risk in adults in electricity-intensive industries. "This report does not
suggest that the risk is high" said, chairman Michael Gallo, Ph.D., professor
and center director at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-
Robert Wood Medical School in Piscataway, N.J. "It is probably quite small,
compared to many other public health risks. However, I strongly believe that
additional hypothesis-driven, focused research should be pursued to reduce
uncertainties in this arena."
The scientists' report will be utilized by NIEHS in preparing a report to
Congress and the federal regulatory agencies surveying the state of research
on the potential health effects from exposure to power-line frequency electric
and magnetic fields. The panel found inadequate evidence in various studies
for a link to such non-cancer diseases as Alzheimer's, depression and birth
defects, and no clear evidence of danger of abortion from video display
terminals. "There is inadequate evidence," the panel said, "for
carcinogenicity to adults of residential exposure to extremely low frequency
magnetic fields." And the panel found the data linking children's cancers
other than leukemia to be inadequate.
Convened by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, one of
the National Institutes of Health, the panel was comprised of about 20
researchers in electrical and magnetic fields, or EMF, and ten scientists from
other fields.
Hundreds of studies in animals and cells were considered in the evaluation as
part of the evidence for potential human effects. Many of these studies showed
little or no effect, raising questions about the weak associations seen in
some epidemiologic studies. But the international criteria agreed upon gave
great weight to human carcinogenicity.
The panel began this review six months ago when members prepared summaries of
the data. They convened ten days ago in Brooklyn Park, a suburb of
Minneapolis, where they debated the quality and meaning of the scientific
evidence. Some of the expert panel members came from Sweden, Japan, Italy and
France. After a further public comment period, NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden,
Ph.D., will use the report as he prepares his own report to Congress on the
issue.
Congress and industry have accelerated EMF research over the past six years,
with Congress appropriating $23 million and the electrical industry matching
it. NIEHS used an additional $10 million of its own appropriated funds to
supplement the research as needed.
Public concern about EMF and cancer was stimulated by a 1979 study in Denver,
Colo., that found that a group of children who had died from leukemia and
other cancers were two to three times more likely to have lived within 131
feet of a high current electrical transmission or distribution line. A 1995
publication lists 14 such studies-eight of them showing a possible link to
some cancers but only four of them at levels considered statistically
significant. The nine studies considered best by the panel were used for their
evaluation.
The concern eventually encompassed electric blankets for children and other
appliances, as well as the wiring in homes and the very high levels of EMF in
some industries. (Electric blankets and some other appliances have been
redesigned, greatly reducing their EMF.)
Although the Department of Energy and the NIEHS, a part of the National
Institutes of Health, already had been conducting and supporting some EMF-
related research, Congress accelerated the work under a program called EMF/
RAPID.
While epidemiological studies continued to try to clarify possible effects in
people, EMF/RAPID concentrated on studies in biological systems, fowl and
rodents that might support or contradict an EMF effect. Other studies
considered by the panel of experts were performed on cells, and computer
simulations were also used.
A copy of the report, or a non-technical summary, will be available in late
July and can be requested by writing EMF/RAPID, NIEHS, PO Box 12233, Research
Triangle Park, NC 27709.
The report and summary will also be on the NIEHS web site: http://
www.niehs.nih.gov/emfrapid/home.htm
Public comments on the report agreed to today will be sought for two months.
There will also be hearings for public comment in San Francisco, Chicago and
Washington in August (planning continues) and in Tucson, Ariz., Sept. 14-15.
Research on EMF-related issues is likely to continue. Its focus may be re-
directed on the advice of the expert panel and others. NIEHS Director Olden's
report to Congress is not required by law to follow the views of the experts
but their views, requested by NIEHS, are likely to get great weight.
Arnold L. Brown, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin at Madison, was vice
chair. The panel was convened and organized by Christopher J. Portier, Ph.D.,
chief of the Laboratory of Computational Biology and Risk Analysis at the
NIEHS, with advice from the National EMF Interagency Committee chaired by
Shirley D. Linde of Los Angeles, and the National EMF Interagency Committee
representing 11 federal regulatory agencies. Some of the experts have done
research on EMF while others have distinguished themselves in other research
fields. The scientists were assembled from organizations in Sweden, France,
Japan and Italy as well as from Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory in
Richland, Wash., the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in
Cincinnati, Ohio, Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago, the Oak
Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, the Midwest Research Institute in
Kansas City, Mo., the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and the
Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md. Members of national advisory
groups, members of the public and the press observed the discussions
throughout the lengthy, open meeting.
----end text of NIEHS press release-------
------------------------------------
John Moulder (jmoulder@its_dot_mcw_dot_edu)
Maintainer: Powerlines & Cancer FAQs,
Static EM Fields and Cancer FAQs
Cell Phone Antennas & Health FAQ
USENET: sci.med.physics, sci.answers, news.answers.
http://www.mcw.edu/gcrc/cop.html/