September 2009. Dr. Sam Milham, MD, has been researching the health effects of electromagnetic exposure for decades and his most recent paper, which appeared in the September issue of the Journal of Medical Hypotheses, is particularly disturbing. See summary below.

In the 1940s, there was a discrepancy between electricity use in rural vs urban centres in some US states. This allowed Milham to compare death rates for various diseases and relate them to the degree of electrification.

In states with 96% or more electrification, and hence little difference in electrification between rural and urban regions, there was no consistent pattern and little difference in the rural/urban death rate (see figure 5 below). However in states with less than 60% electrification, and most of that in urban centres, the death rate was significant higher in urban areas than in rural areas (figure 5). Similar trends were reported for deaths attributed to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and suicide.

Milham then calculated the percent urban excess for these deaths as follows: All deaths 20.9%; suicide 29.5%; coronary disease 33.7%; all cancers 49.2%; and diabetes 66%. If this urban excess is due to electrification then we have a very serious health issue that needs to be addressed.

This important paper needs to be taken seriously by government health departments. Other scientific studies confirm these findings although none of them shows such dramatic results.

Doctors and scientists can readily understand how chemicals may either help or harm the body since we have a long history of chemicals and their biological effects both in terms of the healing effects of medication and the harmful effects of chemical pollutants. Indeed, we attribute the increase in the “diseases” of the 21st century to some combination of chemical toxicants (for example cigarette smoking and heart disease, asbestos and mesothelioma), or biological agents (such as the flu virus, bacterial infection, parasites, mould), and some combination of lifestyle choices (diet and exercise).

Few take into consideration the impact that the electromagnetic environment has on our health. For some reason the only harmful aspects of electromagnetic energy that are widely accepted include excess UV radiation leading to melanoma, x-rays and cosmic radiation contributing to various types of cancers, the heating effect of microwaves, childhood leukemia and magnetic fields, and light at night reducing melatonin levels and possibly contributing to breast cancer. Apart from these, it is assumed that electricity and the wireless technology that surrounds us is totally benign. How absurd!

The sooner we recognize that electromagnetic energy can both harm and heal the sooner we will be able to address many of the health issues we are facing today. We desperately need an infusion of information and/or a paradigm shift in the way health care professions, doctors, medical schools, and medical scientists understand and deal with electromagnetic energy. This understanding will come. My hope it that is comes sooner rather than later so that we can more effectively alleviate some of the causes of human suffering.
-magda havas

Historical evidence that electrification caused the 20th century epidemic of ‘‘diseases of civilization”

Samuel Milham, Washington State Department of Health, Olympia, WA, USA Medical Hypotheses, September 2009 in press.

Summary: The slow spread of residential electrification in the US in the first half of the 20th century from urban to rural areas resulted by 1940 in two large populations; urban populations, with nearly complete electrification and rural populations exposed to varying levels of electrification depending on the progress of electrification in their state. It took until 1956 for US farms to reach urban and rural non-farm electrification levels. Both populations were covered by the US vital registration system. US vital statistics tabulations and census records for 1920–1960, and historical US vital statistics documents were examined. Residential electrification data was available in the US census of population for 1930, 1940 and 1950. Crude urban and rural death rates were calculated, and death rates by state were correlated with electrification rates by state for urban and rural areas for 1940 white resident deaths. Urban death rates were much higher than rural rates for cardiovascular diseases, malignant diseases, diabetes and suicide in 1940. Rural death rates were significantly correlated with level of residential electric service by state for most causes examined. I hypothesize that the 20th century epidemic of the so called diseases of civilization including cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes and suicide was caused by electrification not by lifestyle. A large proportion of these diseases may therefore be preventable.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

November 25, 2009

1,500 attend meeting on power lines

By CBC News

Around 1,500 people attended a rally at Edmonton’s Rexall Place Tuesday night to demand the province bury an above ground, high-voltage transmission line proposed to run near the city.

Around 1,500 people attended a rally at Edmonton’s Rexall Place Tuesday night to demand the province bury an above-ground, high-voltage transmission line proposed to run near the city.

“It’s kind of playoff hockey time here, so to speak,” said John Kristensen, a member of the group Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans, which organized the rally. “We need to impress upon Alberta Energy and the entire Alberta Government that we need this line buried.”

The 500-kilovolt line, which would be built by Epcor and Alta Link, would connect the so-called industrial heartland northeast of the city to existing power facilities near Edmonton along one of four proposed routes, which could run along either the western or eastern borders of the city.

Many people at the meeting worried about the effects of the line on their health and property values if it remains above ground.

“They are going in my backyard and I don’t want them there,” said Monica Benson. “I came to get educated and find out more about it so that I could pressure the government officials and try and get them buried.”

“We are concerned because our house is the last row of houses in Sherwood Park that is a proposed route for these power lines,” said Joanne Mikula.

