Mitigation of Potential Health Hazards of Transmission Line Fields

Abstract

Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal brought into public prominence an epidemiological study investigating a possible correlation between childhood leukemia and residential magnetic field exposure. Since then, potentially harmful effects of electric and magnetic fields have become a major public concern. Articles varying from informative to alarmist to downright scurrilous have appeared in almost every daily newspaper. A series of reports published in the New Yorker have been particularly notable in this respect. Public response ranges from individual concern to organized citizens groups opposing construction of new power lines. There have been law suits concerned with issues such as the placement of power lines near schools or the decrease of property values in the proximity of transmission lines. Recently, the first suit of ‘wrongful death’ has been entered. The issue has become politically sensitive and three congressional hearings have been held on the subject in the last two years.