[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l epidemiological study re: LF-EM exposure: Occup. Health Envir. Medicine
I was almost not going to pass this epidemiological study along
but felt some on the list might find it of interest.
This AP story is based on UNC@ Chapel Hill study, in the April ish of
Occupational and Environmental Health. Tangential relation to dams
in as much as it does relate to energy and power use.
Sent to me by a physicist friend - passing it along to anyone
on the list whose main area of interest is in energy generation
and related health impacts.
my apologies for any duplications,
-Dianne
March 15, 2000
Study: EMF, Suicide Risk Linked
By The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Chronic exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic
fields may be responsible for a higher suicide risk among electric utility
workers, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill.
While unable to prove that exposure causes suicide, researchers found
electricians for five U.S. power companies had twice the suicide rate and
linemen 1 1/2 times the rate of utility workers not employed in those jobs.
The findings appeared Wednesday in the April issue of Occupational and
Environmental Medicine.
The researchers studied about 6,000 men who were part of a larger group of
about 139,000 employed as utility workers between 1950 and 1986. Research
involving the larger study group has shown that some workers exposed to
high magnetic fields have elevated cancer rates, but not that EMF exposure
causes cancer.
One explanation for the possible link between exposure and suicide is that
electromagnetic fields are thought to suppress melatonin levels in the
body, said Edwin van Wijngaarden, a doctoral student and lead author of the
UNC study.
``The EMF-cancer link is pretty controversial,'' van Wijngaarden said.
``This may also be controversial, but at least there is a more plausible
biological mechanism involved.''
Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland deep in the brain, is
thought to play a key role in a person's sleep cycle and mood.
``There does seem to be a link between melatonin levels and depression,''
said study co-author David Savitz, a professor and chair of epidemiology at
UNC.
Researchers said it isn't known exactly how electromagnetic fields might
inhibit melatonin production.
Daniel Kripke, a California researcher who has studied the relationship
between EMFs in the home and melatonin levels, said he had not seen the UNC
study but questioned the role that melatonin might play.
``This is an area where there is a lot of speculation,'' he said.
A 1996 study by Canadian researchers found no link between suicide and EMF
exposure. But Savitz said the UNC study was significantly larger than the
Canadian study of workers at a Quebec utility company.
Van Wijngaarden said the results of the study may not be applicable to the
general population because the study group was so selective.
UNC researchers looked at data compiled over several years from employees
of Carolina Power & Light Co., Pacific Gas & Electric, PECO Energy Co.
(formerly Philadelphia Electric Co.), Virginia Electric Power Co. and the
Tennessee Valley Authority.
Van Wijngaarden and his colleagues found 536 suicides among the group
between 1950 and 1986 and compared them to a control group of 5,348
non-suicides of the same race and age.
Suicide is the eighth leading cause of death in the United States; 30,000
people took their lives in 1997.