electromagnetic pollution

The electric and magnetic fields set up by high-tension power cables, local electric sub-stations, and domestic items such as electric blankets. There have been claims that these electromagnetic fields are linked to increased levels of cancer, especially leukaemia, and to headaches, nausea, dizziness, and depression.

Although the issue has failed to receive official recognition in the UK, physicists there linked electromagnetic pollution with radon gas as a cause of cancer in 1996. The electric fields were found to attract the radioactive decay products of radon and cause them to vibrate, making them more likely to adhere to skin and mucous membranes. However, in December 1999 British researchers announced that the world's largest study into the safety of electromagnetic fields had not found a link between electromagnetic fields and childhood cancers.