The first observation that the use of electric power accounts in part for higher risks of breast cancer was made in a 1982 study of residential magnetic field exposures of adults. Since then, the 1998 working group US National Institutes of Health report determined that there was some evidence that residential exposure to ELF magnetic fields is carcinogenic. This assessment was based on studies of:

- Women who used electric blankets throughout the night compared with never-users.

- Persons who had lived within 300 metres of Swedish 220 and 400 kV transmission lines.

- An excess of male breast cancer among central office technician telephone employees.

- Breast cancer among men under 65 in electrical occupations.

- Two-fold increases in skin breast cancer observed in exposed men in the electrical trades.

- Significantly elevated risk for male breast cancer in the electrical transport industry.

- Increased risk factors for high occupational 60 Hz electromagnetic field exposure were noted in six thousand, eight hundred cases of breast cancer from cancer registries.

Scientific and government panels consider the two to three-fold increases in risk for breast cancer rates from ELF exposure "low" or "insignificant." This barely acknowledges a doubling of breast cancer rate, which represents 31 percent of all cancers in women. Yet that is just how press releases of publicly-funded research present the case for public consumption.

Would the public accept more visible two-fold increases of deaths from car accidents, plane crashes or twice the number of oil tanker spills?

During the breast cancer healing process, exposure to ELF and radio frequencies should be totally removed. You can measure electromagnetic field levels in your house or workplace with a gauss meter. Exposure management requires better training of electricians (to respect existing electrical codes), better building design–especially in clinics–by architects and builders.

If we collectively reduce long-term electromagnetic exposure to absolutely safe levels, we will observe a like decrease of major diseases such as breast cancer.

Be protected