ST9302-CS 941031 Fear
by GARY TAUBES ~
· ., . ~
are bad for them, and so they do, A study in how the
selective reporting of scientific evidence--by researchers ~
as well as journalists can generate anxiety
at the expense of reality ~ '
H E proposition that electro- tie "Elec~cal Wiring Configurations ' . /~
magnetic fields may be haz- and Childhood Cancer." WeRheimer ~
ardous to your health began and ~e~r wrote, ~ ; ~ j ..... S~ ' ~ 'I'[~
ucated ex~mental psychologist who Electrical power came into use ~ ,
now works with the Depmment of ~e- many ye~s before environmentM-
ventlye Medicine at the University of impact studies were colon, and ....... '~ ~'['
Colorado, In the spring of 1974 and for today our domestic power lines ~e "'~*'~"~'~'* ~7,.~
much of the next two ye~s, We~eimer t~en for granted ~d generMly as- ...~ .~' 'g~* * *~
, . ,. ~' ".~ ~,~. :.{~,..'.y~.~.,
drove the streets of greater Denver sumed to be harmless. However, ," ';~[~" "%' ..
searching for possible causative agents mis assumption has never b~n ade- ,...... r"...:;. Z7> ~;.:,:..,g: ~ ::.
of childhood cancer. quately tested. Low-level harmful ' ' : "': <'' . . - .... ,-~-: ::~-; '
What We,heimer found was that the effects could be missed, yet they , ...¢¢,.:,:,.~:~:.~j&:~ ,;.2.-;,,',.;",.' :,.';.", .- .
homes of children who develo~d can- ~ght be impo~ant for the ~pula-
cer were, with suspicious reguI~ty, 1o- ~on as a whole, since elec~c lines Threat to Your Health. Br~eur ~d The assessing the heXth hE~ds of electro- stitute is conducting a $5 million five- an the journal Science, written by H.
cated near high-cu~ent electric power ~e so ubiquitous. New Yorker returned to the subject in magnetic fields (known as EMF) in ye~ study to assess whether exposure Kei~ Ho~g, of Resources for the Fu-
19~ ~d 1992, in ~icles that were re- pa~icul~, the magnetic fields emitted to EMF can cause or promote child- rare, ~ environmental-rese~ch institute
lines. Wefthelmet spent two more The scientific community paid little published last ye~ in a book titled The by both high-voltage power lines and hood leukemia, the most common fore in Washington, D.C. Ho~g's estimate
years with Ed Leeper, a friend with an aRention to WeRheimer's rese~ch until Great Power-Line Cover-up: How the "feeder" power lines, which go from of childhood cancer. The motivation t~es into account eventhing from the
education in physics, analyzing her a decade later, when the New Yorker Utilities and the Govemment Are T~- house to house; appliances; home wir- for the NCI study, says M~ha Linet, decrease in prices of real estate near
data and checking her methods. "We writer Paul Br~eur immo~ali~d We~- ing to Hide the Cancer Hazard Posed ing; computer teminals; and anything an NCI epidemiologist, is less any evi- high-voltage lines to the cancellation of
sta~ed as quiet as we could," she told heimer in a t~ee-p~ "Annals of Radia- by Electromagnetic Fields. else ~at plugs into a wall socket or c~- dence th~ the fact that "the public is or moratofia on new power-transmis-
me recently. "We didn't want people tion" series in June of 1989. A ye~ lat- Unlike We~heimer's research, Bro- ties electricity into a home or across ve~ concerned ~d we, of course, ~e sion projects to ~e cost of active effoas
getting anxious." er Brodeur's ~icles ap~ed in a b~k deur's annals had almost immediate the countSside. Confess has mandat- concerned as well." to reduce EMF exposure. Florig sug-
Their research was published in the titled, with little ambiguity, Currents of impact. In the years since the first se- ed that the Depmment of Energy orga- The cost to s~iety of public anxiety gests ~at ~ appropriate budget for gov-
March, 1979, issue of the American Death: Power Lines, Computer Temi- ties appe~ed, half a dozen government nize a $65 million five-year research about EMF now exceeds $1 billion ~- eminent rese~ch on the health effects
Journal of Epidemiology, under the ti- nals, and the Attempt to Cover Up Their agencies have entered the business of program, and the National Cancer In- nuMly, according to a July, 1992, ~cle of EMF could ~ "as l~ge as [our] com-
94
~OVI.:MBER 1994 TIlE ATLANTIC MONTIILY Illustration by Guy Billout
bined economic and health costs." Con- conclusion" that EMF can cause child- high-current lines. And finally, in late
sider the huge savings to society, the ar- hood or adult cancer. He did add, how- 1992, a Swedish study appeared that
gument goes, should further research ever, that the weak evidence makes it was hailed by the press as definitive. W H A T M A K E S A
lead either to a consensus that exposure all the more "urgent" to carry out high- The Swedish researchers, Anders Ahl-
to EMF is a significant health hazard or quality, large-scale studies to lay the bom and Maria Feychting, of the Karo-
to proof beyond reasonable doubt that it matter to rest. linska Institute, reported not only that
is harmless. The controversy over electromagnet- magnetic fields seemed to increase a
The latter possibility is, surprisingly, ic fields has set the institutionalized child's risk of contracting leukemia but
the one that most scientists say is far skepticism of science--the demand that also that the risk increased as exposure :,
more likely. Two recent studies, one by extraordinary claims be supported by to magnetic fields increasedma phe-
Britain 's National Radiological Protec- extraordinary evidence--against the nomenon known in epidemiology as a
tion Board and one by the Oak Ridge alarmist attitude of citizens '-action dose response.
