RE: EMF Study

["Waddle, Thomas" <thomas.waddle@rfets.gov>]

Some observations about these statements from the report about the NIEHS
study:

>He said most studies show that people who develop leukemia are more 
>likely to have had a high exposure to electromagnetic fields -- but 
>they do not show that people who have an exposure to the fields are 
>more likely to get leukemia.  

>The difference is subtle, but important, and leaves open the 
>possibility that something other than the electromagnetic fields are 
>causing the cancer.  

>But no one has been able to find any other cause.

>``Everything that our working group looked at and that we have looked 
>at as explanations have not panned out,'' Portier said.

>``They looked at the presence of pesticides and herbicides under 
>power lines, they have looked at traffic patterns in streets outside 
>homes, mobility of populations, socioeconomic status, they have 
>looked at age of the home -- there's dozens of things,'' he said. 
>``None of these explains the result.''  

Read together, I do not understand why EMF concerns are represented as
necessary when the results indicate, at worst, the same risk as the other
potential causes looked at.  There seems to be no warning for parents to
move their children to newer homes, to locations with less traffic, or to
not move at all (mobility of population), but these factors produced similar
results to EMF radiation.  Was there no study of possible genetic factors?
(I hope there was and this information did not find its way into the news
report.)

I am also curious about the conduct of this study.  The impression I get
when reading this news report (and I do understand the limit of the
information) is that the study is trying to link all or most leukemia cases
to a single causal factor.  If smoking, asbestos, internal deposition of
radionuclides, second-hand smoke, coal mining, smog, carpet fibers, etc. can
cause lung cancer, is it not also possible that there are many different
causes for leukemia?  If anyone knows a URL or location to read the study
report, I would appreciate that information.

It is always disappointing (but not necessarily surprising) to me when I
read a news report that misrepresents the findings of a scientific study.
This news report details that the study indicates neutral results for the
population studied, but insists on communicating that their should still be
increased concern about EMF radiation as a cause for leukemia.  I do not
want to discount the possibility that EMF radiation is a factor in leukemia,
but it should not be treated as if it where the most likely (or only) cause.

Just my own ramblings, nothing my employer or anyone else would claim.

Tom Waddle
(303) 966-8076
* thomas.waddle@rfets.gov

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