Electropollution and Depression

Electropollution and Depression

By Syd Baumel

In 1981, when researchers led by F. S. Perry reported that suicide victims were unusually likely to have lived near a high power transmission line, it was easy to scoff. It's not so easy today.

The evidence may be conflicting, but few independent experts are scoffing now at the idea that "electromagnetic smog" or "electropollution" may promote cancer, birth defects, miscarriages, and other health disasters. (See, for example, the National Institutes of Health's 1998 report by Portier and Wolfe.) It now seems reasonable that there may be subtler, neurobehavioral prices to pay too.

Two forms of electromagnetic smog are causing the most concern: the nonionizing electromagnetic radiation (NEMR) emitted primarily by broadcast towers, radar installations, and microwave appliances, and the magnetic fields surrounding electrical appliances and power lines.

Even at low exposure levels, NEMR and magnetic fields can interfere with subtle electrobiochemical processes. Weak power-line-frequency magnetic fields have been shown to induce depression-like abnormalities in neurotransmitter and endorphin levels and body rhythms, and to impair sleep quality. Chronic overexposure even seems to promote brain cancer.

In several studies, the association between magnetic fields, suicide, and depression has been further explored. A 1990 study cited by Charles Poole and associates found a normal suicide rate among electric utility workers. But soon after, a study by David Savitz et al. of the University of North Carolina found significantly more signs of depression among electrical workers than controls. In a survey by Poole's group, people living very near a transmission line right-of-way were nearly three times as likely to be depressed as people living far away. In contrast, a study by S. McMahan et al. compared women who lived right next to a power line to ones who lived only a block away. There were no significant differences in depression. But then, in a 1989 study by Stephen Perry et al., depressed patients had stronger power-line magnetic fields outside their homes than healthy controls. Earlier, Perry and a colleague similarly found that people hospitalized for depression were significantly more likely than their healthy apartment-block neighbors to have lived near the main electrical supply cable. Even geomagnetic storms were implicated as a trigger of depression in a study by R. W. Kay.

Cutting Through the Electromagnetic Smog

It's impossible to escape the electronic smog that surrounds us, but we can keep our distance.

Try not to live, work, or play within a few hundred yards of high-voltage towers, transmission lines, radio or TV broadcasting towers, or radar installations. Indoors, spend as little time as possible near the main power line.

Minimize prolonged exposure at close range to working electrical appliances, particularly those that use motors or heating elements (e.g., space heaters, electric clocks, arc welding equipment, power tools, and possibly fluorescent lights). Motors and elements give off the strongest magnetic fields, by far. Only use electric blankets and heated water beds that have been wired to neutralize their powerful magnetic fields.

Avoid liberal use of personal radio transmitters (e.g., CBs, cell phones, cordless phones). They expose the brain to worrisomely high levels of NEMR and magnetic fields.

Avoid rooms heated by electric cables. These rooms are permeated by magnetic fields strong enough, some research suggests, to promote miscarriage.

Don't linger within an arm's length of the front, back, or sides of a computer monitor, even if there's a wall between you. Keep your distance from the computer itself, because its chassis also produces a magnetic field.

Keep at least three or four feet away from the front, back, or sides of small-screen TVs and up to eight to 10 feet away from very large ones, again even if there's a wall between you.

Avoid lingering within a few feet of a working microwave oven, especially a powerful commercial model. Have the oven inspected for microwave leakage any time there's damage to the door frame or gaskets. Beware of microwave heat-sealers. They're extremely "leaky."

References

Kay, R. W., "Geomagnetic Storms: Association with Incidence of Depression as Measured by Hospital Admission," British Journal of Psychiatry, 164 (March 1994): 403-409.

McMahan, S., et al., "Depressive Symptomatology in Women and Residential Proximity to High-voltage Transmission Lines," American Journal of Epidemiology, 139 (January 1, 1994): 58-63.

Perry, F. S., et al., "Environmental Power Frequency Magnetic Fields and Suicide," Health Physics, 41 (1981): 267-277.

Perry, S., et al., "Power Frequency Magnetic Field; Depressive lllness and Myocardial Infarction,"Public Health, 103 (May 1989): 177-180.

Poole, C., et al., "Depressive Symptoms and Headaches in Relation to Proximity of Residence to an Alternating-Current Transmission Line Right-of-way," American Journal of Epidemiology, 137 (February 1, 1993): 318-332.

Portier, C. J., and M. S. Wolfe, Eds., Assessment of Health Effects from Exposure to Power-Line Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields: Working Group Report. NIH Publication No. 98-3981, August, 1998.

Savitz, D. A., et al., "Prevalence of Depression among Electrical Workers," American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 25 (February 1994): 165-176.

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