Worries About Electromagnetic Fields : Disturbing Peters study at USC at least makes the case for immediate further probes
A new study of possible links between childhood cancer and fields of force around everything electrical from power lines to hair dryers is not a siren howling in the night.
But neither is it a seal of approval for utility company claims that there is nothing to worry about. Something is going on, the study seems to say. Exactly what is still not clear. One important contribution the study should make is to spur more and more extensive research.
The study began in 1986. Its results are now being circulated for scientific review by its director, Dr. John Peters of the University of Southern California School of Medicine.
Electric and magnetic fields are universal forces that hold together rocks, humans and other matter, and make the brain work. The electromagnetic fields of force in question are produced when power plants generate alternating currents of electricity that reverse direction 60 times a second and--as the theory of imminent danger has it--rattle body cells.
The first study, in 1979, to show a connection between electricity and childhood leukemia had one flaw. It could not discount the possibility that the presence of power lines near the homes of stricken children was not just a coincidence and that some other substance caused the leukemia.
The new study avoided that flaw, in part because it started as a general study of the causes of childhood leukemia, with electromagnetic forces added later to the list.
The Peters team’s basic finding is that children living nearest to high-voltage wires got leukemia at 2.5 times the national average. On average, leukemia strikes 1 child in 25,000 each year. As with earlier studies, this one has its own puzzle. The link between leukemia and power is established only with high-voltage lines outside the house, not with electromagnetic forces that were measured inside the house.
He also found that children who live in homes where pesticides are used suffer leukemia at the same higher rate--2.5 in 25,000.
Until the answers are clear, people can take the sort of prudent steps outlined in a primer written by Prof. M. Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Maybe one should put away electric blankets, he says, until research on that possible threat is more conclusive. Perhaps put some distance between yourself and small electric motors. And take into account the presence of transmission lines near a house you may want to buy.
But don’t let fear dominate your life: In effect, don’t panic.