Associated Universities (ORAU), con- groups and the press, which advocate a To those researchers inclined to be-
ducted at the behest of the White House guilty-until-proved-innocent approach lieve that EMF can be harmful, these
Office of Science and Technology and to environmental concerns. Whether the studies represent a consistent and reli-
the Department of Labor, have re- public has come out wiser rather than able body of experimental dam. Savitz,
viewed the huge body of scientific liter- simply nervous remains to be seen. for instance, calls them "four reason-
ature on EMF and concluded that it is V~ ably well-done studies all pointing in
long on alarm and short on meaningful IRTUALLY all the existing evi- reasonably the same directions."
science. ence linking EMF to cancer comes Those researchers inclined toward
The Oak Ridge committee reviewed from the science of epidemiology, skepticism challenge such assertions.
some fifteen years' worth of literature which is the study of the incidence of Doll, for instance, told me when I spoke
on the biological effects of EMF and diseases in populations and the factors to him not long ago that although the
concluded that "epidemiologic findings that might cause or influence disease. Swedish study and a subsequent Dan-
of an association between electric and Nancy Wertheimer, for instance, con- ish study were carried out competent- ;~
magnetic fields and childhood leukemia cluded that children who lived in homes ly, the number of cases of childhood ;,~
or other childhood or adult cancers are near thick and presumably high-current cancer identified is "perishingly small, %,..
inconsistent and inconclusive," and that electrical wires contracted cancer at really much too weak to justify the con-
there is no compelling evidence "that two to three times the rate of children clusion that you have got a cause-and-
these fields initiate cancer, promote can- who lived in homes near thin and pre- effect relationship." The Swedish study
was based on what Ahlbom himself .....
called "a handful of cases," the Danish .......................
!':. ~dt44,~ O~ g,O~]~ ~ ~4~ ~ study on even fewer.
None of the studies linked leukemia
fields measured in the homes. Instead
' u.4..,d ¢d, the researchers co. ld link cancer only
to what are called proxy measures: in
d,n~4~ ~ ~ (,O,~,- the Denver and Los Angeles studies the
':' '/ which the researchers thought were
likely to be carrying high currents. In
cer, or influence tumor progression." J. sumably low-current wires. Her study Sweden it was the EMF calculated from
Glenn Davis, the director of the med- had serious flaws, as she readily ad- historical records of power usage. Be- A M E M 0
ical-sciences division of ORAU and the mits, but over the years several other cause the studies involve cases of child-
chair of the study, told Science that "in studies have made similar claims. hood cancer that occurred many years
light of things like A~DS and breast can- A second Denver study, nine years in the past, epidemiologists in the field
cer," research into EMF should not be later, by David Savitz, who is now at argue at length over whether these
given a high priority. the University of North Carolina, also proxy measures might indeed best re-
The British study was chaired by Sir reported a twofold increase in the risk flect EMF exposure at the crucial time.
