Research
EMF research supported by the UK electricity industry
For research on EMFs generally, see here.
Research by National Grid
National Grid conducts in-house
research, principally into sources
of exposure and ways of categorising them. This has involved
much work on net currents, which are the commonest source of exposure
for the general public, and power lines.
The UKCCS
The United Kingdom Childhood Cancer Study (UKCCS) is the world’s
largest ever study of its type into childhood cancer. It was originally
designed to look at a number of things other than EMFs which were
thought to be possible causes of cancer. The UK Electricity Industry
provided the funding necessary (around £4M in total) to allow
the study to include magnetic fields as well. The funding was provided
via an intermediate organisation, the Leukaemia Research Fund, to
preserve independence of the researchers from industry, and under
a contract which guaranteed that industry would have no influence
over the conduct of the study.
The UKCCS reported their results for magnetic fields in 1999. They
concluded:
“This study provides no evidence that exposure
to magnetic fields associated with the electricity supply in the
UK increases risks for childhood leukaemia, cancers of the central
nervous system, or any other childhood cancer.”
They have subsequently reported results for proximity to power lines,
and for electric fields. More detail on UKCCS
results
Cohort of electricity industry
workers
The electricity industry supports research into the health of its
own workers. A database has been set up of everyone who worked for
the then Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) in the late
1970s, over 80,000 people. All these people are being followed up
to identify, when they eventually die, the cause of death. New techniques
have been developed by National Grid for assessing people’s
exposure to magnetic fields over their working life. It is then
possible to see whether the cause of death is linked to exposure
to magnetic fields. The analysis is done by the University of Birmingham
Institute of
Occupational Health.
Analyses so far have shown
no association between leukaemia, brain cancers or heart disease
and magnetic fields.
The EMF Biological
Research Trust
Instead of supporting biological research directly, National Grid
funds an independent research trust. The Trust decide which projects
to support with total independence from industry. . The Trust gives
details of the research it supports on its own
web site and its
objectives can be found on the
Charity
Commission website.
CCRG study of power lines and childhood cancer
The
Childhood Cancer
Research Group (CCRG) at the University of Oxford has been funded
by the Department of Health to conduct a computerised study of the
incidence of childhood cancer in relation to power lines in the
UK. The study looked at 35,000 cases of childhood cancer from the
1950s to the present, which makes it the largest study of this sort
ever conducted. National Grid are assisting by calculating distances
from each case to the nearest power line and then estimating magnetic
fields from historical records of loads.
more detail on the study
SAHSU study of power lines and adult cancer
The Small Area Health Statistics Unit
SAHSU at Imperial College are
performing a study of adult cancer in relation to power lines. This
is jointly funded by the Department of Health and the electricity
industry, and National Grid are calculating exposures in a similar
way the the CCRG study.
Study of sources of high fields in homes
The electricity industry and the DTI supported an investigation
by HPA into where fields in UK home of greater than 0.4 µT
come from. More
Other research supported by the UK electricity
industry
- National Grid scientists have previously been active in investigating
suggestions that electric fields from power lines or corona ions
interact with airborne pollutants
but now leave this subject to independent scientists.
- National Grid has supported a group at the
University
of Surrey which specialises in the hormone melatonin and has
looked for any links with magnetic fields.
- National Grid has contracted with
Microwave
Consultants Limited
to improve our understanding of tissue conductivities so that
we can develop more accurate exposure standards.
- National Grid and the rest of the electricity industry provided
funding of £10,000 per year for four years to the
WHO
International EMF Project.
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