Research: Is electromagnetic radiation dangerous?

Common to all electrical devices is their electromagnetic radiation into the space around them. And if it has not been proven that they affect human health, research shows a connection between disease and this radiation.
This invisible force is known as EMP  or electromagnetic fields  (eng. Electromagnetic fields - EMP s). The electromagnetic field is generated by current passing through electrical conductors. Since these fields are not strong and destructive like nuclear or X-radiation, they were thought to be harmless. However, studies have shown that people exposed to them chronically have a higher risk of certain health problems, including miscarriages, disability, cancer...

There is no clear cause-and-effect relationship to be established between EMP and disease, but more evidence makes EMP highly suspect. Electromagnetic fields are generated by many sources - including microwave ovens, televisions and radios, military radar systems, and even from some treatments for cancerous tumors.

Studies over the past 15 years have shown links between EMFs and health problems. EMPs have been implicated in behavioral changes, birth defects, memory loss and Alzheimer's disease. In 1976, two doctors at the Veterans Hospital in Syracuse, New York, showed that the offspring of mice exposed to extremely low frequencies of electromagnetic radiation from power lines were born stunted. One theory is that EMPs of certain frequencies interfere with the normal role of calcium in the brain. Another theory says that EMP  affects the way cells grow and reproduce. A third belief is that cellular protein production cannot proceed normally.

Researchers who believe in the link between EMP and disease have their critics. These skeptics point out that there is no proven cause-and-effect relationship between EMP exposure and cancer. In Florida, state governments are debating emissions standards, Philip Cole (Philip Cole), MD and an epidemiologist at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, highlighted this shortcoming. evidence. Cole stated: "There is no link between EMF and cancer in humans, or if there is a consequence, it is of very low value". In 1979, two researchers from the University of Colorado, physician Nancy Whitheimer (Nancy Wertheimer) and physicist Ed Leeper (Ed Leeper), reviewed death records in the Denver area and linked long-term exposure to weak EMFs to a high incidence of cancer. Seven years later, Swedish researcher Dr. Lennart Tomenius found the same relationship between EMP exposure and cancer among children in Stockholm. In 1982, Samuel Milam (Samuel Milham), a physician in the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, reported to the "New England Journal of Medicine" that he found a higher death rate from leukemia in men who worked in contact with electric and magnetic fields, such as employees in utility companies.

In addition, EMPs are also involved in complications during pregnancy. In 1986, Whittimer and Leeper reported that women using waterbeds (probably heated beds) or electric blankets that emit EMPs had higher miscarriage rates. In 1987, Kurt Salzinger (Kurt Salzinger), a professor of psychology at Brooklyn, found that rats exposed to electromagnetic radiation for 30 days had more trouble than unirradiated rats in learning certain actions. Their offspring, exposed in the womb and by nine days after birth had permanent learning disabilities.

Indeed, disease studies sometimes have difficulty proving causation when researchers must rely on old records and events instead of controlled experiments. However, this lack of evidence has not discouraged lawyers from filing lawsuits since introducing the available study as evidence of the harmful effects of electromagnetic fields on human health and the environment. The verdicts in several such lawsuits were based on research showing a possible link, but not a definitive link. In late 1985, a Texas jury ordered the utility to pay a local school $25 million in fines for building a power line across school property without the district's permission. In Florida, a jury ordered more than $1 million to be paid to property owners whose land was crossed by high-voltage power lines.

High voltage transmission lines

In another case, homeowners filed a $60 million lawsuit in New York State against an electric utility company because of so-called corridor cancer, which prevents them from selling their homes and properties and their property values are significantly diminished along the line of power lines.

This fear of diminished property values raises the question of what the public can do to protect itself from this potential threat. Electromagnetic fields are not like other harmful agents. They are not proven to be dangerous, but these fields penetrate walls and bodies, unless there is a defensive shield available.

• Turn off and do not use electric blankets.
• Don't sit less than five meters from the television.
• Do not peek through the microwave oven door.
• If you are pregnant, reduce the use of computers, laptops, mobile phones...
• Avoid living in areas where EMP exposure may be high.
• Avoid jobs in areas where EMP exposure may be high.