Electricity and cancer

1994/09/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Osasuna

The American Journal of Epidemiology has published the results of the survey on personnel in electromagnetic fields.

Remember that when there is alternating current in a wire or cable, around it are generated electric and magnetic fields, that is, an electromagnetic field is created.

In 1979, sociologist Nancy Wertheimer announced that children in the North American area of Denver had twice the risk of leukemia if they lived by electric lines. Since then, numerous investigations have been carried out and what has been confirmed by Wertheimer. In 1986, the Swedish Lennard Tomenius reported that children living around medium-voltage power lines had more tumors of the nervous system. Finally, in 1992 the Swedes of Maria Feychting and Anders Ahl\n officially confirm the relationship between electromagnetic fields and cancer.

This risk, logically, focuses first on professionals working on the lines, so it has been investigated in two Canadian power companies, Ontario Hydro and Hydro-Quebec. The result has been that electromagnetic fields present a high risk of leukemia and brain tumors. However, the relationship between dose and effect is not clearly defined. In fact, under equal conditions, companies have shown a higher risk of cancer than others.