BMJ  2005;331:635 (17 September), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7517.635-a

Letter

Childhood cancer and power lines

Study had important omissions

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

Editor—The study by Draper et al omitted most cases near power lines of 132 kV.¹ The United Kingdom has 10 000 circuit km of 400 kV lines and 4000 circuit km of 275 kV lines, but 20 000 circuit km of 132 kV lines and more than 260 000 pole mounted transformers.² Should the effect be found near these lower voltage sources, then saying that only five cases per year would result becomes a dramatic understatement. Major residential exposure to electromagnetic fields is not from power lines but from home appliances and wiring, and these could also augment incidence.

At 50 Hz no association exists between strengths of electromagnetic fields since people who are exposed are in the source's near field. Magnetic fields from power lines will attenuate at 1/r³, whereas electric fields may attenuate only at the simple reciprocal, thereby still exceeding average levels much further away, accelerated . . . [Full text of this article]

Coghill Research Laboratories, Lower Race, Pontypool NP4 5UH roger@cogreslab.co.uk

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Related Article

Childhood cancer in relation to distance from high voltage power lines in England and Wales: a case-control study

Gerald Draper, Tim Vincent, Mary E Kroll, and John Swanson
BMJ 2005 330: 1290. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Apparent Error in Physics

John M. Williams
bmj.com, 17 Sep 2005 [Full text]

Coghill's Challenge

Kenneth Campbell
bmj.com, 30 Oct 2005 [Full text]