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EMF in the News.
Power Line EMFs -- An Electromagnetic Hoax?
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
In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, William R. Bennett argues that the public "hysteria" about the
alleged health risks of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) created by power lines is misplaced. Bennett is a
professor of engineering, applied science, and physics at Yale University, who feels that the money already
"squandered" on EMF research "ought to be more shocking to people than any electromagnetic field."
Bennett points out that the epidemiological studies linking power lines with cancer are highly inconclusive.
For example, these studies fail to take economic factors into account, ignoring the fact that poorer people who
are more susceptible to disease are also more likely to live near transformer substations and power lines.
Moreover, all the studies to date have been retrospective rather than prospective, basing their findings on
such unreliable sources as human memory and public records. In response to this "electromagnetic hoax,"
hasty legislation has been enacted, multi-million dollar studies have been funded, and utilities have been
forced to take corrective measures--all to the tune of more than $23 billion.
The Wall Street Journal,10 August 1994
Copyright (c) 1994-2008, Information Ventures, Inc.
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