Richard Doll, an Oxford University epi- of cancer for children living near high- Even so, says Dimitrios Trichopoulos,
demiologist famous for his pioneering current electrical wires. A Los Angeles the head of the epidemiology depart-
studies linking cigarette smoking to study followed in 1991, reporting that ment at the Harvard School of Public
lung cancer. Doll called the evidence the risk of contracting leukemia was Health, the need to rely on proxies to
on EMF "much too weak to justify the doubled among children living near establish a cause-and-effect relation-
96 ~ovF,~. ~4
XX~,'II send .mu../i'cc. lhc litit:st js.~uc of. lmcrican Ih'r/la,~,c ma~a/i c m k{.cl~ If xlm thm'l Ii~xc i(. dl,l'l 5,1bcrilw! Ship makes the EMF-cancer link that tect against childhood leukemia. Taken The published studies linking EMF
much less convincing. as a whole, in fact, the data could equal- to cancer, however. suggest that the risk
studies is that they associate a various exposure to magnetic fields does not in- longed exposure to a strong electromag-
and shifting array of cancers with EMF. crease the risk of cancer. netic field. This level of increased risk,
Savitz was quoted in Time as saying thathas been institutionalized in the field.journal Epidemiology, is "pushing the
S up to that point the evidence had been Any data seeming to confirm the EMF- edge of what can be done with epidemi-
stronger for brain tumors. The Swedish cancer hypothesis is considered worthy ology.' Epidemiologists and policy-
Give new energy to the American dream. The grand design. The ideals. The heroes. The rich heritage of can-do study, however, implicated EMF in leu~ of publication, regardless of how mean-makers have worked under the guiding
optimism. And can-do ingenuity. Explore the glorious tapestry of what has made us the most unique people in kemia and suggested that EMF had no ingless it might be. And once published,principle that the stronger the associa-
the world. You'll find it all in the pages of American Heritage magazine-the non-partisan, editorially acclaimed effect on brain tumors. Last October thethe report often makes the news and en-lion between agent and disease, the less
magazine that probes into what makes America, America. It's inspiring, enlightening, exciting, and fun. With Danish study and a new Finnish study ters the mythology of the field, regard-necessary is a credible biological mech-
superb writing, wonderful photography, and illustrations and art reproductions that dazzle the eye. Once you were published simultaneously in the less of how much evidence stacks up anism explaining how that agent might
British Medical Journal. The Danes re- against it. When, for instance, research- cause the disease. As the epidemiologi-
try it, you'll be hooked like the more than one million other devoted American Heritage readers. ported a slight association between ers at the Johns Hopkins University cal evidence gets weaker, the need for a
EMF and all childhood cancers grouped School of Hygiene and Public Health plausible biological mechanism and for
~ _ together, and none with leukemia alone. recently did a preliminary investigation biomedical evidence--for instance, re-
The Finns reported no positive associa- of all cancers found in some 5,500 male producible experiments in which the
°' ~ ~ tion with any cancers. "They're all con- New York State telephone workers, agent in question induces the disease in
..... . :lk .~ ~icting," Doll says. they found two cases of breast cancer, animals--grows stronger.
0.~ One likely explanation is that the which is an extremely rare disease in What's rarely mentioned in public
' at' '! epidemiologists have fallen victim to men. They reported the two as evidence discussions of electromagnetic fields is
Seventy-five years ago the Original
Dixieland Jazz Band cut the tint jazz ~ } t 'k) what is known in science as a multi- that EMF might cause breast cancer. that the evidence against their having a
records, "Livery Stable Blues" and ' ~ pie-comparison problem, also known "The observation that we had the two biological effect of any consequence is
"Dixie Jass Band One-Step," and the
rest is history. "' 7 '~. "" *T''I . as "data dredging." In other words. re- cases was what was worth noting," says strong. Doll says that the "sol id weight
TheDiamondJubileeofJazz, .~ ...' . ~ % !~;! searchers set out to compare the inci- Patrick Breysse, one of the researchers. of biological research" is against the
Febmary/March 1992 "'/: '~'o dence of several types of cancer with Since then male breast cancer, and by EMF-cancer hypothesis, although he
m.. .... "~.-, several different measures of EMF implication female breast cancer, has adds that "no hypothesis is too bizarre
'~ )-:--, strength, and find that some show a been high on the agenda of EMF re- for someone to think of a reason tojus-
...~ % :- ii~:) . ::" ~ small positive association and some searchers, and the press has played it up tify it." To begin with, cancer rates in
..... "\' show a small negative association. The widely. But this ignores the numerous America (with the notable exception of
.~:~ ~ researchers report the positive ones, ig- studies of workers whose jobs entail lung-cancer rates in women, attribut-
: nore the negative ones, and claim that relatively high EMF exposure. These able to smoking) have remained rela-
__..~
N.- ~i !~!~:~' ~ ......... they have confirmed the hypothesis studies would have detected an increased tively unchanged in the past fifty years,
~ i: 5. {~ that EMF can cause cancer. incidence of male breast-cancer cases while electrification of the country has
ir '!"'~ :' ~ The Swedish researchers, for in- had the two in the Hopkins study been increased enormously. Estimates of the
"~:~i~ ):2:~ :; i: '., . stance, found no link between magnetic anything more than an unlikely coinci- degree to which electricity usage has
' ' ' "' .... · ' ~: cancers, no link between distance from Poole, an epidemiologist at Boston Uni- cited a 4.4-fold per capita increase
In the decade that followed power lines and any cancers other than versity, "that those studies that didn't from 1950 to 1987, and Dr. J. D. Jack-
After an elegant dinner in a posh
World War II, the American restaurant, FrankX. McNamara leukemia, and none between the fields report anything on breast cancer didn't son, a University of California physi-
automobile industry produced ~
discovered he was out of cash. It calculated from historical records of actually see it." cist, in a 1992 issue of the Proceedings
the most extravagant, gave him the idea for Diners
outrageous, and desirable Club, America's ~rst credit card. electricity usage and either brain tumors At the heart of the problem is that of the National Academy of Sciences,
machines in the world.
