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Pylons 'may be a leukaemia risk'

June 03, 2005 - ISLAMABAD: The high voltage power lines Living too close to overhead power lines appears to increase the risk of childhood leukaemia, researchers say.
A major study found children who had lived within 200m of high voltage lines at birth had a 70% higher risk of leukaemia than those 600m or more away.

But the Oxford University team stressed that there are no accepted biological reasons for the results and that more research is needed into such areas.

They said it may be down to the type of environments where pylons are located.

People who currently live or have lived near power lines in the past need not panic about this research .

Professor John Toy of Cancer Research UK .

And they said it did not resolve the debate about whether it is unsafe to live next to power lines.

Around 1% of homes in the UK are estimated to be within 200 metres of high voltage National Grid power lines.

The researchers said their findings, published in the British Medical Journal, showed living in such close proximity to power lines at birth could account for five extra cases of childhood leukaemia in a total of around 400 that occur in a year - a total of 1%.

The British Medical Journal study did not look at level of exposure to magnetic fields

But other scientists who have considered the issue have suggested that low frequency magnetic fields, such as those caused by the production of electricity, could possibly be linked to cancer.

However, others have disputed this link.

And experts agree that there are likely to be many factors involved in leukaemia, including genes and the environment.

Even if the apparent risk was found to be real, the number of cases of leukaemia that would result would be very few, said the authors.

The study

The latest study was carried out by Dr Gerald Draper and colleagues from the Childhood Cancer Research Group at Oxford University and Dr John Swanson, a scientific adviser at National Grid Transco.

It looked at more than 29,000 children with cancer, including 9,700 with leukaemia, born between 1962 and 1995, and a control group of healthy youngsters in England and Wales.

The researchers measured the distance from children's home addresses at birth from the nearest high voltage power line.

They found that 64 children with leukaemia lived within 200 metres of the line, while 258 lived between 200-600 metres away.

Proposed causes of childhood leukaemia are Genetic susceptibility, Immune system damage by chemicals, infections or radiation before the baby is born, Abnormal immune system development by lack of exposure to infections early in a child's life

Overall, youngsters living within 200 metres of the lines were about 70% more likely to develop leukaemia, and those living between 200 and 600 metres away about 20% more likely to develop leukaemia than those who lived beyond 600 metres from high voltage pylons.

Although the trend was definite, the researchers said they could not reasonably explain why it occurred.

For this reason, they caution that it might be down to factors other than the pylons themselves, such as the type of people who live near pylons or the general environment where pylons are located, which they plan to investigate.

Eddie O'Gorman, chairman of the UK charity Children with Leukaemia, said: "There is now a clear case for immediate government action.

"Planning controls must be introduced to stop houses and schools being built close to high voltage overhead power lines."

But Professor John Toy, Cancer Research UK's Medical Director, said: "People who currently live or have lived near power lines in the past need not panic about this research. The triggers that cause childhood leukaemia are most likely a random course of events over which a parent has no control.

"This study reports a very slight increase in the risk of childhood leukaemia for children born near power lines, but the researchers could not link this to the power lines themselves.

"These results may indeed be entirely due to chance."

There are around 7,000km of high voltage power lines involved in the transmission of electricity across England and Wales, and 21,800 steel pylons.

Jackie O show to benefit Leukemia Society

By MARY ANNE ZOLLAR
Times Staff Writer, [email protected]

August 03, 2006 - An intimate glimpse inside the life of a charismatic first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, can be had Sunday right in Huntsville.

Coming to the Chophouse at Washington Square downtown will be an exhibit of rare, large-format photographs of the Kennedys by Jacques Lowe, Kennedy family photographer during the Camelot era from 1958 to 1963. A champagne reception will accompany the exhibit, open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The collection of photographs valued at $3,000 to $5,000 each is owned by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America and tours the country to help raise money for the cause. Onassis donated the photographs to the society upon her death from non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 1998.

"Jackie Kennedy is an icon in American history," said Rick Riccio, operations manager for the Washington Square Group of restaurants. "These photographs are the only ones in existence, because the negatives were destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center."

Riccio requested the showing locally to help fund a trip to the Chicago Marathon for the local Team in Training triathletes, of which he is one. Some of the money will pay their expenses, but the lion's share is donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Tribute Exhibit

When: Sunday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

Where: The Chophouse, 101 Washington St.

Details: Reception $25; 704-5555

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