Power lines link to cancer in new alert

A secret report has raised fresh fears of a link between power lines and cancer.

The confidential study, obtained by the Evening Standard, urges ministers to consider banning the building of homes and schools close to overhead high-voltage power cables because of possible health risks.

It says a ban is the best way to reduce significantly exposure to electromagnetic fields from the electricity grid system.

The report was drawn up by scientists, electricity company bosses, the National Grid, government officials and campaigners over two years after the Health Protection Agency accepted there was a weak statistical "association" between prolonged exposure to power fields and childhood leukaemia.

src: thisislondon.co.uk

This issue appears to crop up once in a while much like the concerns over cell phones. Obviously if this were proven to be true it would have a moderate impact on where we live and where power corridors lie. The panel members are at odds with each other but without knowing who or what backs them its difficult to grasp. Personally I don't live near these things but many high rise apartments do about 10 miles away, not to mention schools. There can be no question though that cancer rates have increased.

brill


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[edit on 21-4-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

Have you ever tried the experiment of holding a flourecent tube in your hands whilst standing under a high-tension electricity pylon? It will light up in your hands from the field discharged from the overhead cables...it's freaky!

It led me to wonder what the effects of 110/240v mains has on the human body...domestic electric power is normally delivered at 50-60Hz range which also happens to be very close to the human body's electrical frequency (or so I understand). I'll try and find an online reference to a newspaper article I read some time ago about the effects of living in an 'electrified society' with regard to a centre that had opened in the US that is researching just these effects and offering therapy/sanctuary to those who are hyper-sensitive to electrical fields

Cell phones are just as capable of causing such a field too...try putting your mobile on top of your TV or CRT monitor whilst it's switched on, and then ring it from another phone and watch the effect it has on the screen!

This is a most hauntingly beautiful demonstration of the field-strength thats emitted from overhead cables...



"Artist Richard Box of Bristol University in Bristol, England put several hundred fluorescent light tubes in the ground (not connected to any power source) under some high tension wires in a field east of Bath, England. In the daylight, it looks like nothing is happening, but when it gets dark, it is clear that all of the tubes are glowing as a result of the "waste emission" coming from the overhead wires."

Image source

Absolutely, there is alot of waste electricity from overhead power cables. Especially main corridors. However, unless the area you are in is compact enough, it wouldnt be feasable to lay those power lines underground, like you would often see in europe.

However, as for electrical lines operating near human electrical signals, thats just not true.

The human body uses electro-chemical signals. The closest measure to this would be a form of analogous DC signals. Not AC. The human electrical pathways have no actual signal frequency, as they are not power transmissions, only signals.

The fastest a nerve in the human mind can react at would set it at somewhere near 1Gigahertz... however, the nature of that nerve states that no matter how powerful a one gigahertz signal is, it won't override that nerve, unless directly attached and fed to ground.

In summary, it's not our nerves that get interfered with by overhead power lines.
However, the study of 60Hz signals on the genetic makeup of our bodies is not widely understood as of yet. So we will have to wait for those studies to be conclusive.
They may have an impact on our genetic ability to reproduce cells... or they may not. At this point it's a 'dont know' state.


One fun thing to do (if you're educated in how RF coils work), is to place a reciever coil under the power lines, and draw the excess power in a more efficient manor, and use it for your own means.

I've been doing things like this for years now. From transmitting my own power from a generator wirelessly to nearby coils to illuminate lights... to simply soaking up excess power, wether it be from power lines, or radio stations.

Either way, if you experiment in this area, it really gives you a clear understanding of exactly how much excess power is flowing around you already.

Yes. It is fascinating.
It was Nikola Tesla who first created Fluorescent bulbs and discovered that an electromagnetic field would cause them to light up.


He loved to invite people over while having his tesla coils operating and holding various glass globes and other bulbs which were connected to absolutely nothing.

Originally posted by WhiteWash
It was Nikola Tesla who first created Fluorescent bulbs and discovered that an electromagnetic field would cause them to light up.

from Wikipedia
The earliest ancestor of the fluorescent lamp is probably the device by Heinrich Geissler who, in 1856, obtained a bluish glow from a gas which was sealed in a tube and excited with an induction coil.

At the 1893 World's Fair, the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Illinois displayed Nikola Tesla's fluorescent lights.

In 1894, D. McFarlane Moore created the Moore lamp, a commercial gas discharge lamp meant to compete with the incandescent light bulb of his former boss Thomas Edison. The gases used were nitrogen and carbon dioxide emitting respectively pink and white light, and had moderate success.

In 1901, Peter Cooper Hewitt demonstrated the mercury-vapor lamp, which emitted light of a blue-green color, and thus was unfit for most practical purposes. It was, however, very close to the modern design, and had much higher efficiency than incandescent lamps.

In 1926, Edmund Germer and coworkers proposed to increase the operating pressure within the tube and to coat the tube with fluorescent powder which converts ultraviolet light emitted by an excited plasma into more uniformly white-colored light. Germer is today recognized as the inventor of the fluorescent lamp.

General Electric later bought Germer's patent and under the direction of George E. Inman brought the fluorescent lamp to wide commercial use by 1938.

[url=http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bl_fluorescent.htm]About.com[url]

The History of Fluorescent Lights
Inventors: Peter Cooper Hewitt, Edmund Germer, George Inman and Richard Thayer

I have these power lines behind my block of land, from the back of my house they are bout 55-60metres away. I too have tried the fluroscent tube experiement and the tube starts to light up but only just bout 30 metres away and within 20 mtres it fully turns on.

I have heard from one of my neighbours that they had somebody come over to meausure it and they said you get more electrical radiation from the tv, microwave and the power in your home than these power lines and their proximatey to the home.

I dont know who or what to beleive....I know that they may not be 100% safe, but I dont know how bad they really are. If they were that bad as some say then there would be a all-out ban on building homes near them or put the monstrocities under ground.

That, or pay out people the value of their homes so they may relocate elsewhere.

Im intrested in the concept of tapping into the unused energy inthe air ala Nikola Tesla - could somebody forward me to some design or basic devices that I may construct to try and do this or atleast make a start at using this energy?

I have heard from one of my neighbours that they had somebody come over to meausure it and they said you get more electrical radiation from the tv, microwave and the power in your home than these power lines and their proximatey to the home.

I wouldnt believe the people who came to measure it.

Are you able to light those tubes from your microwave or TV? No, but they sure do light up near those power lines.

I'm assuming they were on the payroll of the electricity comany right?

I tend to think there is something to this.
I do know a family who has 2 or 3 family members who have cancer. One of the young children died from his cancer.
I not even a little fond of the transformer behing my house, but I would not live anywhere near high intensity wires!

well, as much as I dislike them I canot afford to sell up and move so I have to put up with them for now......unfortunately

Just another side to being one of the have-nots... power lines in your backyard, possibly causing health issues, of which the haves will never have to deal with.

Is it worth investigating? No, because it's the haves that own that power grid.

I wouldn't expect much of an investigation into the possibility that electrical lines cause cancer... it would be deemed a waste of time... financially.