Detroit lmn, Credit CardAmerica, or all childhood cancers together. They epidemiology is by most scientific stan- cited a 300-fold per capita increase from
November 1991
October Z99Z did find a link between calculated his- dards a crude science. It has historically the turn of the century to 1992. "If a
CommanderJoeRochefon, torical fields and childhood leukemia. been capable of identifying causative rapidly increasing widespread expo-
namedBucephalus. "The results," the researchers condud- agents of disease when the association sure were indeed strongly associated
'~ intelligence bureaucracy
~. Jlfit Napoleon hadMarengo. and gave Admiral Nimitz ed, "provide support for the hypothesis is strong. One of the first major studies with childhood cancers," the Oak Ridge
a strikingly handsome and changed the course of
i elegant animal. In contrast, World War Il. creases the risk of cancer. This is most for instance, published in the early railing trends in other risk factors were
Ulysses S. Grant's
.: Cincinnati was a slightly FbeBiggestlheater, M A G A Z I N E evident in childhood leukemia." This 1950s by Doll and the late Sir Austin occurring. we should be witnessing an
rumpled bay. December 1991
aetting Right With Robert conclusion ignores the results regarding Bradford Hill, found that the risk of observable epidemic of childhood can-
' 1~ Lee, May/June 1991 For 'A .fi'ce cop~ call 1 - 800-888-66()(}. Or x~ ri,.: measured magnetic fields alone, which contracting lung cancer was at least ten cers. However, there is little, if any. ev-
P MAMI \lllt'l'jCitll Ih'l*ilagt,. 62 Fiflh \xcIIHt'. \t'\\ '~ork, N'~ I{)(}ll suggest the opposite hypothesis: that times as high for cigarette smokers as idence of such an epidemic of child-
~ electromagnetic fields substantially pro- for nonsmokers. hood cancer."
T|lli ~TLs,%IaC Ml;%*I'III.}
T Th fully functional sedan
HE magnetic fields under discus-trical forces, or "noise," produced byOakland University, in Michigan, sug-
e7
tense than the earth's magnetic field. molecules in the body. (This random brain and the body in "cyclotron reso- ~a"' X
Because they arise from alternating jiggling is known as thermal motion, nance" and thus spin them at high
currents, however, they reverse direc- because it manifests itself as heat.) And speeds inside the brain and body like the
tion sixty times a second, which the the forces generated inside the body by particles in a particle accelerator. As the
earth's magnetic field does not. external alternating currents are thou- Oak Ridge report points out, Liboff ig-
Citing as his source a retired chair- sands of times too weak to move a nores, among other aspects of physics,
man of the pharmacology department DNA or an RNA molecule in a cell, and that ions in an accelerator are flung The .\l,~&~ ,2o With the help of an unsurpassed "bumper-to-bumper"
at Baylor University, Paul Brodeur has trillions of times weaker than those re- around in a vacuum by extremely strong
described the magnetic fields from al- quired to break the chemical bonds in magnetic fields designed to do just that, modern science, Mazda engineers .®'
temating currents as ticking back and such molecules or cause a mutation-- whereas ions in the body exist not in a Z "':' ~'i ~ warranty.' It's more than cruise
forth like a "metronome" and causing the first steps in the initiation of cancer. vacuum but in a viscous medium (the _
g~ _)control power windows and leather
brain, for instance) and are under the in- have brought something extra '~..~ ':5 i ,
fluence of negligible magnetic fields.
