The Health Effects of High Voltage Power Lines

Correlation does not mean causation. This caution is a standby of sound science, a reminder that just because two things are seen together -- even when they correspond frequently -- the observer cannot jump to the conclusion that one of those things actually causes the other. That is where the science stands on high-voltage power lines and their apparent correspondence with juvenile leukemia.

Precautionary Principle

• Non-scientists must make decisions about their day-to-day lives without the empirical certainty of the laboratory scientist. If there is a significant degree of correspondence between a condition and a problem, it seems prudent to avoid the condition until the actual cause of the problem is understood. That's why many are concerned about the significant correlation between the proximity of high-voltage power lines and elevated rates of childhood leukemia.

Some Real Things Remain Undiscovered

• One of the problems with the fusion of science and business is that business has a profit agenda that can influence the interpretation of scientific findings. The science that suggests a problem with high-power lines has implications, for example, for the mobile phone industry, because a suspected causative agent in the power-line/leukemia correspondence is electromagnetic influence on nearby cells. Scientists understand that just because something hasn't been proven doesn't mean it is not real. People cannot know what they have not yet discovered. Some will say that because there is no proven connection between X and Y, there is no connection, but that would be an inaccurate suggestion. Much of the research to date has not focused on the effects that weak electromagnetic fields have on cells, and both power lines and mobile phones create weak electromagnetic fields in proximity to human cells.

Non-Thermal Cellular Effects

• Dr. Mae-Wan Ho has written extensively on the topic of weak electromagnetic fields that are insufficient to create thermal changes in the cell -- the classic safety standard with regard to electromagnetism. The researcher points out that minor electromagnetic power increases -- such as those within close range of high-voltage power lines -- can cause a plethora of non-thermal changes in cellular activity, including EEG changes when active cell phones are placed near a research subject and increases in resting blood pressure that occur when radio waves are directed at test subjects.

Strengthening Correspondence

• Though there has been no definitive proof that high-power lines are a health hazard -- which is a very high scientific bar to clear -- there is strong evidence of the link between high-voltage power lines and leukemia. In 2005, a study was published by the "British Medical Journal." The study showed that children living within 200 meters of a high-power line are 70 percent more likely to develop leukemia than children who lived 600 meters or more away from such power lines.