Are high voltage power lines a health risk for children?
It is the French health agency ANSES that says it: The magnetic fields at low frequencies, emitted in particular by the high voltage lines, represent a risk "possible"of leukemia in children who live nearby, a situation more common in our southern neighbors than at home, where cables are often buried.
The agency recommends "as a precaution"from"do not set up new schools near very high voltage lines", although no link of cause and effect is currently demonstrated.The National Agency for Health Security, which had already alerted in 2010 on a"possible association between exposure to low-frequency electromagnetic fields and the long-term risk of childhood leukemia", explains that new studies published since that date lead to"reiterate"his conclusions.
Frequencies lower than 8.3 kilohertz
Low-frequency magnetic fields are all those whose frequency is less than about 8.3 kilohertz, the threshold beyond which radio frequencies begin. They are emitted by electricity transmission networks and electrical transformers, but also by transport, magnets, household appliances or all the electrical cables in which a current flows.
However, most of the available epidemiological studies concern the frequencies used for the transmission of electricity, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, explained to AFP Olivier Merckel, head of the unit of evaluation of the risks related to the physical agents to ANSES.
40,000 children exposed
Several of these studies show a statistical increase in the risk of childhood leukemia from a certain threshold of exposure, evaluated according to the studies between 0.2 and 0.4 microteslas, the unit of measure of the magnetic field, has he added.
40,000 children under the age of 15 are exposed to their homes at a magnetic field level of over 0.4 μT, and 8,000 children are attending school exposed at a level higher than this threshold, according to a study commissioned by 'Anses and carried out by the Inserm public research institute and the University Hospital of Caen.
Neither schools nor hospitals
In view of these data, ANSES "reiterates its recommendation to limit, as a precaution, the number of susceptible persons exposed around high-voltage lines as well asAs such, "it recommends not to install or develop new establishments for sensitive people (hospitals, schools, etc.) in the immediate vicinity of very high voltage lines, nor to set up new lines above such establishments".
The agency also emphasizes "the need to better control workplace exposure for certain professionals who may be exposed to high levels of electromagnetic fields, and particularly pregnant women".
Oxidative stress, genotoxic effects, effects on cell physiology
Indeed, "at high levels of exposure that may be encountered in the workplace, experimental studies have demonstrated the possibility of biological effects (oxidative stress, genotoxic effects, effects on cell physiology)".
However, "epidemiological studies are too heterogeneous to establish a link between occupational exposure and the appearance of chronic diseases, in particular neurodegenerative diseases and nervous system tumors", warns ANSES, estimating"necessary to continue research" on the subject.
The International Agency for Research on Cancer (CIR), the WHO's specialized agency for cancer research, classified in 2002 the extremely low frequency magnetic fields – those emitted by electrical installations and transport of electricity – as carcinogens "possible"For humans, the scientific evidence of a long-term health effect was considered insufficient to warrant a change in exposure limit values.
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