O~(.t ~ ~ ~ d Liboff and his colleagues in EMF . i interior.** It's the combination of all
theory argue that the scientific commu- to 4-door transportation. No, it doesn't
proposing a new paradigm and scien- actually come in a bottle. It's something ^~o~v~°"~o'"°u" these in such a beautiful package that
'1,~, ~ ~,f/~b~ ~ ~ d~ ~-t tists who have grown up with the old
paradigm are incapable of accepting that goes a lot further than the minimum daily makes the 626 ES what it is. A zesty-deluxe family
~ t~/~4~ ~ ~4 ~. such new concepts. Skeptics counter
O,e/(O,~4~ . that the theories are, rather, poorly un-
~/~~ ~3t, A,q.t. derstood and misguided applications of sedan requirements like dual air bags and anti- chariot that would make any garage proud. If we
known and accepted science. "People
are very paranoid in this field," says
every molecule in the "brain and body To those physicists and biologists William Happer, a physicist at Prince- lock brakes. It's more than just a powerful V6 and could only find a better way to say that.
in a child or adult standing next to a who understand the fundamental sci- ton University. "They think that no-
major power line" to vibrate back and ence, Jamie Robins, a Harvard epide- body takes them seriously. They use
forth in sixty-hertz time. "Anybody miologist, observes, EMF-induced can- the same jargon as other scientists; they
with a grain of sense," Brodeur says, cer seems almost as implausible as, for write down differential equations and /
"knows that day in and day out, week instance, ESP-induced cancer. Because solve them. It'sjust that when you look "~
in and week out, that can't be very good epidemiologists don't understand at what goes into the equation, none of ~ ,,;~,;1 ~ -, - ,~._
for you." physics as well as physicists do, or bi- it makes sense.' i ' "='
Understanding the physical effects of ology as well as biologists do, they are . ::::..:::~:, ~
these fields, however, requires a course not constrained by a strong prejudice Tag copious body of literature on "' ' '
in electromagnetism along the lines of toward the "null hypothesis"--the as- EMF--at least 13,000journal arti- '/' ~ /'
freshman college physics, as well as sumption that the phenomenon in ques- cles are being reviewed by an ongoing ~
common sense. Electromagnetic fields tion is nonexistent. As a result, Rob- National Research Council committee -
simply exert forces on charged parti- bins says, epidemiologists will gladly on EMF--supports the conclusions of !f -' ~"' .....
cles~they push or pull. They do so in give credence to dubious studies of elementary physics and the proposal ~' : . '.;~::::i`'::/~?'!':' _.._.~.---~""'
two ways: a static magnetic field, like EMF in a way they never would to sim- that electromagnetic fields are biologi- D:.,:' ' ' .............. ~"
the earth's, will exert a force on electri- ilar studies of ESP, the implausibility cally harmless. The Oak Ridge report /~'
cally charged particles that are moving; of which they understand. says, "Evidence is lacking to demon- ~ ~ ~,
a changing magnetic field, like that of To explain how forces generated in- strate that electric or magnetic fields act "
an alternating current, will exert a force side the body by EMF could have an ef- as cancer initiators by altering structural
on all charged particles, moving or not. fect a thousand, a million, or a trillion properties of DNA, function as cancer
The forces generated inside the human times greater than what seems physi- promoters by inducing or accelerating
body by extemal sixty-hertz alternating cally possible, EMF researchers have cell growth, or influence tumor progres-
currents when, lbr example, a person is proposed theories evoking esoteric sion.' Researchers using EMF have
standing directly under high-tension phenomena from far-ranging fields of been similarly unable to induce or pro-
power lines are thousands of times less physics--soliton dynamics, Bose-Ein- mote cancer in animals in experiments
intense than the forces generated by the stein condensation, electromagnetically that can be reproduced.
changing electric fields of the heart, induced pressure waves, and magnetic Although there are scattered reports IT JUST FEE kS tIT.'
brain. and muscles. They are also thou- resonance. One theory, for example, of physiological changes generated by
sands of times less intense than the elec- proposed by Abe Liboff, a physicist at exposure to EMF, these changes are ei-
NOVEMIIEB 1994
ther irreproducible or show no particu- would be for four milligauss to triple or ment of Scientist A, the reason is not
lar relevance to the question of EMF quadruple it. However, according to that Scientist A's experiment was poor-
and cancer. "The bottom line," says some EMF researchers, two milligauss ly executed or interpreted incorrectly
Gary Boorman, a scientist at the Na- might provoke cancer and four milli- but that Scientist B did not use precise-
tional Institute of Environmental Health gauss might not. Further complicating ly the same cell line, or type of DNA
Sciences, "is that all of the findings in the matter, researchers have suggested or RNA, and did not expose the cells to
the field so far are marginal, and most that the EMF recipe that results in can- precisely the same combination of geo-
of them have not been replicated." cer might include some particular ~uc- magnetic field and EMF frequency,
This scarcity of reproducible experi- tuation of the earth's ambient magnet- amplitude, and wave shape.
