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EMF in the News.
State Ruling Acknowledges EMF/Cancer Link

Last modified on: Friday, March 12, 1999 12:05:20
Copyright © 1994-2008, Information Ventures, Inc.
Biological Effects of Nonionizing Electromagnetic Radiation [BENER] Digest Update, Volume 4, Number 2, 1994
On 29 June, Washington state's Department of Labor and Industries ruled that a former smelter employee of Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation in Tacoma was entitled to worker's compensation for cancer he claims was caused by exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) on the job. This is the first ruling by a U.S. government body acknowledging a link between EMF exposure and cancer. The complaint filed by James Brewer pointed out that eight Kaiser employees out of the 90 who worked with him in the smelter's "pot room" had developed lymphoma or leukemia and died. Aluminum smelting requires unusually high levels of electrical power and consequently workers are exposed to high magnetic field levels during the manufacturing process. In the pot room Brewer was also frequently exposed to intense heat and noxious chemicals including benzene and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Mr. Brewer's physician, Dr. Samuel Milham, has asserted a link between EMF and cancer in aluminum smelters in his research. Dr. Milham studied Kaiser's aluminum plant during the 1980s and found "way too many cases" of leukemia and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma among workers there. The high incidence of cancer in the Kaiser workers coincides with similar findings in other aluminum plants. Other occupational studies, however, including one by Southern California Edison Company on 12,000 of its electrical utility workers, have found no unusual cancer levels among workers exposed to EMF.

Commenting on the case, a spokesman for the Department of Labor and Industries stated that the Department is not claiming that EMF exposure causes cancer. Rather, the ruling resulted from a lack of response by medical claims processors to a state inquiry for medical information. The ruling was based on very limited information because claims processors at Alexis Risk Management Services failed to respond to the Department's request. Kaiser has requested a review of the ruling. Spokeswoman Susan Ash said that Kaiser will file medical evidence in support of an appeal, and is confident the ruling will be overturned. Kaiser has 60 days to appeal the ruling.

The Wall Street Journal, 14 July 1994
EMF News, 25 July 1994
Microwave News, July/August 1994

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