Study: Electric Fields not Killing Fields

WASHINGTON, D.C.: A two-year evaluation by a National Research Council committee of some 500 studies performed since 1979 on the health effects of high-voltage power lines has found no evidence that electric and magnetic fields cause cancer, reproductive or developmental abnormalities. "Taken altogether, the current body of evidence shows that exposure to (electric and magnetic) fields does not constitute a threat to human health," said committee chairman Dr. Charles Stevens, a professor at Salk Institute and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute neurobiologist. "We have failed to find a hazard." This report, however, is not the final word on the possible harm of high-voltage power lines. Congress has ordered a five-year, $65 million study by four government laboratories to determine whether electromagnetic fields harm nerve cells, trigger breast cancer or cause other illnesses. That study is expected to be finished next year. --Lamia Abu-Haidar