Subject: Press Release, NCI EMF (childhood) study.......
Date: Thu, 23 Apr 1998 035203 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru@hotmail.com
--------------------------------------------------
Hi everybody:
You won't believe it -- by that I mean that you will hardly be
able to recognize the connection -- but the following is the "press
release" put out by NCI concerning their latest study (sent to you
yesterday).
More deception and dissembling!!!!!! .... Aimed at the
uninformed press and public of course......
Cheerio.....
Roy Beavers (EMFguru)
rbeavers@llion.org..............http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html
................................It is better to light a single candle ...
than to curse the darkness...............................................
Date: Tue, 21 Apr 1998 20:02:39 -0400
From: "Kenneth R. Foster"
Subject: latest Linet study
Magnetic Fields Associated With Electrical Appliances Are Considered
Unlikely To Increase the Risk of Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE, 6 p.m. EDT, Monday, April 20, 1998 National Cancer
Institute Press Office, (301) 496-6641
Several investigators from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released a
report in the May issue of Epidemiology concluding that it is unlikely that
magnetic fields from household electrical appliances increase a child's
chance of developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). ALL accounts for
70 percent to 80 percent of all childhood leukemias and one-third of all
childhood cancers in the United States. Only a small percentage of cases of
ALL have a known cause.
Beginning in 1979, some studies suggested that magnetic fields (EMFs) may
increase the risk for ALL while others have found no evidence for risk.
EMFs are produced by power lines, electrical wiring and household
electrical appliances.
Researchers from NCI in collaboration with the Children's Cancer Group
(CCG), a network of pediatric oncologists and other researchers across the
U.S., published an earlier report** in July 1997 that showed little
evidence that the EMF from high current power lines or from high levels of
magnetic fields measured in the home were associated with an increased risk
of ALL in children.
The current study, also a collaboration between NCI and CCG, is the first
large study of childhood ALL and electrical appliances. The researchers
compared the exposure to household electrical appliances of 640 children
diagnosed with ALL to the exposure of 640 matched controls - children of
the same age, race and place of residence without the disease. (The same
cases and controls were used in the two NCI/CCG studies). The data are
based on the mothers' responses to a detailed questionnaire about their
appliance use during pregnancy as well as their child's use. TVs, electric
blankets, microwaves, hair dryers, stereo systems, heating pads and
computers were some of the appliances included in the study. No
measurements were taken of magnetic fields associated with the actual
appliances used.
The authors were unable to draw a clear conclusion from the data. Although
the data showed some association between appliance use and leukemia, there
was no consistent pattern of increasing risk with increasing exposures. The
scientists speculate that the magnetic fields from electrical appliances
are unlikely to increase the risk of childhood ALL.
The contribution of home appliances to a person's total EMF exposure is
thought to be small because most appliances are used for short periods of
time and EMF exposures are elevated only close to the appliance. It is more
difficult to assess the contribution of appliances to EMF exposures than
that of power lines and building wiring. This is because for each
appliance, the magnetic field varies greatly with distance, and frequently
neither the distance of the person from the appliance nor how often an
appliance is on or off can be reconstructed accurately from interviews.
These preliminary findings are part of a more comprehensive study being
conducted by the CCG looking for possible causes of childhood ALL. In the
larger study, many risk factors other than EMF are being evaluated in more
than 1,900 children diagnosed with ALL between 1989 and 1993. These include
exposures of children to infectious agents in the home or neighborhood,
exposures of parents to radiation or chemicals at work, medications used by
the mother during pregnancy, alcohol use, and lifestyle of the parents.
Results are expected in two years.
For more information about cancer visit NCI's Website for patients, public
and the mass media at http://rex.nci.nih.gov or NCI's main website at
http://www.nci.nih.gov.
*The study is titled "Association Between Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic
Leukemia and Use of Electrical Appliances During Pregnancy and Childhood."
The authors are Elizabeth E. Hatch, Martha S. Linet, Ruth A. Kleinerman,
Robert E. Tarone, Richard K. Severson, Charleen T. Hartsock, Carol Haines,
William T. Kaune, Dana Friedman, Leslie L. Robison, and Sholom Wacholder.
Epidemiology, May 1998.
**The study is titled "Residential Magnetic Field Exposures and Childhood
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia." The authors are Martha S. Linet, Elizabeth
E. Hatch, Ruth A. Kleinerman, Leslie L. Robison, Willian T. Kaune, Dana R.
Friedman, Richard K. Severson, Carol M. Haines, Charlene T. Hartsock,
Shelly Niwa, Sholom Wacholder, and Robert E. Tarone. NEJM, July 3, 1997.
Kenneth R Foster
Department of Bioengineering
University of Pennsylvania
220 S. 33rd St.
Philadelphia PA 19104-6392
215-898-8534
fax 215-573-2071
President IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology 1997-8
Chair, EMBS Committee on Man and Radiation 1997-
*****************************************************************************
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html