MICROWAVE NEWS November/December 1989 HIGHLIGHTS
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'(TW) Klya~!unsupldo~ suqor le Kpus p$olo!map!da %u!o%no ue jo %Ins -arXleq~~a~do~8upmne'e!ma~alX~xdsa'sram j@jo snerpam~ -ala Kpue3g!u%!s peq 'uamaug auoqdalrn jo duofiqnse 'sra3!lds alqe3 6861 raquraaaa/JaqruanoN uo!je!peu ~U!Z!UO~-UONuo uodau v 9 'ON XI -1011 ELF NEWS u Power Line Talk N The EMF thteat was a pervasive theme on television news very strange." he replied. "It is not surprising that you find shows coast-to-coast in November. In Los Angeles, KNBC people that report some lcind of an effect" Park also drew a headlined its three-day report Wired to Kill?; New York distinction between an "effect" and a "hazard." For instance, City's WNBC featured a variation-Power lo Kill? On Chi- he said, we all respond to the smell of freshly bakedbread, but cago's WMAQ, the headline was Trouble Overhead, while it does not pose any risk. The APS Panel on Public Affairs is Philadelphia's WCAU warned ofA CurrentDanger. NBC's considering whether to issue areportonEMFs: "An informal Bryant Gumbel interviewed Paul Bmieur on the November subcommittee is looking into whether the APS can make a 28 'Today Show" in a segment titled Electric Shock. And in contribution," Park said. September, Montreal's CFCF-TV focused on VDTs with a four-part report on Computers and the Unborn. Critiques of Paul Brodeur's New Yorker series and of his newly published book, Currents ofDeath, are piling up. The latest--and the harshest--comes from theIEEE's Committee Even Johnny Carson is talking aboutEMFs. On October 26, on Man andRadiation (COMAR), which characterizes Bro- America's favorite television talk show host offered his fans the deur's writings as "an extremely biased assessment of the a look at lighter side: "I saw a funny item in the paper. If existing facts and scientific data." The COMAR members, you use an elechic blanket for a prolonged period, it could whose. comments weregatheredby Dr. Eleanor Adair of the cause cancer. There goes the last safe bedtime thrill." John Pierce Foundation in New Haven, CT,"believe that en- uu >> vironmental issues are too important tobe allowed to become, DOE'S Ken Klein told KNBC that it would cost the U.S. approximately $5 billion a year, every year for 20 years, to EPRI Withdraws from Annual address the EMF problem. DOE Bioeffects Review The Elechic Power Research Institute (EPRI) has I withdrawn its support for the annual review of research I All the publicity about EMFs has caused hardly a stir in the on the biological effects of power line elcclromagnetic U.S. Congress. At the Senate Committee on Governmental fields (EMFs).TheU.S. Department ofEnergy will con- Affairs, chaired by John Glenn @-OH), investigators have I tinue to sponsor the meeting on its own. I been looking into the issue. But just when it appeared that a A1 the opening session of the November meting in hearing would be scheduled, staff turnover put EMFs on the I PortIand.0R.h LeonardSagan. the managerofEPR19r I backburner. Any action hasbeenputoff fornow.... Congress- radiation program, said, "It's time to move on, for better man Frank Pallone @-NJ) may get involved--his constitu- or worse." Sagan cited the growing technical nature of I ents are fighting a 230 kV power line proposed by Jesey I the presentations and said that those doing contract re- CentnlPower & Light (seeMWN.JlA89). He is draftingleg- I search for EPRI will now be asked to present their data I islation which wouldset aside funding forthe typeofresearch I at the annual meeting of the ~ioe1echoma~netic.sSoci- I recommended in the Congressional Office of Technology ety. Assessment (OTA) report DOE'S Dr. Imre Gyuk, who spoke next, said that the meetings certainly will go on without EPRI. Many of the attendees at the Poitland review were In the absence of an agreed-upon mechanism of interaction, disappointed. "There is an advantage to joint meetings," physicists continue to be highly skeptical that EMFs play a said a utility engineer with EMF responsibitity. Others role in cancer