- High voltage power lines have been officially linked
to cancer for the first time. A study shows that children living near them
run a small but significant increased risk of falling victim to the disease.
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- Sir Richard Doll, the epidemiologist who discovered the
link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1960s, will this week warn
that children living near electricity power lines are at an increased risk
from leukaemia.
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- He is also expected to say that there may be a link with
adult cancers but that this is unproven. His work was commissioned by the
National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB), the government's radiation
watchdog.
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- Doll is chairman of its Advisory Group on Non-ionising
Radiation (Agnir). He has spent months analysing the results of studies
on cancer among people living near power cables.
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- It is the first time a British government body has accepted
the link between cancer and power lines.
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- It raises the possibility of multi-million-pound claims
by families who have blamed their children's illnesses on the cables. It
could also reopen campaigns by local groups to have power lines buried
underground or moved away from homes.
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- Professor Colin Blakemore, a member of Doll's group,
said: "The evidence is that there is a slightly elevated risk of cancer
near to power lines. We are going to acknowledge that evidence exists indicating
an association between power lines and cancer."
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- Blakemore said the mechanism was uncertain but could
be due to the high voltage lines emitting charged particles called ions
which may then be inhaled.
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- Blakemore added: "It's important to acknowledge
that there is a link and we need to do more research on it. Putting power
lines underground would be a possibility. The cost would be enormous if
we did this to existing power lines, but it is something that we may have
to take into account for future development and especially new housing."
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- Doll's report will emphasise that more research is needed
to confirm the mechanism. Previous studies - which have been considered
by Doll's expert committee - have suggested that tens of thousands of people
in Britain live close enough to power lines to be affected by strong electromagnetic
fields.
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- The analysis in the new report suggests that a small
number of children each year could develop cancer.
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- The link between overhead power lines and cancer was
first made in America in 1979. By 1990 several independent British studies
had also suggested that electromagnetic fields could damage health. However,
successive reports ruled out the connection and legal action by sufferers
against electricity companies was abandoned.
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- The NRPB oversees safety research and regulation for
all kinds of radiation. It has always taken a cautious approach to claims
that power lines affect health, but this weekend insiders were acknowledging
that it may have to revise its policies.
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- Martyn Day, the solicitor who in the mid-1990s pursued
unsuccessful claims on behalf of leukaemia victims, believes that the findings
could enable legal action to reopen.
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- "This is probably the most significant step forward
for 10 years," he said. "I was forced to back off, pack away
the files and put them into archives, but this may well mean I will start
to dust them off once more."
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- The Electricity Association, which represents many of
Britain's power generators and distributors, said there was no concrete
evidence that the electric and magnetic fields generated by power lines
caused cancer. "Any suggestion of a health risk, however weak, needs
to be taken seriously," it added.
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