#1237: French Agency for Environmental Health and Labour takes precautionary approach to transmission lines
The French sanitary agency for health AFSSET press release
(google translation)
Link: http://www.lepoint.fr/actualites-sciences-sante/2010-04-06/ondes-
electromagnetiques-afsset-pas-de-lignes-a-tres-haute-tension-pres-
des-creches-ecoles/1055/0/441502
Posted on 06/04/2010 at 17:52
Afsset: no high-voltage lines near kindergartens, schools and hospitals
By Anne Jeanblanc
The risks associated with electromagnetic fields of transmission lines and high voltage can not be ruled © Atlantis Phototravel / Corbis
The French Agency for Environmental Health and Labour (Afsset) recommended on Tuesday, do not install or build new facilities close to susceptible persons (schools, kindergartens, hospitals …) immediate high-voltage lines, any more than to establish new lines over such institutions. This is a precautionary measure pending the results of scientific study. For reference, lines and high voltage generate electromagnetic fields of extremely low frequency that were classified as “possibly carcinogenic to humans” in 2002 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer of the World Health in Lyon.
Expertise published by Afsset just update a 2005 opinion issued by the Higher Council of Public Health of France, various studies have already established an association between exposure to electromagnetic fields of extremely low frequency and childhood leukemia . This is statistically significant for a residential exposure averaged over 24 hours to magnetic fields whose levels are above 0.2 μT or 0.4uT, depending on the work, said Afsset. However, no biological study has demonstrated, to date, a mechanism that could explain the occurrence of leukemia.
For Afsset, “the priority is to resolve this paradox scientific”. She recommends “to resume or continue epidemiological studies based on a description of exposure to strong electromagnetic fields of extremely low frequency, including the use of new techniques for measuring individual exposures. Afsset also advocates the strengthening of research on the possible causes of childhood leukemia and other potential effects of these fields. “No relationship with diseases other than cancer has been established. However, the hypothesis of the involvement of these fields in neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) has been reported, including a meta -analysis dealing with occupational exposures and can not be ruled out, “she says.
Also see: http://www.emfacts.com/papers/french.html
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