Word: leukemias
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...CAUSE CANCER? Numerous reports in the popular press have blared out warnings. Frightened citizens have abandoned homes located close to high-tension wires; others have gone to court to keep the lines away. The reason for the hysteria: a growing number of scientific studies suggest that the risk of leukemia and other malignancies rises with exposure to electromagnetic fields, which are generated in varying degrees by all electrical devices from high-voltage power lines to hair dryers...
Until now the studies have been ambiguous. Some have found an association with brain cancer but not leukemia in children. Others have detected just the opposite. In addition, the link to cancer appears stronger when the electromagnetic field is estimated by researchers and disappears when it is measured by instruments...
...Anders Ahlbom of Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, looked at everyone who lived within 300 m (328 yd.) of a high-tension line in Sweden from 1960 to '85. Although the investigators could find no evidence of an increased cancer threat for adults, they did detect a higher risk of leukemia in children. The second study, led by Birgitta Floderus of Sweden's National Institute of Occupational Health, linked on-the-job exposure to electromagnetic fields and leukemia in workingmen...
Although the research does not prove cause and effect, it shows an unmistakable correlation between the degree of exposure and the risk of childhood leukemia. "From a research point of view, they add significant information," says Stan Sussman, manager of electromagnetic-field studies for the Electric Power Research Institute, a California-based organization funded by utility companies. "It is becoming more and more likely that there is something associated with living near high-power lines, especially for childhood leukemia...
...Ashe had had leukemia, would reporter and editor have published the story? Maybe, in one paragraph. But not if Ashe had asked them not to. AIDS made it different. Irresistible. Juicy gossip. Red meat. When reporters pick up that scent, they are off the leash and baying through the woods. The Ashe affair makes a strong case for media loathing...