Sir, – There has been considerable debate on whether exposure to electromagnetic fields is associated with the development of cancer. The European Commission's report (World News, February 4th) is a very detailed analysis by a group of EU experts of a large literature surrounding electromagnetic field radiation and a variety of human diseases.
The report is both detailed and comprehensive, concluding that there is little association between electromagnetic magnetic fields and cancer. In other words the risk of developing cancer from exposure to high levels of such radiation is very low or non-existent.
The report does appear to highlight childhood leukaemia as an exception. It states “that meta-analysis of studies published between 2000-2009 confirms the robustness of an approximately two-fold increased risk at magnetic fields above a level of 0.3/0.4µT”. People living close to high voltage overhead lines can be exposed to levels significantly higher than this. The report goes on to state that the epidemiological, studies carried out to date support the idea that exposure to electromagnetic fields is a possible carcinogen based on the demonstrated association with childhood leukaemia risk.
The puzzle is that there is no known biological explanation of how electromagnetic fields could induce leukaemia. Without such an explanation there are always going to be doubts about the link between electromagnetic radiation and leukaemia, but the epidemiological studies at the moment look interesting! – Yours, etc,
THOMAS G
COTTER, MRIA,
Prof of Biochemistry,
University College Cork.