Health and Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields

The author evaluates the properties of low-frequency electromagnetic fields and their interactions with the human body, exploring the possible link to cancer, and concludes that the health risks from these interactions have been vastly overstated.

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Recent articles in the press have explored a possible link between cancer and such familiar sources of electromagnetic fields as power-distribution lines or electronic appliances. In this book a distinguished physicist evaluates the properties of low-frequency electromagnetic fields and their interactions with the human body and concludes that the health risks from these interactions have been vastly overstated.

William Ralph Bennett, Jr., reviews the epidemiological evidence for a link between low-frequency electromagnetic fields and cancer. He then reviews the basic properties of these fields, outlining the simplest methods for calculating and measuring them and illustrating his discussion with original data on the electromagnetic fields produced by power lines, electrified railroads, common household appliances, video display terminals, television sets, and airport metal detectors. He considers the specific ways by which electric and magnetic fields couple to the body; compares these fields with others of much greater magnitude that must exist inside the body because of thermodynamic processes; and analyzes several resonance mechanisms that have been proposed to explain unusual sensitivity of biological tissue to low-frequency oscillating fields. A glossary and numerous tables and figures accompany the text.

The book is based on a study by the author for the U.S. Government's Committee on Interagency Radiation Research and Policy Coordination that was coordinated by Oak Ridge Associated Universities.