Fresh Debate over Pylon Cancer Risk

[JamesM]

... is the BBC news website's headline, although the subheading reveals that actually

UK research has cast further doubt on claims of a link between overhead power lines and childhood leukaemia.

which I suppose isn't as exciting.

The story quotes Denis Henshaw of Bristol University as a dissenting voice:

"Country studies have not had enough statistical power to see an increase of childhood leukaemia near power lines," he told BBC News Online.

"The pooled analysis of country studies has clearly shown a doubling of child leukaemia at levels well below what you get under power lines."

He believes melatonin plays a role in protecting the body against damage that can lead to leukaemia and may be disrupted by strong magnetic fields.

Does anyone know what meta-analysis he speaks of, and if it's as water-tight as he suggests?

Also, are there any accepted mechanisms for how a magnetic field can disrupt melatonin, even hypothetically?

 

[Jon_in_london]

what is melatonin?

 

[JamesM]

It looks like this

Anything I said about its biochemical behaviour would be nicked off a google search, so I'm sure someone else can do better than that.

 

[soccer_ref]

From the book Voodoo Science by Robert l. Park, p. 140:

The National Academy of Sciences (U.S.) did an exhaustive 3 year study of the issue (released in 1996). The study concluded (p. 141)

the current body of evidence does not show that exposure to these fields presents a human health hazard

 

[Dr. Imago]

While such fields do (obviously) exist and are a form of radiation, they are not ionizing. All of the current, best evidence suggests that, in order for there to be permanent, longterm damage to cells as a result or radiation exposure, it has to result from the effects of prolonged exposure to low-levels of ionizing radiation (such as x-rays, gamma rays, etc.), which is the kind that damages DNA.

Furthermore, never completely put your trust a meta-analysis. They are often grossly biased and become the last harbor for those completely desperate not to give up their position.

-TT

 

[Phaycops]

what is melatonin?

According to WebMd, Melatonin is a hormone secreted by your pineal gland that regulates your sleep cycles. It didn't say anything about protecting you from radiation of any sort. I wonder if the reporter misheard him and the guy actually said melanin. Just a thought.

 

[Diamond]

The only way that cancersa can be caused is by breaking chemical bonds that occur in DNA or RNA (I forget which one). To break a bond you need energy from either radiation or from some type of poison which can cause chemical bonds to be released.

The energy of photons E = h x f, where h is Plank's constant and f is frequency.

It can be shown very easily that radiowaves are simply to low in energy to disrupt those chemical bonds. In fact the energy threshold is somewhere in the far ultraviolet region of the EM spectrum.

The notion of radio energy from transformers causing certain types of cancer is now twenty years old at least. Despite extensive epidemoilogical studies, no link between power lines and cancer has ever been found,

 

[Phaycops]

The only way that cancersa can be caused is by breaking chemical bonds that occur in DNA or RNA (I forget which one). To break a bond you need energy from either radiation or from some type of poison which can cause chemical bonds to be released.

The energy of photons E = h x f, where h is Plank's constant and f is frequency.

It can be shown very easily that radiowaves are simply to low in energy to disrupt those chemical bonds. In fact the energy threshold is somewhere in the far ultraviolet region of the EM spectrum.

The notion of radio energy from transformers causing certain types of cancer is now twenty years old at least. Despite extensive epidemoilogical studies, no link between power lines and cancer has ever been found,

Yes, but what about the comment about melatonin? Is it possible that either the journalist or the researcher meant "melanin"? Is there any way melatonin could be thought to protect the body from cancer? Everything I've read indicates that it functions to regulate the body's sleep cycles, and nothing I've read mentions cancer at all.