BMJ  2005;330:1293 (4 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7503.1293

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Science commentary

Power to confuse

¹ 28 New End Square, London NW3 1LS geoff@scileg.freeserve.co.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Ever since Nancy Wertheimer of the University of Colorado reported her 1979 findings of an excess of cancer in children living near overhead power lines, seldom has a year passed without a flurry of public debate over the safety or otherwise of these ugly (the one thing all parties agree on) but essential installations.

Much of the argument has been about the very existence of the alleged hazard. As recently as last month, the organisers of the 15 year UK childhood cancer study declared that "perceived risk factors such as living near sources of electromagnetic fields... are not principal causes, if at all, of leukaemia in children." But a clutch of studies reporting a positive association—of which this week's by Draper and colleagues is the most recent¹—has encouraged researchers to continue investigating possible mechanisms.

Electrical and magnetic fields can induce currents that might alter the voltages across cell membranes. . . . [Full text of this article]

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