Subject:  (Slesin) Important News (fwd)
Date:     Tue, 15 Jun 1999 185204 -0500 (CDT)
From:     "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To:       emfguru <rbeavers@llion.org>
--------------------------------------------------


......I am happy to forward Louis Slesin's message below -- which
not only discusses the latest NIEHS release ... but also reports on
some VERY interesting new research.....

(Because the EMF-L list has already received the NIEHS press release,
I have deleted that from Louis' message.....)

Cheerio....

Roy Beavers (EMFguru)......
rbeavers@llion.org.......
.....It is better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.....
EMF-L web-site can be found at: 
EMF-L archives can be found at: 
..................PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN PROFITS..................

..........DO YOU KNOW OF OTHERS WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS LIST?????...........


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 19:20:12 -0400
From: Louis Slesin / Microwave News 
To: Colleagues (LS)
Subject: Important News

June 15, 1999

Dear Colleagues:

        Today, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
(NIEHS) in Research Triangle Park, NC, released its final report to
Congress on the RAPID research program on possible health effects of power
frequency EMFs. In a letter accompanying the report, NIEHS Director Dr.
Kenneth Olden concludes that evidence of any health risk from exposures to
EMFs is "weak."
        Interestingly, also today a team at the University of Toronto and
the Hospital for Sick Children, both in Canada, released results of an
epidemiological study that provides perhaps the strongest evidence to date
for the existence of an EMF-cancer link among children. Children with the
highest exposures to power frequency EMFs were found to have a risk of
leukemia 4.5 times higher, after adjusting for various known risk factors,
than did children with the lowest exposures. The increase in risk is
statistically significant.
        The Canadian researchers, led by Dr. Lois Green of the University
of Toronto, report their findings in two papers: in the International
Journal of Cancer and in Cancer Causes and Control. The study was funded in
part by Ontario Hydro, an electric ultility, and by the Canadian Electrical
Association.
        Epidemiological data provide the strongest evidence for health
effects, NIEHS' Olden states, and show associations between EMF exposures
and increased risk of childhood leukemia and of acute lymphocytic leukemia
in adults. According to Olden, these data show "a fairly consistent pattern
of a small, increased risk with increasing exposure." Animal and in vitro
research, in contrast, do not demonstrate "any consistent pattern across
studies," Olden concludes, although "sporadic findings of biological
effects have been reported."
        While the evidence is "insufficient to warrant aggressive
regulatory concern," according to Olden, he concludes that, "Inexpensive
and safe reductions in exposures should be encouraged." Olden "encourages"
U.S. electric utilities to measure fields in customers' homes and help them
identify sources of high fields. In addition, Olden "suggests that the
power industry continue its current practice of siting power lines to
reduce exposures."
        The 79-page report fulfills a 1992 congressional mandate to
determine whether, and to what extent, power frequency EMFs pose a health
hazard to humans.
        The full text of the NIEHS press release appears below and the full
text of the report to Congress is available now on the Internet at
.
        Microwave News will present detailed coverage of both of these
important developments in its July/August issue.
        In the May/June issue, which will reach subscribers in a few days,
Microwave News reports on the latest epidemiological studies that have put
a new focus on the possible link betweeen brain tumors and the use of
cellular phones. In the same issue, Microwave News reports on another
just-published epidemiological study from Canada which, in contrast to the
Toronto study, finds little evidence of a cancer risk.
        Clearly, much remains unsettled in the EMF and microwave health debates.

Best,

Louis Slesin
Editor

__________________________________________________________
Louis Slesin, PhD
Editor, Microwave News
A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation
Phone: 212-517-2800;   Fax: 212-734-0316
E-mail: ,  Internet: 
Mail:  PO Box 1799, Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163, U.S.A.





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