81

The History of Bioelectromagnetism

hazards associated with electric feld from transmission lines and from the workplace led to many stud­

ies and continued controversy about whether adverse health efects on humans occur. In particular, the

construction of Extra High Voltage (EHV)-AC transmission lines gave public and scientifc interest.

Te scientifc research focused on the possible efects of electric felds, audible, and radio noises and

ozone. Te papers on the biological and health efects of high electric feld were published (Hauf, 1974,

1976; Malboysson, 1976; Silney, 1976). Apart from the work of the Soviet Union investigators, there were

almost no reports of harmful efects related to electric felds. Tese reports include medical studies of

10 energized line workers exposed to energized 350 kV transmission lines (Singewald, 1973), medical

studies of 56 substation maintenance workers at 735 kV substations (Roberge, 1976), medical studies of

53 workers with over 5 years at 400 kV substations (Knave et al., 1979), and medical studies of residents

near 200/400 kV transmission lines (Strumza, 1970), etc.

A study conducted to confrm the reports from the Soviet Union was made by professor Kouwenhoven

and his group of John Hopkins University (Kouwenhoven et al., 1966, 1967). Te group looked at the

health efects on linemen working on live lines at 138 and 345 kV electric felds and added evidence to

refute the hazard report from the Soviet Union. A total of 11 male workers, ranging from 30 to 47 years

of age, were subjected to a total of 42 months of continuous health examinations from December 1962

to May 1966. During this period, fve physical examinations were conducted at the John Hopkins

University Hospital. Te results of these periodic physical examinations showed no efect of the electric

felds. Te health of the workers engaged in these live line operations continued to be followed for a total

of 9 years until 1972. Although one of the 11 workers who participated in the follow-up study did not

participate in the study afer 1967, Kouwenhoven and his colleagues reported that the electric feld did

not cause any health problems based on nearly 9 years of research. Kouwenhoven who led this study was

born in Brooklyn, New York, and began investigating the efects of electric shocks on the human body

and electrical stimulation of the heart in the 1920s, and is known as a pioneer in the study of the efects

of electricity on human.

In another subject, In 1973 Louse B. Young (1919–2010), a physicist and science writer, who lived in a

small village in Ohio, published the book Power over People (Young, 1973, 1992). Back cover of this book

showed a photograph of a woman, presumably Mrs. Young, holding two fuorescent bulbs, while stand­

ing directly under a high voltage transmission line and the fuorescent bulbs glow brightly in a dim light.

Te book described how plans were being made to build a high voltage transmission line across the land

where a family had lived for several generations, and how they joined the movement to oppose it from

1969 to 1972, when it was being built. Opposition to the line was strong in 1970s in Minnesota, New York,

and other states. Until the frst half of the 1970s, concerns for the biological efects of electromagnetic

felds generated by high voltage power transmission lines had focused on induced voltages on objects

and human. For example, concerns were on perceptible shocks experimentally by humans near metal­

lic structures, near and under high voltage power transmission lines, and installation. Humans sensed

clearly vibrations in the hair.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, human health issues came from the epidemiological studies that

established a link between an increase of cancer in child and adult due to exposure to extremely low-

frequency electromagnetic felds (ELF-EMF). Te issue of the infuence of electromagnetic felds on

human health was taken up widely. Te research expanded in the 1980s to include the study of a pos­

sible association between ELF-magnetic felds and cancer in residents near power transmission lines.

In 1979, Nancy Wertheimer (1927–2007), an epidemiologist at Medical Center, University of Colorado,

and Edward A. Leeper, an engineer, compared the distribution of childhood cancer in the Denver area

of Colorado with wire code, the index of degree of current fow of power lines. Actual exposure was not

measured. Tey published its results as an epidemiological study in a journal that showed an increased

risk of leukemia in children living near power transmission lines (Wertheimer and Leeper, 1979). Tey

inferred that a possible association exists between childhood cancer and exposure to ELF-magnetic

felds. Te incidence was roughly doubled in the exposed cases compared to the control cases. Since

the publication of the Wertheimer-Leeper study, many new research eforts related to the safety of