Consumers will pay cost of buried lines, companies say

The power companies have warned burying the lines could cost anywhere from four to 20 times as much as the above-ground option, and could be impractical. But Mikula said the extra cost would be worth it.

“Even if it was 20 bucks a month, it isn’t really that big of a deal,” she said.

Magda Havas, an associate professor from Trent University in Ontario, spoke to the crowd about research that suggests exposure to above-line power lines can cause cancer.

“Burying the power lines gets rid of so many problems associated with the high-voltage above-ground lines,” she told CBC News.

The power companies are researching whether burying the lines is a feasible option.

“We’re not opposed in anyway at all to underground installation,” said Tim LaRiche from EPCOR. “In fact, we at EPCOR already have 125 kilometres of underground transmission in the city of Edmonton. None of it is at 500 kilovolts. So this is much larger that’s being proposed here.”

EPCOR and Altalink are planning to narrow down the four route options to two before the end of the year.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/2009/11/25/edmonton-power-line-meeting-rexall-place.html?ref=rss

November 25, 2009.

Thousands turn up for power-line protest

ctvedmonton.ca

About 1,500 people filed into Rexall Place Tuesday evening with a strong message against the construction of massive power-lines.

The rally’s organizer, the Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans group (RETA), are against 500 kilovolt power-lines the province wants to run around Edmonton.

The government is looking at four different routes, and all of them pass near bedroom communities around the city.

“Bury the lines when they go by schools, houses daycares, hospitals, environmentally sensitive areas,” said Bruce Johnson with RETA.

The government’s proposal is also drawing in fierce criticism from area residents. Many would rather have the more expensive option of running the lines underground.

“It’s simple, bury the buggers. We don’t want them,” said resident Monica Benson.

Medical expert Dr. Magda Havas revealed to the crowd Tuesday her studies, which have shown higher rates of cancer around voltage lines.

“The higher the magnetic field, the greater the risk of developing childhood leukemia,” said Havas. “The area around high voltage lines is a wasteland and it should never be a place where we put schools or playgrounds.”

Rally participants also signed a petition hoping their message reaches government officials who have the power to make adjustments.

“It’s our government,” said Johnson. “They’re the ones that are making the policy and they are the ones that need to change the policy.”

Those who attended the rally also received an update on a feasibility study being done in the idea of underground lines. Those results are due out in January.

With files from Bill Fortier

© 2008 All Rights Reserved.

November 25, 2009.

Residents fight proposed power expansion

ctvedmonton.ca

Thousands are expected to rally Tuesday evening at Rexall Place to fight a proposed power expansion in Alberta.

A massive power-line is proposed to go in one of four routes around the city. The organizers of the rally say an expected large turnout will help them get their message out loud and clear to the Alberta government.

“The larger the turnout, the stronger we feel the message as far as sending the Alberta government the message that we need to start burying these (power) lines like they are in the rest of the world,” said John Kristensen with Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans (RETA).

The group says they’ve asked a researcher from Trent University to help with their fight.

Magda Havas says burying the power-lines is the safest way to go. And that would help to eliminate electrical fields and weaken magnetic ones. Havas believes Health Canada should be doing more to protect Canadians.

“The area around high voltage lines is a wasteland and it should never be a place where we put schools or playgrounds,” said Havas.

And many Edmontonians plan on attending Tuesday’s rally to support RETA’s message.

“I think everybody needs to get involved in it and make sure that the right thing is done,” said Diane Shusheski.

Two reports are still expected to come out soon, which will give residents a better sense of how much underground lines in and around the city will cost.

A decision on the power transmission routes is expected sometime in January.

With files from CTV’s Rob McAnally

© 2008 All Rights Reserved.

November 25, 2009.

Tuesday night, thousands of people attended a meeting to promote the undergrounding of a 500 kilo volt transmission line proposed for Alberta. The meeting, organized by RETA (Responsible Electricity Transmission for Albertans) drew between 2,000 and 4,000 people and was held in Rexall Place, where the Edmonton Oilers play their games. The evening started with a procession of children carrying glow sticks and reminded those attending the purpose of the meeting, which was to protect those living near these high voltage power lines. Talks, interspersed with video interviews of leukemia sufferers, juxtaposed the scientific statistics with the real life drama of living with leukemia. For more information read “High-voltage rally to draw thousands” and “Mass Power-Line Protest” in the Edmonton Journal and visit the RETA website.

February 2007. For those concerned about living near a high voltage transmission line, read the expert testimony by Dr. Havas produced in response to the Altalink 500 kV Transmission System in the Edmonton-Calgary area.

Imagine a world identical to our own with one exception . . . everyone is deaf. There is no radio, and television remains at the level of the silent movie. Telephone communication is visual but beyond that the world is very much like our own. What would such a world be like?” Click here for expert testimony, a 40-page pdf.