Academy Times lecture: Are overhead power lines a health hazard? Some say yes, others say no - so is it possible to draw conclusions for or against these views after 20 years of intensive research into the health effects of the high-voltage cables? Dick Ahlstrom reports.
These and related questions will be discussed next month in Dublin when a leading UK researcher on the subject delivers an Academy Times lecture entitled "Overhead Power Lines: A Health Hazard?"
Prof Michael Crumpton (right) is a former director of laboratory research at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in the UK. He was a leading investigator into cell structure and cellular mechanism and currently chairs the scientific advisory committee of the UK charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer.
He comes to Dublin to deliver an Academy Times lecture organised by the Royal Irish Academy and The Irish Times. The lecture is one of a series run by the two organisations as a way of broadening public understanding of science.
The possible risks posed by power lines have remained a contentious issue for years as research groups throughout the world delivered conflicting results.
Some recent epidemiological studies have linked exposure to the magnetic fields that surround power lines with a small increased incidence of childhood leukaemia.
The suspicion that these fields represent a health hazard, albeit a very small one, has profound economic implications for government, the electricity industry and society, Prof Crumpton suggests.
Although there is no known mechanism by which these magnetic fields can induce a biological response, he will ask whether there are mechanisms yet to be
discovered to account for the epidemiology.
Two decades of research have delivered no hard evidence for biological effects, so is there a way forward from this impasse?
Prof Crumpton will also ask whether scientific journals are biased against publishing negative results and, if so, whether this can lend spurious credibility to published studies that do claim a biological response to power lines.
Prof Crumpton's lecture takes place in the Burke Theatre at Trinity College in Dublin at 7.30 p.m., on Wednesday, May 12th. The lecture is free, but places must be booked beforehand, as only 400 seats are available.
Book at the academy's website, www.ria.ie, clicking the button for the lecture, or by telephone, calling the academy at 01-6762570