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Electric and magnetic fields and health

index/glossary | EMFs At A Glance | EMF The Facts (pdf)
  • What are EMFs
    • Terminology – an introduction
    • Electric fields
    • Magnetic fields
    • Units for measuring EMFs
    • Measuring and calculating EMFs
      • “EMF Commercial”
    • Adding fields together
    • Radiofrequencies
    • Screening EMFs
  • Sources
    • Overhead power lines
      • Fields from specific power lines
        • 400 kV
        • 400 kV – specific cases
        • 275 kV
        • 132 kV
        • 66 kV
        • 33 kV
        • 11 kV
        • 400 V/230 V
        • Replacing a 132 kV line with a 400 kV line
      • Summaries of fields from all power lines
      • Factors affecting the field from a power line
        • Voltage
        • Current
        • Clearance
        • Height above ground
        • Conductor bundle
        • Phasing
        • Balance between circuits
        • Balance within circuit
        • Ground resistivity
        • Two parallel lines
      • Calculating and measuring fields from power lines
        • Geometries of power lines
        • Raw data
        • On-line calculator
      • Fields from power lines – more detail on the physics
        • Field lines from a power line
        • The direction of the field from a power line
        • Power law variations in the field from a power line
      • Statistics of power line fields
    • Underground power cables
      • Different types of underground cable
      • Fields from cables in tunnels
      • Gas Insulated Lines (GIL)
      • Underground cables with multiple conductors
      • Effect of height on fields from underground cables
      • Screening fields from underground cables
    • Low-voltage distribution
      • UK distribution wiring
      • USA distribution wiring
    • House wiring
    • Substations
      • National Grid substations
        • Static Var Compensators
      • Sealing-end compounds
      • Distribution substations
      • Final distribution substations
        • Indoor substations
    • Transport
      • EMFs from electric trains (UK)
      • EMFs from cars
    • Appliances
    • Electricity meters
      • Smart meters
      • Traditional meters
    • Occupational exposures
      • Live-line work
      • Static Var Compensators
      • Occupational exposures on pylons
    • Field levels and exposures
      • Personal exposure
      • Other factors that vary with magnetic fields
      • Fields greater than 0.2 or 0.4 µT
    • Screening EMFs
      • Screening fields from underground cables
      • EMF Reduction Devices
  • Known effects
    • Induced currents and fields
    • Microshocks
      • Control of microshocks in the UK
      • Microshocks from bicycles
      • Bees and microshocks
    • EMFs and medical devices
      • Standards relating to pacemakers and other AIMDs
    • Effects of EMFs on equipment
  • Research
    • Types of research
    • Epidemiology
    • Animal and laboratory experiments
    • Mechanisms
    • Specific studies
      • UKCCS
      • CCRG
      • French Geocap study
      • CEGB cohort
      • Imperial College study
  • Current evidence on health
    • Childhood leukaemia
      • Survival from childhood leukaemia
      • Childhood leukaemia and Downs
      • Childhood leukaemia and night-time exposure
      • The “contact current” hypothesis
    • Other health effects
    • Scientific review bodies
      • WHO
      • IARC
    • Electric fields and ions
    • Comparing EMFs to other issues
  • Exposure limits for people
    • Limits in the UK
    • Limits in the EU
    • Limits in the USA
    • Limits in the rest of the world
    • Limits from specific organisations
      • ICNIRP 1998
      • ICNIRP 2010
      • NRPB 1993
      • NRPB 2004
      • EU 2004
      • EU 2013
  • Policy
    • UK policy
      • Power lines and property – UK
    • Compliance with exposure limits
    • European EMF policy
    • Precaution
    • SAGE
      • SAGE First Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE First Interim Assessment
      • SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • SAGE Second Interim Assessment – the full list of recommendations
  • Finding out more
    • EMF measurement and commercial services
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Contact us
  • Static fields
    • Static fields – the expert view
You are here: Home / What are EMFs / Measuring and calculating EMFs / EMF measurement and commercial services / “EMF Commercial”

“EMF Commercial”

Comments on survey reports produced by "EMF Commercial and EMF Detection Ltd"

Our whole approach with this site is aimed to provide you with the information we consider it is helpful for you to be aware of to take an informed view on the relevant issues.