ments has sparked the notion among ic field, which can differ from city to
EMF researchers that cancer can be in- city and even from room to room. "Is T}~E big catch is that if electromag-
duced or promoted only by a distinct, it some combination of geomagnetic netic fields have no detrimental bi-
albeit unknown, combination of EMF fields and sixty-hertz fields?" asks Ray- ological effect, the absence of an effect
variables. "This explanation is used," mond Neutra, the acting chief of the will be impossible to prove. Outside
the Oak Ridge report says, "to explain environmental-health-investigations mathematics it is simply impossible sci-
why so many studies, both in vivo and branch of the California Department of entifically to prove the nonexistence of
in vitro, are negative." Health Services. "Is it sudden spikes? something. The best that science can do
This theory also serves to obviate the Is it polarization?" is to say that the existence of the phe-
usual requirement that a dose-response If your local electromagnetic fields nomenon in question is highly unlikely
curve be identified before an agent is are too strong or too weak, the logic and that the evidence in its favor is
conclusively labeled a carcinogen. For goes, or not tuned to precisely the right poor--which is what is being said to-
example, if an exposure of two milli- wave function, they will have no effect. day about EMF.
gauss (a measure of magnetic-field What seems to cause cancer in Buffalo The public, the press, and even many
strength) doubles your chance of con- might not in Sheboygan. Thus when scientists often fail to understand that
tracting cancer, the usual expectation Scientist B falls to replicate the experi- the nonexistence of a phenomenon does
WINDOWS
When the cow died by the green sapling, with us from cottage to cottage,
her limp udder splayed on the grass moth-horn and glass, and wedged up [~
like something from the sea, we offered the misfitted gaps with a poultice
our words in their low calibrations-- of gunny and wax. When woodsmoke
which was our fashion--then severed darkened our bricks, we gave
her horns with a pug-toothed blade to the windowsills a lacquer
and pounded them out to an amber of color--clear blue with a lattice
transparency, two sheets that became, of yellow: a primary entrance and exit
in their moth-wing haze, our parlor windows. for light. And often, walking home
They softened our guests with the gauze-light from the river and small cheese shop,
of the Scriptures, and rendered to us, we would squint their colors to a sapling
on our merriest days, the sensation green, and remember the hull
of gazing through the feet of a gander. of that early body, the slap of fear
In time we moved up to the status we suffered there, then the little wash
of glass--one pane, then two--each of recovery that is our fashion--how
cupping in proof of its purity we stroked to her bones a cadenced droning,
a dimple of fault, a form of distortion and took back from her absence our
enhancing our image. We took the panes amber, half-literal method of sight.
GRAND FRESCO.
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104 ~ovt,~n 1994
] B *~' not mean that every experiment will re- cal science, which just goes "on and on." Brodeur presents studies as incontro-
cle~. The histo~ of science is littered "What I would exact if it d~sn't ex- and portrays scientists as petty and
,. wi~ ex~ples of what ~ing L~gmuir, ist," Nancy We~heimer says, "which 1 self-interested if they have had the
· e 1932 Noel ~ze winner in chem- don't thi~ I'm seeing but others think temerity to suggest that the studies are
ist~, called "pathological science," or they ~e, is more and more studies that less than incontrove~ible. Brodeur also
2 .~/~-~-~:zr..~,..~,.... "the science of things ~at ~en't so"~ come up totally iffy, including the labo- presents a smattering of research re-
a ' ~' ~'~' ~ '
~~~~ ~;~ ~ of which the latest to hit the press was ratDry work and the epidemiology. suits--those reporting biological ef-
~ ~; ~ 4 '~. ' ." cold fusion. In these cases rese~chers Slowly you get this accumulation of fects from EMF--as if they represent
