Electric and Magnetic Fields
There has been a fear that electric and magnetic fields (EMF) from power lines in residential areas may be linked to cancer and other diseases in humans. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) conducted a six-year research and evaluation program on EMF associated with power line frequencies and concluded that the evidence for a risk of cancer and other human disease from the EMF around power lines is weak.
According to the report, the strongest evidence for health effects comes from statistical associations observed in human populations with childhood leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in occupationally exposed adults such as electric utility workers, machinists, and welders.
The NIEHS believes that the probability that EMF exposure is truly a health hazard is probably small. The weak epidemiological associations and lack of any laboratory support for these associations provide only marginal scientific support that exposure the EMF causes any degree of harm.
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