Subject: New French study on EMF induced(?) iron deficiency (Lentin).
Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 121040 -0600
From: Roy Beavers
To: guru@emfguru.com
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........From EMF-L.......
Many thanks to our French correspondent for what is, indeed, a
new report.......guru......
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: New French study on iron deficiency and HT lines
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 12:22:00 +0100
From: Jean-Pierre Lentin
To: guru@emfguru.com
Hi Roy
I just received from Dr Hachulla a copy of his short (2 pages, in the
"Letters to the editor" section) but very important (in my humble
opinion) paper, which appeared in the December 2000 issue of the
European Journal of Internal Medicine.
I had already heard Hachulla communicate his results during a
symposium on health effects of high tension lines, held last year at
the Assemblee Nationale (French Congress) in Paris. I wanted to
interview him for our TV documentary, but at the time he refused
because the article was not
published yet.
The article is :
"Pseudo-iron deficiency in a French population living near high-voltage
transmission lines: a dilemma for clinicians"
by Eric Hachulla, Marie-Thérèse Caulier-Leleu, Odile Fontaine, Lofti
Mehianoui, Paul Pelerin
European Journal of Internal Medicine
Volume (issue): 11 (6) 2000
(pp 351 -- 352)
http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ejim
As the paper is not available on-line to non-subscribers, here is my
summary and comment.
Coutiches is a village near Lille, in the North of France, situated
right under a big HT line (2 x 400 kV). It was a famous case in the
1990s, with lots of citizen action, media reports, court cases, some
medical studies - all to no avail. No health risk was acknowledged,
most inhabitants eventually left, EDF (Electricite de France, the
national grid company) bought the houses, many of them are empty now...
Dr Hachulla originally got involved by "chance" in 1994-95. Working in
a big hospital in Lille, he noticed that several patients who came for
blood analysis had very unusual parameters - and they were all living
in Coutiches under the lines. Eventually a thorough study was
financed, on 15 men and 13 women, plus 31 male and 34 female controls
(people also living in Coutiches but farther from the HT lines). There
was repeated blood analysis, myelograms, isotopic explorations (and of
course meausurements of fields levels). The results, despite
individual variations, show clearly that most of the people living
under the line have a "iron pseudo-deficiency". I.e. they have low
iron levels in the blood, but no symptoms of anemia and no decrease of
ferritin, which normally goes with iron deficiency.
Conclusion : "We speculate that EMFs may modify iron metabolism in
populations subjected to 0,2 microTeslas or more, with a high bone
marrow incorporation of the iron (that would explain the low iron
level) and a rapid utilization for the metabolism of hemoglobin,
sometimes with non-incorporation of (39)Fe in the liver."
At the symposium, Dr Hachulla commented that this peculiar syndrome is
unknown in medical records, and that one does not know at this point
what are the consequences on health and whether this effect could be
detrimental or lead to other symptoms linked with EMF. But it is
apparently the first time that an "objective", measurable bio-chemical
effect is clearly and unmistakably shown in people living under HT lines.
In a private conversation, Dr Hachulla also told me that he expects his
results will be severely criticized by EDF-appointed experts... But he
is convinced his data are very robust and will stand the future trials.
Cheers !
PS - We still have no date for the broadcasting of the documentary,
but will know very soon, maybe next week. I'm told it will be probably
in March or April. I'll let you know (and send the VHS copy).
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com