~ '~ ~.; ~ publish hundreds of pairs claiming to more of the s~e, ~d it d~sn't amount the bulk of the literature and a consis-
)f , ~ . , ' , . : suppo~ ~e existence of ~ illuso~ ef- to anything." tent body of research. After the publi-
~.~'~,: :, '~ ~'~ ~ ~." cases," L~gmuir said in a 1953 lecture, points out, will keep a ~eld alive wheth- mittee on Man and Radiation of the
'~ "~ """';' but where ~ople ~e ~cked into hlse is real or not. But rather than a series of Engineers drafted a thi~y-one-page re-
, ~.,... results by a lack of understanding about studies' leading to a compiling scien- port correcting the inaccuracies of
' ; ~ ~~~ what human beings can do to them- ti~c judgment, he says, "a highly plau- Brodeur's reporting. The committee
~ ~ selves in the way of ~ing led astray by sible outcome for all this work is the described Brodeur's work this way:
"~::~.;~ .; : ...... ¢ subjective effects, wishful thinking, or eventual petering out of rese~ch inter- [Brodeur] chooses sides and identi-
5j ~);, . . * threshold interactions." est." It can t~e decades of inconclusive ties the "good guys" as those who
Contributing to the pathology is the and conflicting studies, though, before repo~ biological efl~cts in the labo-
~-~'..~.... ' . . ~" fact that once researchers publish a re- the research community decides to rato~ and find positive associations
suit confi~ing the existence of a phe- move on. in epidemiological studies. On the
nomenon, they often cease to do the T other hand, the "bad guys" practice
careful critical evaluation of their re- HE public concern engendered by obfuscation, mendaciousness, and
.... ~ se~ch that is a requisite of good sci- Paul Brodeur's exposds has en- cover-ups in the service ofco~orate
~ .............. .....~ ~ .,,,, ence. "If you're an investigator work- sured a steady flow of funding for fur- or milita~ bosses. In his enteHain-
,~ ~,, ing in EMF," says Ga~ Boo~an, "and ther rese~ch. Brodeur's work presents ing tale of fight and wrong, Mr. Bro-
~,~,,~ ..... ~ ..... ; . .¢. % you can prove conclusively that there's a picture different from that of the sci- deur casts aside the scientific ap-
~.; ~ k nothing there, what you've done is cre- enti~c data, one a~ived at by a tech- proach and treats questionable
,,5X ' : ~ "k ate the demise of your field. Economics nique that Wenheimer, who continues research with the same respect as
¢ "" ""' ' "' '~' % becomes very, very important here. to believe that EMF may be hazardous, sound rese~ch as long as the results
~% "" ~' :~ Everything from lab space and post- describes as leaving out evidence not in support his theme. He deftly builds
Moon-phase watch in 18Kgold. docs to suppoa and funding is tied to accord with Brodeur's own inte~reta- the case for health hazards, con-
having an effect." tion. "Brodeur served an important comitantly casting into unfavorable
THERE HA S NEVER BEEN A QUARTZ BLANCPAIN WATCH. L~.g~i~ suggested a half dozen function ofjoumafists," she says. "He ~ight respected institutions such as
ch~acte~stic symptoms of pathological got people excited. It's not a scientific the National Academy of Sciences,
AND THERE NEVER WILL BE. science--among them mat "the effect is approach, because he left out most of the Centers for Disease Control, the
of a magnitude that remains close to the the negative evidence." World Health Organization, and the
Never. Since 1735 Blancpain has believed that mechanical limit of detectability" and that "the David Savitz, whose studies have American Medical Association. all
~ of whom have examined this issue
t i m e k e e p i n g r e p r e s e n t s t h e a r t o f t i m e a t i t s fin e s t. magnitude of the efl~ct is substantially supported an association between EMF
independent of the intensity of the and cancer, agrees, saying that Brodeur wigout finding convincing evidence
N o t h i n g e x p r e s s e s t h i s p h i 1 o s o p h y b e t t e r t h a n t h i s cause"--all of which have been exhibit- "inte~rets the evidence differently than of health risk in human populations.
