Pylons tied to cancer: study

By CHRIS DANIELS and the INDEPENDENT

People living near powerlines are more prone to pollution-related cancers, say British researchers.

But a New Zealand scientist questions the study, saying more work is needed before any such link is proved.

Bristol University scientists looking into the health effects of living near powerlines say that people within 500m downstream of the cables have a significantly higher chance of getting cancer, particularly of the lungs and skin.

The results lend support to the theories of Bristol physicist Professor Denis Henshaw, who thinks powerlines ionise surrounding air, making wind-borne pollution more dangerous.

"It splits the air up into positive and negative electrical charges, which are blown away from the powerline by the wind," he said.

"They attach themselves to particles of pollution in the air and put an electrical charge on to them. When you inhale these small particles, they have a much higher probability of sticking in the lung."

Senior scientist Gavin Fisher, at NZ's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), said that while the basic science of the study was plausible, more work was required.

Two main things needed to be proved before anyone should be alarmed.

No one had shown that particulates were charged downwind from powerlines, and if they were, no one had shown that made them more dangerous to health.

There was also the possibility that naturally occurring radiation in soil affected the results. Radioactive particles had been shown to be charged by overhead powerlines, so might have played a part in the English results.

As with previous studies of powerline health effects, it was difficult to separate out the fact that poorer homes were closer to the cables. The poorer people living in them were more likely to have bad health anyhow.

Mr Fisher said those living near lines did not spend all their time in the house, so researchers needed to look at all parts of their lives before drawing conclusions.

The Bristol research, conducted for a group that investigates the health effects of powerlines, analysed 10,000 cancer cases in southwest Britain.

Cancer patients' addresses were matched with their proximity to powerlines carrying 132kV or more.

Previous research into health and powerlines has looked into the incidence of childhood leukaemia, but an eight-year project published in the medical journal Lancet last year showed there was no such link.

Scientists such as Professor Henshaw say the effect of the lines on pollution particles means that adults, not children, suffer from living near the pylons.

- INDEPENDENT