We now have 76 members in the EMF-L group. We have members in 16 countries outside the U.S. The volume and the quality of recent submissions by the members of the group has been excellent!! Keep it up.
In recognition of our many non-U.S. members, we dedicate this message. We think that one of the encouraging recent developments in the EMF arena has been the appearance of an increasing number of EMF research project results by scientists from outside the U.S.
As we have noted before (EMFguru #2-96), much of the U.S. scientific community is tightly interwoven -- through financing and bureaucratic management -- with the vested interests of the electric and telecommunications industries. Neither the perception nor the reality of scientific objectivity is fostered by this interwoven relationship.
It is therefore very encouraging to see that more and more research on EMF health effects is beginning to occur outside the U.S. (We hope -- though we do not know -- that the scientific communities of other countries are not afflicted by the same "big corporate" vested interest contamination that we have in the U.S.)
In this message we review the highpoints of two recent epidemiological studies (one in the U.K. and one in Australia) which seem to reinforce past study results showing that EMF is indeed a significant health hazard.
The risk factor for the incidence of leukemia in children living near the towers was 1.6. (A 60% higher incidence of leukemia cases than for the children who did not live near the towers.) Deaths from leukemia in those same children were 120% higher than was the case for children with leukemia who did not live near the towers.
Dr. Hocking's study group also measured significantly higher levels of RF/MW radiation density in the neighborhoods close to the antennas when compared to neighborhoods far from the antennas. This suggests a 'radiation' level association as well as a proximity association. That kind of 'radiation' association has not been clearly identifiable in most U.S. studies, though the Swedish studies (Ahlbom and Feychting) have found such an association.
This study was first reported by the November/December issue of MICROWAVE NEWS. (PO BOX 1799, Grand Central Station, New York, NY 10163, USA; telephone: 212-517-2800; FAX: 212-734-0316)
(Note for EMF-L group: We have many new members since Cathy Bergman [of the EMR Alliance] issued her warning about the consequences of the new U.S. telecommunications law which was written [blatantly] to provide the telecommunications industry protection against possible litigation over the positioning of their towers....Remember???....Mike Gray also asked "Why was this legislation written to provide such a hurry-up licensing procedure?" .... Guru will again be forwarding both of those messages to the group. The EMR Alliance can be reached at (212) 554-4073 or at e-mail: emrall@aol.com)
Concerning the McGill University study, some of you will also recall that Dr. Louis Slesin reported on the "confiscation" of that data by the electrical utilities involved ... after the results showed a strong association between EMF exposure and the (higher than other studies) leukemia/brain cancer risk factors. Further study and analysis of that data thus has been forestalled.
The U.K. study is reviewed in the May 1996 (vol 14, no 5) EMF HEALTH AND SAFETY DIGEST. Telephone: 612-623-4600 (in the U.S.)