Danger Of Strong Electromagnetic Fields

blueworld writes "U.S. Department of Energy researchers have discovered a possible cause for reported illness around high voltage power lines. They found that rats' bodies produced high levels of ozone when exposed to strong electrical fields. Electrically grounded water produced the same result when exposed to the fields. Apparently, the water in our bodies may be responsible for the health risks of high voltage power lines."

Comments

Ways to cope?

[spin2cool]

Before running out and unplugging your negative=ion air-freshener, keep in mind that the rats were consistently positioned extremely close to the source. This is a different condition than would be experienced in most situations.

Still, the study identifies another potential health risk. So, what are some ways that we can reduce the potential damage? Some sort of sheilding on power lines? Are there any materials that can cheaply stop this type of radiation and it's effects?

A diet high in anti-oxidants is one easy way to at least limit the damage... (Free radicals caused by the decomposition of 03 as it attacks are responsible for much of the damage. Anti-oxidants can help prevent this).

Then maybe you need to read up on some(+)

[Mycroft_514]

Because there is a specific health risk. The risk near a power line is NOT an URBAN LEGEND

I speak from doing a bunch of research on this problem, after finding out that Electromagnetic radiation was one of the seven possible causes for the cancer that I survived.

The electromagnetic field (EMF) is not harmful IN AND OF ITSELF. In conjunction with how the body works, some people are subject to some of it's effects. To whit: An EMF field will cause already existing cancer cells to grow faster than normal. Of itself, this is not fatal, as you have to have the cells in the body to start with.

Some schools think that the body causes cancer cells to grow all the time. The body's immune system then kills off the bad cells while leaving the good ones alone. In the presence of an EMF field, the body has to work harder, and once it loses the battle, the cancer will grow out of control.

As I found out, the transition out of such a field to the hospital for a week made me feel better, and when I re-entered the field for a while, I felt worse. The best decision that we apparently made for that time was to permanently remove me from the field, though we didn't know it was even there at the time (in hindsite, we recognized the source of the EMF)

Saccharin

[funwithBSD]

So soon people forget the Saccharin f

This finding immediately triggered the threat of the so-called "Delaney Clause," a congressionally mandated provision that requires the Food and Drug Administration to ban--literally "at the drop of a rat"--any synthetic food chemical shown to cause cancer when ingested by laboratory animals. ...

Saccharin's reputation was further tarnished, however, in 1981, when the National Toxicology Program, referring again to the Canadian rat study, elected to put saccharin in its "cancer causing" list-- formally declaring it an "anticipated human carcinogen."

There was no scientific basis for such a classification of saccharin as a human cancer hazard.

Taken from: http://www.acsh.org/press/editorials/saccharin0517 00.html

The pseudo science of it was that the rats were give enough saccharin to make a 55 gallon drum of soda...

On topic, I have an ozone/ion air cleaner and it does a great job doing what I want it to do... keeping the house smelling clean.

Magnetic vs. electric fields

[barakn]

The original 1979 study that purported to find a link between power lines and cancer didn't actually measure field strengths directly, instead guessing based on wiring codes. Later studies attempted to correlate various diseases with the actual measured strength of the magnetic field (here's an informative link with a good list of ref.'s at the bottom). This was done for an interesting reason. Humans are bags of saltwater and so conduct electricity well. Thus electric fields tend to be attenuated greatly by the human body. Magnetic fields can travel relatively unimpeded into the body, and it was thought that the magnetic fields would thus be the greater danger.

If ozone is the problem and it is generated by the electric field, then most of the studies done so far are irrelevant because they never measured electric field strengths. This will be rather difficult to study, as the lungs are most susceptible to ozone, and contributions to lung problems from smoking and air pollution will have to be subtracted. Smoking correlates with poverty level, and poverty level and the proximity of major roadways correlate well with each other and with the placement of high-voltage lines. It's going to be a huge statistical mess.

Note that I'm not worried enough to step away from the computer....