We do not recommend either for or against any particular commercial service providers, but - so far as we are able - we do attempt to address queries which are raised with us regarding services and reports produced.

We receive a number of queries regarding EMF services provided by, and survey reports produced by, "EMF Commercial", "Substation-Health-Risks" and "EMF Detection Ltd.".  To the extent that we are able to comment, we set out our observations below.

SAGE

SAGE was the UK's Stakeholder Advisory Group on ELF EMFs.  It has, incidentally, finished its work and been wound up; reports that refer to it as ongoing are incorrect.

If a report refers to a "SAGE Guideline" of 400 nT (0.4 μT), this is wrong.  SAGE did not recommend any exposure guidelines, at 0.4 μT or any other level, and it is wrong to state that it did.  Nor did SAGE state that the risk of childhood leukaemia is doubled above 0.4 μT.  Statements to the effect that these values are "undisputed" for human biological safety or that the property footprint itself and all living areas must be below 400 n/T to pass as "bio-electromagnetically acceptable" do not seem to correspond to anything in the SAGE process.

If a report says that SAGE "recommend a minimum distance of 60 meters from 275/400 KV lines", that is also wrong (SAGE did reference the 60 m distance but did not recommend it).

See:

  • full details of what SAGE actually said and recommended
  • the exposure limits that actually apply in the UK (for magnetic fields, the reference level is 100 μT)
  • the scientific evidence on childhood leukaemia and the 0.4 μT figure

 

Salzburg or "SBM"

The Salzburg SBM standard has no status in the UK, or, for that matter, any other country anywhere in the world that we are aware of.  It is out of line with most other authoritative guidelines or standards.  Statements to the effect that these figures are highly respected in the medical industry, or that they offer maximum human cellular regeneration and biological repair, are subjective statements that it is not possible to prove or disprove. But we have never been aware of the medical industry or health professionals giving any weight to the Salzburg SBM guidelines.

ICNIRP 2010

If a report states that the exposure limit for the public that applies in the UK is the latest 2010 ICNIRP value (reference level 200 μT), this is wrong. The value that applies is the previous 1998 ICNIRP value (reference level 100 μT). See more on why ICNIRP 2010 does not apply in the UK.

The degree of concern that is appropriate

We have seen some reports that conclude, e.g.:

The following statement is our overall final conclusion:

THE MAGNETIC FLUX LEVELS ARE ELEVATED AND THEREFORE, REASON FOR SEVERE CONCERN

Our whole approach with this site is to provide you with the information and let you decide for yourself how you then feel about it.  Some people will feel considerable concern about any elevated EMF levels, and we respect that.  However, the exposure limits are in place, at levels set by independent experts, with the aim of protecting the public, and all the exposures in homes - including all the ones we have seen measured by EMF Commercial - comply with those limits, usually by a considerable margin.

Terminology and measurement technique

We have sometimes seen statements in reports that don't appear to us to show a normal use of physics and electrical engineering terminology. 

  • If the symbol for "nanotesla" is given as "n/T", that is wrong - the symbol is "nT".
  • If the bandwidth of a measurement is stated as "50 Hz", it probably doesn't mean that, it probably means that the central frequency of the measurement was 50 Hz.
  • If 150 Hz is stated as the "second harmonic", that is wrong in electrical engineering terminology - 150 Hz is the third harmonic.
  • None of the terminology "magnetic flux force", “magnetic force transfer”, “magnetic arc transfer”, "magnetic force radiation", magnetic lines of force generating “arc dynamics”, or the "official UK guideline for electric shock transfer" seem to correspond to conventional physics usage. 

 

The values reported

On some occasions, a member of the electricity industry staff has had the opportunity to make their own measurements and compare these with measurements reported by EMF Commercial at the same locations (though, of course, at a different time).  Sometimes the values have been in reasonable agreement.  But on at least one occasion, the EMF Commercial reading was roughly four times larger than our reading, a discrepancy that would be implausible to explain by the field changing over time.

Latest news

  • New publication on cancer incidence from the UK electricity industry Cohort Study August 27, 2019
  • How has the reported risk for childhood leukaemia changed over time? February 11, 2019
  • Media stories about microshocks in children’s playground September 10, 2018
  • New studies on leukaemia and distance from power lines June 1, 2018
older news

Contact Us

To contact the electricity industry’s EMF Unit Public Information Line (UK only):
telephone 0845 7023270 or email [email protected].

