Scientists will meet June 16 to 24 in Brooklyn Park, Minn., to review the research and write an advisory report on what is now known on the possible adverse health effects of the extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields created in the generation, transmission and use of electricity. The meeting is open to the press and public.
The scientists' appraisal will be based on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature as well as discussion reports from recent EMF science review symposiums organized under the Congressionally mandated EMF/RAPID Program (the Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information Dissemination Program) by the Department of Energy and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health. The Working Group is composed of scientists with a broad range of expertise. Some have experience in EMF-related research while some have other backgrounds.
The members will provide guidance to NIEHS on the strength of the experimental data and its implications for human health and disease etiology, and NIEHS Director Kenneth Olden, Ph.D., will use the appraisals and working group review ,as well as other relevant information, in formulating his own report to Congress later this year.
The questions to be answered, by votes at the end of the open meeting, are those which have been asked by many concerned citizens and which caused Congress, in 1992, to fund the accelerated research program EMFRAPID: Does electricity used heavily in some occupations, carried by transmission lines and employed in homes cause increases in leukemia, brain tumors, breast cancer and reproductive and developmental ills? Is there no risk, a possible risk, a likely risk or a certain health risk from exposure to the extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields (EMF) that result from generating, transmitting and using electrical energy?
BACKGROUND:
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Contact: Bill Grigg
grigg@niehs.nih.gov
301 402-3378
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
3-Jun-1998