Medical Health Risks Associated with Living Near High-Voltage Power Lines

[ZapperZ]

Why is it that EVERY study of the effects of HIGH voltage being REGULARLY put upon consumers is said to be "inconclusive"? Could it be that money speaks? Even when they do state that there is a link at all. You say they've been talking about this for YEARS. If there needs to be research, then why hasn't it been done and done appropriately?

Do you think the American Physical Society, which is the professional organization for physicists in the US, is in it for the "money"? This society has never gravitated to that (if they do,they would have supported the "missile shield" plan and would have gotten tons of money from the US military). Yet, they have issued THIS report:

http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/95_2.cfm

Zz.

 

[Cyrus]

It wasn't meant for you Cyrus it was meant for the person who asked for information and thanked me for providing it.

Here is what I referred to if you need to be spoon fed.

Could you please elaborate on what the conclusion says Edward.

 

[junglebeast]

I would like to see one of these satellite pictures that shows cows orienting themselves along magnetic field lines...

 

[Cyrus]

You can read it under Conclusions at the bottom of the link. Then jump to your own conclusion.

The info below is just below the conclusions from the same British Medical Journal link. If you don't like it write them a letter.

I ask for your take on the conclusion because I did read it, and I question if we are both reading the same paper. Edward, could you please bold the very last sentence of the British Medical Journal conclusion. Then could you show me where they statistically found people living under 200m to have increased cancer rates.

 

[russ_watters]

Here is an article from the British medical Journal. It is, as most, a statistical study. At the bottom there are a lot of links to sources used in the article. They appear to find a link to leukemia and the distance from the power lines, yet still they can only call it a casual link.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/330/7503/1290 [emphasis added]

[separate post] Here is what I referred to...

At the very least, edward, you misspoke there. The link is not confirmed to be causal. There are numerous quotes in the linked article that say that. Here are quotes that are neutral or negative:

If the association is causal...

We emphasise again the uncertainty about whether this statistical association represents a causal relation.

Childhood cancer and power lines: Results do not support causal role for electromagnetic fields...

Not so plausible causal origin...
[emphasis added]

Only one says anything above neutral and even that is weak:

Draper et al's findings may have a causal origin...

Perhaps you meant to say something like 'yet still they can only call it a statistical association, not a causal link'.

 

[russ_watters]

Why is it that EVERY study of the effects of HIGH voltage being REGULARLY put upon consumers is said to be "inconclusive"? Could it be that money speaks? Even when they do state that there is a link at all. You say they've been talking about this for YEARS.

Well, conspiracy theory notwithstanding, years of inconclusive research should tell us what? It tells me that there is nothing positive (no link) to conclude.

If there needs to be research, then why hasn't it been done and done appropriately?

I think the reasearch has been done appropriately and the appropriate answer has been found.

The answer to a related question, why hasn't more research been done, is simple: scientists don't tend to research things that they believe do not exist.

 

[Cyrus]

I am not going to get involved in nit picking. Someone asked for info. I gave them a couple of links. Take it up with the Brits.

Edward, if a study is not statistically valid, it is inconclusive. This isn't nit picking, it's a fundamental process of science.

 

[junglebeast]

Here is a quick one but not the best one.

http://weirdnewsfiles.com/wp-content/weirdnewsuploads/cows.jpg

So...you don't have any that look like this?

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1710/cowsp.jpg

Because those cows could be facing that direction for any reason...like, they just walked to that location as a group.

 

[russ_watters]

I am not going to get involved in nit picking. Someone asked for info. I gave them a couple of links. Take it up with the Brits.

It isn't nitpicking when what you said directly contradicts what is said in the link you provided.

 

[junglebeast]

The fact that cows align themselves north to south is no longer disputed. The cattle in your picture shows them walking on paths. Cows only align themselves while grazing and sleeping.

Try to goggle up a little reality.

No it doesn't show them walking on paths..they could just as well be standing still and grazing.

 

[junglebeast]

Take a closer look most of them are on dirt.

That's true, but the cows are probably more interested in the grass that's growing in the dirt.

 

[Equate]

Take a closer look most of them are on dirt.

You are not serious, are you?

The "paths" you are referring to are photoshopped EMF lines. You take a closer look.

 

[JaredJames]

I am not serious now I've been had by a junglebeast.

If you thought everything in that pic was real, then I would have thought the shape of the 'paths' would be of much more interest than the fact the cows were using the 'paths' as you would expect them to if they were real, for the same reason a human would.

 

[Equate]

I've been had by a junglebeast.

Happens to the best... ;-)

 

[russ_watters]

It was meant for the person who asked for info . What part of that don't you guys understand.

The part explains how that makes it ok to spread misinformation. The person who asked wouldn't notice the misinformation, so it is ok to say it? Is that it?

Edward: you really need to address this.

 

[Phrak]

Very prevocative. But look closely. This picture is a spoof or a fraud.

http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/1710/cowsp.jpg

There is white cow with a black spot in the direction of it's 6:30. This cow plus the spot occurs 7 times in the picture. And never without the telltale spot.

The brown cow is pasted 6 times. The black cow is pasted a dozen times.

I am shocked and offended by repetition. The artist needs more cows!

 

[jim mcnamara]

Edward -

Try this. Science does not set out to disprove a hypothesis. Science tries to support one. The null hypothesis may be viewed as the same thing as "disproof", or not accepting the given hypothesis.

The null hypothesis is never proven by scientific methods, as the absence of evidence against the null hypothesis does not establish it. In other words, one may either reject, or not reject the null hypothesis; one cannot accept it.

 

[jim mcnamara]

With regard to the 'Photoshopped' cows, note the direction of the shadows, too.
Fun pic, I think...

 

[Ian_Brooks]

apologies for starting such a heated debate. I only brought up this topic as we were - at that time looking for houses and came across one that was worth more than it was being sold for simply because a number of potential buyers had issues with a nearby distribution tower. Besides providing for an awful view - I wanted to know if this reasoning was substantial.

 

[russ_watters]

No prob. What you have there is a case where perception = reality. People perceive a health effect and aesthetic issue, therefore there is a reality of a lower housing value. So for that, it doesn't really matter if the perceived problem is real or not - you still have to deal with it either way.

A similar issue exists with radon.

 

[The_Absolute]

Britney Spears must have grown up near high-voltage power lines.