Subject: Power Lines - Texas (Turenne) (Curry)..
Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 163900 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers"
To: emfguru
--------------------------------------------------
......Bill, as you know, I am sure ... guru has been saying for
a LONG time: The case for adverse health effects is much stronger
in the "ELF" (power line frequency) situation than the RF cell phone
antennas situation..... That does not mean, however, that the same
will prevail once the RF situation has been as well studied as the
ELF. When we understand more of Mother Nature's secrets on this, in other
words, that may change -- as indeed some are already predicting.......
Cheerio.....(I have some more comments below......)
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..................
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 01 Oct 1999 15:58:30 -0500
From: "Bill P. Curry"
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: Re: Power Lines - Texas (Turenne)..
Roy,
I thought that Ellen and others concerned about the powerlines threat to
child health might appreciate seeing the two abstracts I have placed below
this message. These are from MedLine, and they are abstracts of the two
Toronto papers referred to in the University of Toronto press release that you
disseminated a short while ago. Note that signficant correlation between
EMF's and the occurrence of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia occrred above
magnetic levels as low as 1.4 milligauss!
This was a surprise to me. Significantly, children under six have a
higher occurrence probability than older children. My wife and I will
have the full papers by next Wednesday.
Notice that the correlation between disease occurrence and mafnetic fields was
greatest when the child wore a personal magnetic field monitor, less strong
when the fields were simply measured in the house, and uncorrelated when a
wire surrogate was used instead of an actual measurement.
Further, there was no correlation with proximity to high current power
lines.
[......See guru's additional note at bottom of the abstracts.
This "power line" statement may not have 'held up' under peer
review....????..... The 'incentive' for researchers to "find" the
power lines harmless is very powerful, indeed..... Given the questions
that have been raised by reviewers of the actual study data about that
aspect -- I suggest we give the "no correlation to power lines" judgement
a bit more time to "jell."......guru....]
The lesson is "measure the fields the child actually encounters!"
I would like to ask the statistical and epidemiological experts on the EMF
- List ... how significant these cases are, in terms of the quoted odds
ratios and the low quoted probabilities that these findings are due to
chance. I suspect they are rather significant.
In our geographical area, a man has measured magnetic field levels
substantially in excess of 10 milligauss in either living or working quarters
of his building. (I don't know whether this is his office building or an
apartment building.) On a higher floor in the building, he has measured 600
milligauss! The power company has been trying to discover the source of the
problem. They have found that 30 amps current enters the building but does
not return along the expected path. Obviously the current is finding its own
return path, but they have not found it yet. [.....Remember the "stray
voltage" discussion..... You may have missed that, or its significance,
Bill -- because correct "technical' nomenclature would be to call it
"stray current." But when it was first noticed 15-20 years ago, the
farmers named it "stray voltage.".....guru.....]
If there are any suggestions from power line experts on the list, I will
be glad to forward them to the affected individual.
The first line of the 2 abstracts shown below is the abbreviated journal name.
Cancer Causes Control 1999 Jun;10(3):233-43
Childhood leukemia and personal monitoring of residential
exposures to electric and magnetic fields in Ontario, Canada.
Green LM, Miller AB, Agnew DA, Greenberg ML, Li J, Villeneuve PJ, Tibshirani R
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
[Medline record in process]
OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the risk of childhood leukemia in relation to
residential electric and magnetic field
(EMF) exposures. METHODS: A case control study based on 88 cases and 133
controls used different assessment methods to determine EMF exposure in
the child's current residence. Cases comprised incident leukemias
diagnosed at 0-14 years of age between 1985-1993 from a larger study
in southern Ontario; population controls were individually matched to the
cases by age and sex. Exposure was measured by a personal monitoring
device worn by the child during usual activities at home, by point-in-time
measurements in three rooms and according to wire code assigned to the
child's residence. RESULTS: An association between magnetic field
exposures as measured with the personal monitor and increased risk of leukemia
was observed. The risk was more pronounced for those children diagnosed at
less than 6 years of age and those with acute lymphoblastic
leukemia. Risk estimates associated with magnetic fields tended to increase
after adjusting for power consumption and potential confounders with
significant odds ratios (OR) (OR: 4.5, 95% confidence interval (CI):
1.3-15.9) observed for exposures > or = 0.14 microTesla (microT). For the
most part point-in-time measurements of magnetic fields were associated
with non-significant elevations in risk which were generally compatible
with previous research. Residential proximity to power lines having a high
current configuration was not associated with increased risk of leukemia.
[......See guru's note following the second abstract.....guru......]
Exposures to electric fields as measured by personal monitoring were
associated with a decreased leukemia risk. CONCLUSIONS: The findings
relating to magnetic field exposures directly measured by personal
monitoring support an association with the risk of childhood leukemia. As
exposure assessment is refined, the possible role of magnetic fields in
the etiology of childhood leukemia becomes more evident.
Int J Cancer 1999 Jul 19;82(2):161-70
A case-control study of childhood leukemia in southern Ontario, Canada,
and exposure to magnetic fields in residences.
Green LM, Miller AB, Villeneuve PJ, Agnew DA, Greenberg ML, Li J, Donnelly KE
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Canada.
lm.green@utoronto.ca
A population-based case-control study was conducted in Ontario, Canada, to
assess the relation between the risk of childhood leukemia and residential
exposure to magnetic fields. Participating subjects consisted of 201
cases, diagnosed at 0 to 14 years of age during 1985-1993, ascertained from
the records at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto), and 406
individually matched controls. Where possible, point-in-time measurements
of magnetic fields were made in all residences occupied by subjects during the
period of inquiry in the defined catchment area. Three different
classification schemes of wire code were assigned to each residence.
Detailed information was collected by interviewer-administered
questionnaires, which enabled risk estimates to be adjusted for
socio-economic characteristics, medical history of parent(s) and
child and environmental exposures. Inconsistent elevations in risk were
associated with time-weighted averages of magnetic fields both
inside and outside the home for subjects having residential point-in-time
measurements that represented at least 70% of their etiological period.
These risks increased in magnitude when analysis was restricted to
children under 6 years of age at diagnosis or to those with acute
lymphoblastic leukemia. For children younger than 6 years at diagnosis,
outside perimeter measurements of the residence, > or = 0.15 microT, were
associated with increased leukemia risk (OR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.14-10.45).
Evaluation of different exposure times for point-in-time magnetic field
measurements and wire configuration suggested that exposures earliest in
the etiological period were associated with greater risks for children
diagnosed at a younger age (OR = 2.50, 95% CI = 1.14-5.49). Our findings
did not support an association between leukemia and proximity to power
lines with high current configuration.
[......Concerning this last sentence, I believe it was Louis Slesin who
reported recently that NIEHS had reviewed the actual data -- and concluded
that the study DOES IN FACT show an association with the proximity to
power lines......?????......guru.....]
Roy L. Beavers wrote:
>
> ......Texas case, please respond direct to Ellen..... I believe one of
> our attorney's may be on this too???.....
>
> 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..................
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 1 Oct 1999 08:40:57 -0500
> From: "Turenne, Ellen"
> To: "'Roy L. Beavers'"
> Subject: Power Lines - Texas
>
> You had written me about a case with, I think, Austin, Texas. It was
> something similar to the fight we are having with NSP and our power lines.
> Do you know where I could get more information on that case? What were the
> dates, maybe I could find it in archives in the library?
>
> Thanks for any assistance.
--
----
Bill P. Curry, Ph.D. |Physics is fun.
EMSciTek Consulting Co. |Trying to make a living!
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Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.emfguru.com