development In an opinion piece published in pointed out thatthe annual meeting is the only confer- ence devoted solely to power line EMFs and that, in the N~WS&~(October29) and reprintdin other newspapers, ~r. Robert Park, the director of the Washington. DC, office of ten years since the meetings began, they have provided the American Physical Society (APS), &rted that, "There a unique forum in which to exchange ideas. The fact that is, however, virtually no laboratory evidence of harmful ef- the meetings have no registration fee has no doubt also fects from ELF and no hown biological response to such contributed to their success. fields that would lead one to expect harmful effects." Given In aninWew,EPRI's Dr. Charles Rafferty toldMi- that many such studies have in fact been published, we asked crowaveNewsthatEPRIcontractors will beallowed,but Park about the apparent inconsistency. "Some of this work is not required, to attend the DOE annual reviews. 2 MICROWAVENEWS NovemberlDecember 1989 ascharacterizedby Dr. Asher Sheppard, 'apartof themedia circus in which the public is alternately scared to death and I EMFs in the 7989 Popular Press I then passivated.' " (Adozen yean ago, COMAR issued ad* Business Week: PamBlack, "Rising Tension Over High-Ten- tailed analysis of Brodeur's The Zappinz of America.) sion Lines," pp.158-160, &toh 30.... Consumer Reporfs: "Arc Electric Blankets Safe?" pp.715-716. November ....Cur- rent Contents: +'I11 Effects Fmm Power Lines and Appli- ances?" pp.9-10. September 18...Denver Post: Al Knight, There is little doubt that the W issue has touched a nerve. "Danger of Elechomagnetic Fields Debated." July 16... Db- The November 7 issue of Family Circle, featuring a 'l7adia- cover: David Noland, "Power Play," pp.62-68, December. tion Alert" by Paul Brodeur, was the best-selling issue of the .. .Family Circlc Paul Brodeur. "Radiation Alert," pp.85-90, November 7...Eorbes: Peter Huber, "Elechophobia," p.313. year, according to Executive Editor Susan Ungaro. The six September 4...Ham Rudio: Craig Clark, "More Cause for million copies sold had a combined readership of approxi- Thoughf"pp.4,89. September.... TheZnsNule (ZEEEJ: Karen mately 23 million. Ungaro said that the article has generated Pitzgedd, "EM FieldEffects Studied," Sepkmk... Longev- a great deal of reader mail and that the magazine may do a ite Ann Marie Cunnineham "Elecfmrnametic Shocks." nu. follow-up.... Woman's Day, Fam'ly Circle's principal com- 93-93, (ktober ...Notionol~xaminert ~l&hen Langer ("~ed petitor at the supermarket checkout counter, will soon try its Man'?. "Kids. Moms-To-Be: Avoid Elslric Blankels." 0.24. hand at EMFs. Watch for an article in March ... Even People Novemtrr 28 ... New York Times: Willim Stcvcns. "~hicn- us& Dcbare Health Hazanlsof Elechornametic Ficlds."~.CI. I magazine is getring on the bandwagon. It ran an interview July 11 ....The New Yorkcc Paul ~rod~ur,"Annals oi Ra- with Brodeur on November 27. diation: The Hu.nrds of Elecuomnznetic Fields." June 12, 19 & 26... Newsday: Robert Park. "Ges 60 Hem Hurt?" Ideas. p.l.Ocmber29 ... Newsweek Geoffrey Cowley. "AnElectm- magnetic Storm," p.77. July 10... People: Dirk Mathison, Everybody Mid it was justa matter of time. Landowners who "Feeling Fatigued and Forgetful? The Power Line Ncxt Door li~e~ongrhesiteofa~mposed~~Hydro 138kVpowerline May BetheSourceof YourBurnout"(interview withPaulBro- dew), pp.137-141. November27 ... Progressive Architecturn: in the area of Duncan, BC, are demanding that the Canadian Thomas Fisher.'TheNext Asbestos?" (editorial). p.7, August utility buy their homesas it didsomeof the homesdong the ...Q ST: Ivan Shulmq '% Amateur Radio Hazardous to Our 230 kV Dunsmuir-GoldRiver lime on Vancouver Island (see Health?" m.31-33. &tober...Science: Phili~Abelson "Ef- MWN. W89, J/A89 and S/089). But BC Hydro has refused, r~uor ~iLtric and Magnetic Fields" (edilohal), p.24i. July citing the BC Utilities Commission's criticism that it acted I 21 ....73AmafeurRadio: WavneCrccn.'TheKillnBlanke&." 1 "imp~dently"in making its unprecedented offer earlier this pp.6,68.