Sparks fly over EMF discussion

Sandy James
Review Staff Writer
Published: March 27, 2008

The Orange County Board of Supervisors stands firm in its decision to construct a new middle school on Route 601, despite citizen opposition and the sometimes heated discussion over the possible health hazards associated with electromagnetic fields (EMFs) from a nearby power line. 
Last summer, the board voted 4-1 to construct a 1,200-student middle school on a 159-acre tract at the intersection of Route 601 and Route 20. The property is bisected by high voltage power lines, owned by Rappahannock Electric Cooperative, that run along Route 601, skirting Lake of the Woods and crossing Meadows Farm Golf Course.
At the request of Orange County Public Schools, Moseley architects conducted a study that shows EMF levels at the site of the building, 400 feet from the high-voltage lines, to be below the 3 milliguass (mG) level which is considered a normal household level.
Orange County School Superintendent, Dr. William Crawford said, “We have the reports on the units being emitted from the lines.  The levels are well with in the norms found in our homes.”
Moseley is also the firm the county hired to design the school.
Crawford said he understands how some may see that as a conflict, but he has confidence in their findings.
Jill Harrison of Unionville, who lost a family member to leukemia, says her biggest concern is whether or not the supervisors are looking at medical studies.
“I still believe the risks outweigh the benefits of this site. Years ago they didn’t think lead paint and asbestos posed a health threat,” she said.
“I have read everything I could get my hands on concerning this issue. I know the board of supervisors researched this thoroughly. I am satisfied with the board’s decision and I believe this is the right way to go,” said Judy Carter, District 3 school board member.
Winoka Nicklow of Mountain Track Road addressed the board of supervisors at a recent meeting. She asked the board, “Did any of you bother to look at the studies?
Did you read them?” Nicklow cited Yale studies and Connecticut laws addressing EMFs generated by high-voltage power lines.
Nicklow, who has a family member with leukemia, believes the new middle school site poses a danger for future students and staff.
“Are any of you going to sit there and hold the hands of children that are going to get leukemia from this?” she asked.
BOS chairman Mark Johnson has consistently defended the board’s position. “Over the last several decades this question has been studied over and over again and not even once has it been concluded that there is a causal relationship between high voltage transmission lines and cancer or other health problems,” he said.
Johnson said he spent a great deal of time researching the issue and cited studies from the Virginia Department of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Sciences, the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Research Council and others.
John Bangs of Monrovia Road said, “The biggest issue I have is nobody is saying that this site is absolutely safe. Why risk it? Let’s put it where we don’t have to be concerned.”
“It is doubtful that any researcher is ever going to say that adverse effects from anything are ‘impossible’,” said David Lockwood, Moseley’s director of electrical engineering, in the conclusion of the Moseley study.
“We are constantly looking into the EMF issue, and there is still nothing conclusive to report,” said Ann Lewis, Director of Public Relations for Rappahannock Electric Cooperative.
The latest Virginia Department of Health report on EMFs is titled Monitoring of Ongoing Research on the Health Effects of High Voltage Transmission Lines (Final Report) by Vickie L. O’Dell and Khizar Wasti, Ph.D. The report was provided by the
Virginia Department of Health Division of Health Hazards Control in cooperation with The State Corporation Commission, and was dated October 31, 2000.
The conclusion of the report begins on page 20. Part of that conclusion states: “Based on the review and analysis of the exhaustive literature review and other research projects completed under the EMF-RAPID (Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information Dissemination) program, the Virginia Department of Health is of the opinion that there is no conclusive and convincing evidence that exposure to extremely low frequency EMF emanated from nearby high voltage transmission lines is causally associated with an increased incidence of cancer or other detrimental health effects in humans.
Even if it is assumed that there is an increased risk of cancer as implied in some epidemiologic studies, the empirical relative risk appears to be fairly small in magnitude and the observed association appears to be tenuous.
The studies published in the literature lack clear demonstration of a cause and effect relationship as well as a definitive dose-response gradient.
A two- to three-fold increase in relative risk of certain cancers observed in some studies is within the range where experimental bias or confounding factors cannot be completely ruled out.
Evidence from the laboratory studies has thus far failed to confirm that exposure to EMF causes cancer in experimental animals. Laboratory experiments have also failed to show how EMF could initiate or promote the growth of cancer.
The results of both in vivo and in vitro experimental studies conducted so far do not lend support to anassociation between exposure to EMF and cancer.”
These are just a few of the many web sites detailing EMF research:
Virginia Department of Health report on EMFs
http://www.vdh.virginia.gov/epidemiology/publichealthtoxicology/documents/pdf/highfinal.PDF
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Results of EMF Research - EMF Questions & Answers Booklet (http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/docs/emf2002.pdf) (6,482KB)