Electromagnetic Fields and Health Hazards
Controversy Still Rages Over the Safety of EMFs
Sep 18, 2008
In the spring of 1974, epidemiologist Nancy Wertheimer began a study showing that electromagnetic fields were associated with cancer, in this case childhood leukemia. Thirty years later the debate over electromagnetic waves continues.
Notwithstanding Wertheimer’s study, it was not until Paul Brodeur’s Currents of Death (Simon and Schuster, 1989) appeared that the magnitude of the electromagnetic wars being waged in scientific circles was brought to the public’s attention. Despite studies cited by Brodeur showing that exposure to these magnetic fields causes disease and death, there are a number of other researchers who say that low dose exposure to VLFs (very low frequency) and ELFs (extremely low frequency) fields is harmless.
ELF and VLF Fields
Low frequency fields emanate from a myriad of sources, such as power lines, transformers, cellular apparatus, computers, and even household appliances. (Fortunately, the strong electromagnetic fields from appliances drops off dramatically within inches of an appliance, thus limiting one’s exposure to harmful effects only briefly, if at all.)
The earth itself exerts an electromagnetic field which humans have adapted to over the eons, and Lynn McTaggart’s book, The Intention Experiment (Free Press, February 2008) suggests that all life on earth, including human, exerts a small amount of electromagnetism.
Electromagnetic Fields and Health Hazards
Even before Wertheimer’s report, according to Brodeur, Soviet scientists in the 1960s documented that electrical switchyard workers complained of sexual impotency and that “the electric fields to which they were exposed had an adverse effect upon the central nervous system and the heart.” Indeed, because Swiss engineers exposed to the low-frequency fields of electric railways developed “…heart problems after the age of forty-five…they were retired at the age of forty" (Brodeur, p. 68).
Employees working in the American Embassy in Russia were exposed to low level electromagnetic radiation when Russians bombarded the embassy with these fields to see if behavior or thought patterns would change. Employees were then exposed to even higher power radiation emitted by equipment used by Americans to jam Soviet transmitters. Employees were never informed, and most ultimately died of cancer (Brodeur, p. 115).
Other European and American studies have documented cellular destruction or DNA change when cells are subjected longterm to VLFs and ELFs, particularly a study conducted by Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado, a neurophysiologist who was director of research at the Centro Ramon y Cajal Hospital in Madrid, Spain.
Your Computer’s VLF and ELF Fields
Are VLF and ELF fields from your computer harmful? According to Janet Cottrell’s account, in VDT Work and Your Health: Radiation, (University Computing Services,University of Vermont,October 28, 1991) "This question is the source of a great deal of debate. Some studies indicate that even weak VLF or ELF fields can cause miscarriage, birth defects, or cancer. However, these studies – and their implications – are very controversial.”
ELFs, VLFs and Cancer
Despite studies stating otherwise, military and government authorities and other interested parties have been loath to accept findings that indicate that individuals exposed to electromagnetic fields suffer fatal health problems, most usually cancer. Military installations, such as Cape Cod’s PAVE PAWS, routinely use equipment designed for national defense which transmit electromagnetic fields. While military defense is critical, are they blatantly exposing large numbers of citizens to radiation and then denying health hazards exist? Brodeur claims, “Over all, servicemen who worked with or near radiation-emitting devices were more than three times as likely to develop cancer as unexposed personnel in other military occupations” (Brodeur, p. 125).
Unfortunately, women residents in the Cape Cod area exposed to PAVE PAWS also experienced leukemia rates 23 percent higher than other Massachusetts women, and “had died of cancer of the liver, bladder, and kidney at a rate that was 61 percent higher” (Brodeur, p. 127). Were these deaths from electromagnetic field exposure, or from other environmental toxins?
Summary
This controversy is far from over. Are electromagnetic fields a health hazard, or is this much ado about nothing? Only meticulous, unbiased research will ultimately decide.
