Give us the health facts

With such widespread and continuous exposure of the population, even small risks to health from the proposed pylons may have a large impact on the population. Children are particularly vulnerable.

It is of paramount importance the risks to health are known. There are many methodological problems inherent in identifying adverse health effects from this type of radiation. There are great difficulties in assessing exposure and individuals are not generally aware of the levels to which they are exposed. As a result, epidemiologic studies to date have relied on rather crude proxies. It is understandable that not all studies would show adverse health effects and childhood leukaemia has been linked to such exposure by some studies, but not others. Further studies have found an increase in the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in people living less than 600m from power lines, while others have not.

Exposure to non-ionising radiation is governed internationally by guidelines issued in 1998, by the International Commission for Non-ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). These guidelines are used by national governments, including the Irish government, to regulate levels of exposure to this type of radiation. The ICNIRP guidelines acknowledge the methodological difficulties in ascertaining exposure levels. However, since the current guidelines from ICNIRP were issued, two large studies have been undertaken. The EU REFLEX report involved 12 research groups in seven countries and reported its findings on radiation and health in 2004. The researchers found “a mixed but intriguing pattern emerged. Intermittent exposure to ELF-EMF at 50Hz, a common electrical mains frequency, had genotoxic effects on human fibro-broblasts, human melanocytes and some animal cells.... In fibro-broblasts, they discovered a direct correspondence between the intensity and duration of ELF-EMF exposure and the number of DNA breakages or micronuclei, both markers of genotoxicity... Obtained by two of the Reflex laboratories, these results were validated by two laboratories outside the project”.