Results of epidemiological studies. Dr. Alfred Koerblein, Institute of Environmental Protection; Munich; Germany
SUMMARY
In 1999, the EU adopted the EMF guidelines for limiting exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields, issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in 1998. These guidelines limit the strength of the magnetic field to values below 100 microTesla (μT). These recommendations, guidelines have been adopted by many EU countries (Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus).
However, there is a large amount of epidemiological evidence that leukemia in children is on the rise in the vicinity of overhead high-voltage power lines. A literature search with PubMed can find 26 studies reporting an increase, and on the other hand 6 studies that find no effects. The effects were detected at a magnetic field value of 0.3 μT, which is much lower than the "safe" - limits of 100 μT given in the EU guidelines.
Since the biological mechanism is still not understood and animal experiments do not support the conclusions, the causal interpretation of the association is disputed by the WHO: "Overall, the evidence for childhood leukemia is not strong enough to consider it causal." href="http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/%20fs322/en/"> fs322/en/).
CHILDHOOD LEUKEMIA NEAR HIGH-VOLTAGE POWER LINES,
results of epidemiologic studies Alfred Körblein, PhD, Munich Environmental Institute, Germany
ABSTRACT
In 1999, the EU adopted the EMF-guidelines for limiting exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields, issued by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in 1998. These guidelines limit the magnetic field strength to values below 100 microTesla (μT). They were adopted by many EU countries (Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Luxemburg, Malta, Austria, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus). But overwhelming epidemiological evidence exists that childhood leukemia is increased near overhead high-voltage power lines. A literature search with PubMed finds 26 studies that report increases against 6 studies that don't find effects. The effects are detected at magnetic field strengths of 0.3 μT, much lower than the "safety―-limit of 100 μT in the EU-guidelines.
Since the biological mechanism is not yet understood, and animal experiments do not confirm the findings, a causal interpretation of the association is disputed by WHO: "On balance, the evidence related to childhood leukemia is not strong enough to be considered causal.‖ (http://www.who.int/peh-emf/publications/facts/fs322/en/)
