Magnetic Fields Probably Do Not Cause Cancer and Other Diseases, Study Finds

Magnetic fields generated by electric power lines are not likely to cause cancer, though some lingering concerns remain, according to a seven-year government study released this week.

The probability is “small” that exposure to such electromagnetic fields is “truly a health hazard,” the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences reported to Congress. Typical electromagnetic field exposure cannot be classified as a probable cancer-causing agent, the researchers concluded.

Significantly, the report found no consistent evidence to support much-publicized claims that exposure to power-line fields caused other diseases, including breast cancer, brain cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, depression and spontaneous abortion.

Nonetheless, the scientists who wrote the report cited a handful of ambiguous epidemiology studies suggesting that electromagnetic fields were capable of contributing to leukemia in children or a type of lymphoma in adults with high exposure on the job. The clinical evidence for such disease links was “weak,” the report said, but could not entirely be ruled out.