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Bioelectromagnetism

ELF-magnetic felds emerged in both epidemiological and biological areas. Wertheimer was the sev­

enth recipient of the d’Arsonval Award of Bioelectromagnetics Society in 1999. Many reports on the

possibility of a link between residential and occupational exposures to ELF-magnetic felds and cancer

appeared. Te topic focused on leukemia and brain tumor in children, and leukemia, brain tumor, and

breast cancer in adults. Te occupational study focused mainly on leukemia and brain tumor, although

there were concerns with suicide, depression, neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, and amyo­

trophic lateral sclerosis. Laboratory studies were divided into two areas, in vitro and in vivo studies.

Te approach of in vitro studies has been used in an efort to fnd possible mechanisms for interaction

between ELF-magnetic feld exposure and biological systems. Te in vivo studies provide the informa­

tion on how ELF-magnetic felds interact with biological system, using whole organisms such as labo­

ratory animals and humans. In 1982, Milham studied the relationship between the cause of death and

occupation for 438,000 individuals between 1950 and 1979 (Milham, 1982). He found that for occupa­

tions where opportunities for exposure to ELF- electromagnetic felds were believed to be high, a high

death rate from leukemia was observed. In 1986, Lennart Tomenius, a medical ofcer of Health, county

of Stockholm, Sweden, published a replication of the Wertheimer and Leeper study with a 50 Hz elec­

tricity supply (Tomenius, 1988).

At the same time when the Seafarer Project started, the Power Authority of the State of New York

(PASNY) announced a Project to build a 765 kV AC transmission line to transmit the electricity gen­

erated by a hydroelectric power at James Bay from Canadian border across 250 km in New York State

(Young, 1973). At roughly the same time, Rochester Gas and Electric Corporation and Niagara Mohawk

Power Corporation decided to build another 765 kV AC transmission line. Interestingly, professor

Robert Otto Becker owned his property close to one of the planned transmission lines. Becker and his

co-worker, Andrew A. Marino, an Orthopedic Surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital, had

been studying the efect of electricity on living systems. Later, Marino became a professor at Louisiana

State University in Shreveport. Tey were concerned about the health efects due to exposure to ELF-

electromagnetic felds produced by these transmission lines. Gradually, the campaign against the con­

struction became more and more intense. In particular, concerns about the environmental impact of

the construction of the transmission line and the health efects of ELF-electromagnetic felds generated

from it, became so great that public hearings were held. Historically, Becker and Marino were known as

the persons leading the early opposition to high voltage transmission lines.

Te public hearing by the New York State concerning the construction of the PASNY 765 kV trans­

mission line, which began in 1973, was marked by intense arguments concerning the biological efects

of ELF-electromagnetic felds. Research eforts in this area were intensifed afer this public hearing.

Especially, the Department of Energy (DOE), the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), and the

New York State expanded and initiated research in this area. In Europe, the Central Electricity General

Board (CEGB) (UK), the Ente Nazionale per l’energia ELettrica (ENEL) (Italy) and the Ĕlectricité de

France (EDF) (France) also initiated researching.

Te public hearings were held over a 3-year period and more than 10,000 pages of testimonies were

submitted into the record. As a result though public hearings, it was agreed that ELF-electromagnetic

feld research project on the safety of transmission lines would be set up. PASNY and the seven electric

companies fnancially supported the Project and the New York State Department of Health oversaw it.

Te 5-year fve-million-dollar Project ran through 1987, and was initiated with the name of the “New

York State Power Lines Project.” Te project was launched in 1981, and a report summarizing the Project

was compiled and completed in 1987 (Ahlbom et al., 1987). Te Project covered seven themes involved 16

research groups and the goal of the Project was to determine the efects of ELF-electromagnetic felds on

human, animals and plants. Te studies carried out in the Project did not report any results of concern

for the health efects of ELF-electromagnetic felds. A major theme of research in this Project was to rep­

licate and confrm the epidemiological results of Wertheimer and Leeper relating childhood leukemia to

ELF-magnetic feld exposure. Tis confrmation study was given to David A. Savitz, an epidemiologist,

professor at School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, and later Brown University.