See Contact us for more contact details including our privacy policy.

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Specific questions

  • Affected by a new power line or substation?
  • Building or developing near a power line or substation?
  • EMF measurement and commercial services
  • Microshocks
  • Pacemakers and other medical devices
  • EMF policy in the UK
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Navigation
  • What are EMFs
    • Terminology – an introduction
    • Electric fields
    • Magnetic fields
    • Units for measuring EMFs
    • Measuring and calculating EMFs
      • “EMF Commercial”
    • Adding fields together
    • Radiofrequencies
    • Screening EMFs
  • Sources
    • Overhead power lines
      • Fields from specific power lines
        • 400 kV
        • 400 kV – specific cases
        • 275 kV
        • 132 kV
        • 66 kV
        • 33 kV
        • 11 kV
        • 400 V/230 V
        • Replacing a 132 kV line with a 400 kV line
      • Summaries of fields from all power lines
      • Factors affecting the field from a power line
        • Voltage
        • Current
        • Clearance
        • Height above ground
        • Conductor bundle
        • Phasing
        • Balance between circuits
        • Balance within circuit
        • Ground resistivity
        • Two parallel lines
      • Calculating and measuring fields from power lines
        • Geometries of power lines
        • Raw data
        • On-line calculator
      • Fields from power lines – more detail on the physics
        • Field lines from a power line
        • The direction of the field from a power line
        • Power law variations in the field from a power line
      • Statistics of power line fields
    • Underground power cables
      • Different types of underground cable
      • Fields from cables in tunnels
      • Gas Insulated Lines (GIL)
      • Underground cables with multiple conductors
      • Effect of height on fields from underground cables
      • Screening fields from underground cables
    • Low-voltage distribution
      • UK distribution wiring
      • USA distribution wiring
    • House wiring
    • Substations
      • National Grid substations
        • Static Var Compensators
      • Sealing-end compounds
      • Distribution substations
      • Final distribution substations
        • Indoor substations
    • Transport
      • EMFs from electric trains (UK)
      • EMFs from cars
    • Appliances
    • Electricity meters
      • Smart meters
      • Traditional meters
    • Occupational exposures
      • Live-line work
      • Static Var Compensators
      • Occupational exposures on pylons
    • Field levels and exposures
      • Personal exposure
      • Other factors that vary with magnetic fields
      • Fields greater than 0.2 or 0.4 µT
    • Screening EMFs
      • Screening fields from underground cables
      • EMF Reduction Devices
  • Known effects
    • Induced currents and fields
    • Microshocks
      • Control of microshocks in the UK
      • Microshocks from bicycles
      • Bees and microshocks
    • EMFs and medical devices
      • Standards relating to pacemakers and other AIMDs
    • Effects of EMFs on equipment
  • Research
    • Types of research
    • Epidemiology
    • Animal and laboratory experiments
    • Mechanisms
    • Specific studies
      • UKCCS
      • CCRG
      • French Geocap study
      • CEGB cohort
      • Imperial College study
  • Current evidence on health
    • Childhood leukaemia
      • Survival from childhood leukaemia
      • Childhood leukaemia and Downs
      • Childhood leukaemia and night-time exposure
      • The “contact current” hypothesis
    • Other health effects
    • Scientific review bodies
      • WHO
      • IARC
    • Electric fields and ions
    • Comparing EMFs to other issues
  • Exposure limits for people
    • Limits in the UK
    • Limits in the EU
    • Limits in the USA
    • Limits in the rest of the world
    • Limits from specific organisations
      • ICNIRP 1998
      • ICNIRP 2010
      • NRPB 1993
      • NRPB 2004
      • EU 2004
      • EU 2013
  • Policy
    • UK policy
      • Power lines and property – UK
    • Compliance with exposure limits
    • European EMF policy
    • Precaution
    • SAGE
      • SAGE First Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE First Interim Assessment
      • SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • Government response to SAGE Second Interim Assessment
        • SAGE Second Interim Assessment – the full list of recommendations
  • Finding out more
    • EMF measurement and commercial services
    • Links
    • Literature
    • Contact us
  • Static fields
    • Static fields – the expert view