#932: The controversy over a cancer cluster in a Tasmanian school continues
The following is from Sunday’s local newspaper article about the cancer scare at Hazelwood school.
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,24194383-3462,00.html
Cancer-cluster school mission
DAMIEN BROWN
August 17, 2008 12:00am
EDUCATION and Health Department officials are to meet staff from a Hobart school at the centre of a cancer cluster scare. Premier David Bartlett said the department would speak to teachers and parents at Hazelwood School in Moonah about their health concerns on Tuesday.
The State Government has twice investigated reports of a large number of staff at Hazelwood’s Moonah campus developing cancer over the past two decades.
The school sits under a high-voltage powerline and on top of an electricity substation.
Public Health’s Dr Stephen Newbery said the electromagnetic radiation field (EMF) had been tested and had inconclusively shown no short- or long-term harm to humans.
The scare has reignited debate on EMF safety levels.
Radiation experts say safe EMF levels do not take into account prolonged exposure.
The state’s public health authorities say extensive research has shown there is no risk but that less exposure is better.
Last year there were reports of electrical currents passing through the school’s pool, requiring it to be closed and a cable replaced. The pool is still shut.
Dr Newbery’s department conducted the second set of testing at the school earlier this year. It was however conducted after major electrical work was carried out on the school’s electricity switchboard which has caused concern for radiation testers.
The first tests were conducted by Aurora Energy in 2006 after initial concerns were raised over the number of staff developing cancer.
Aurora Energy spokeswoman Christine Ward said the levels were tested at 10 sites around the school property, including the substation, main switchboard and under the powerlines.
Emission standards are set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection and the World Health Organisation. They are then adopted wholly or modified for Australian conditions by Federal Government agencies, such as the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency.
The State Government then uses those figures for its testing.
Dr Newbery said health agencies continually monitored scientific research into EMFs.
“An enormous amount of work has occurred in this area and basically what they are saying is the development of cancers as a result of exposure to this electromagnetic radiation is not considered to happen,” Dr Newbery said.
Most household items, including toasters, kettles and electric blankets, emit 50 hertz. It is the same for high-voltage powerlines.
“You can never say yes or no about the risk of prolonged exposure but the research that shows there is no link helps make all agencies increasingly confident,” he said.
“Basically if you can minimise your exposure to this radiation, which comes from anything that is electrical, without going to too much trouble or expense, you should do it.”
Radiation expert Don Maisch said it was time for government agencies to stop depending on outdated standards.
Mr Maisch said the fact that staff [and others] had reported feeling shocks when they entered the pool was a serious concern and could have elevated radiation levels around other parts of the school.
He said it was also a source of worry that the testing this year had been conducted after the electrical work.
“As cancer takes many years to develop after exposure to an environmental agent, it is the long-term electromagnetic field exposure to staff that is the issue of concern,” Mr Maisch said.
“These so-called accepted levels are those set many years ago and are only designed to protect against immediate health hazards.”
He said the Australian Radiation Laboratory had stated that the accepted levels “are not intended to provide protection against possible cancer induction by continued exposure at the lower field levels”.
Mr Maisch said, in this context, the term “accepted levels” became irrelevant to the onset of cancer.
He has called for an extensive study on the Hazelwood site when the school moves to Howrah next year to examine the link between cancer and long-term exposure.
He also wants to look at whether the current safe levels stand up.
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