B [ a n c p a i n M o o n - p h a s e w a t c h. U n d e r s t a t e d a n d e ] e g a n t, ed by the epidemiotogical research on I do and most other scientists I ~ow." At a meeting last November of the
it provides an eloquent reminder of the watchmaker's EMF and cancer. The question be- He adds that Brodeur's later articles, National EMRAlliance, a coalition of
I i n k t o a s t r o n o my. comes, How can scientists. policymak- which became The Great Power-Line more than 3~ citizens' groups fighting
Mrs, and the public tell the difl~rence be- Cover-up, have "less and less scientific to reduce what they believe are haz-
C a s e d i n 18 K g o 1 d, t h e M o o n - p h a s e w a t c h i s tween a phenomenon that does not exist merit and are more and more mislead- ardous exposures to EMF, Brodeur ex-
i n d i v i d u a l i y n u m b e r e d a n d s i g n e d. and never will and a phenomenon that ing." Savitz, like Wellhelmet, believes plained in a speech that consensus sol-
may exist but will be confirmed only that Brodeur played an important role entific opinion differs from his own
with more rese~ch? Langmuir suggest- by generating public interest in the is- because those scientists who disagree
~ ~ ed that real scientific discoveries, no sue. "I would rather the public be moti- with his position have sold out. Those
matter how m~ginal the e~ly data, blos- vated by h~d evidence," he says, "but doing the buying, he said, are the Elec-
sore as more people and money enter that may not be the realistic world of t~c Power Rese~ch Institute, known as
THE WALDORF ASTORIA . 212 751.9824 , 501 MADISON AVENUE AT S3RO STREET . 212888 0505 the field--not the case with pathologi- setting rese~ch priorities." EPRI, which is the research arm of the
TO PLACE AN ORDER CALL ~ 800 255.3310. WRIT/fOR FREE CATAtOGUE. NEW YORK C~TY NY ~0022
utility industry, and the lawyers for the most any newspaper's revenue," he ex- ic experts. What makes Brodeur's con- /
utility industry. plained to the credulous audience, "be- spiratorial interpretation all the harder --': W
"A lot of the scientific community is tween fifty and seventy-five percent to understand is the level of alarm raised ~ '+
being bought on this issue," Brodeur comes from real-estate advertisement, compared with the maximum possible ,- '-
continued. "I'm not saying most of it. and this problem is having a major ef- level of the threat. Scientists on both ,:::: ii!~:
The problem isn't the ones that are be- fect on real-estate advertisement." sides of the issue say that they are deal- ,.!::: :!!~7~ ;,:,:~i
ing bought; the problem, as it always Many of the major players in EMF ing at the very most with rare diseases !~ :!:~
is, is the eighty-five or ninety percent research have similar explanations for and an increased risk that is almost in- i: ~:~:
of honest scientists who have been ap- why the scientific community has re- ~nitesimal---especially compared with
preached but aren't saying anything. jected their research. "Most people who all the other risks of everyday life, from ..~.
The silence of the community [is] be- say this is impossible come from the driving and smoking to choice of diet. . '~
cause scientists and medical doctors engineering side of things," says Abe As Savitz puts it, the possibilities are
hate to criticize one another. You know Liboff, the progenitor of the cycle- "the absence of effect and a fairly subtle ,77~:!:!::~
they've got to go to meetings, they have tron-resonance theory. "Scientists are and modest one,"
to drink and nibble a canap6 with these different." Louise Young, one of the au- Anders Ahlbom, the co-author of the '~fi:'' :
guys. You don't want to come out and thors of Power Over People, a 1973 ex- Swedish study, says that if his results do .,~,.,*'
attack a guy for taking money." pos6 of the alleged environmental haz- turn out to be incontrovertible, and "if
Brodeur also explained to his audi- ards of high-voltage transmission lines, you make a very simplified assump- ~'
ence that the utility companies are like- says that because the electric utilities, tion--say, living close to a power line
ly to win any court cases on EMF, "be- through SPRt, are the major source of re- doubles your risk of le-kemia--then
cause even now they have got almost all search funds in the field, money goes you still have to put this into a public- :
the expert witnesses lined up." Brodeur only to researchers who will report evi- health perspective." Seventy cases of ::::
and lawyers for the alliance suggest that dence that living near EMF is safe--an childhood leukemia are diagnosed each
citizens' groups sue utility companies assertion that is documentably wrong. year in Sweden, out of which one might
for property damage, claiming that Louis Slesin, the editor of Microwave be attributed to living near high-power
power lines have drastically reduced News, says that the bulk of EMF re- transmission lines. "Suppose you have ~
nearby real-estate values. To win such search is paid for by the military and a day-care center around power lines," . if!: /; '
cases in many states, according to John implies that the military won't allow its Ahlbom says, "which is fairly tom-
only proof of public fear of [EMF] from dangers of EMF. Liboff agrees. "Re- your child to a day-care center that ~i.:~ :
requires driving several more miles. ~ ~ ff~l~'
!~ As epidemiologists await the results
...... "' ' ~ ~ ~ ~t.4~ ~4~t~ ~- of the National Cancer Institute's EMF '
study, due in 1995, and of a similar :':'::"'
large study i..ritai., members or the
.... laverite
~ ~~ ~'4 ~ ~ ~fl/~ ~,- sions. Doing so will involve weighing
the unknown and at most extremely
risks of everyday life. In California, the ·
epidemiologist Charles Poole observes,
power lines and proof that such fear di- search money will not go to universi- parents have suggested that the authofi ......
minishes the market value of the prop- ties," he says. "It will go to national lab- ties close down schools near power lines He's one oftho most successful fund rnm~a~ers roWall Street history ~l"[h TRIAL OFFER
erty. The reasonableness o[ the public's oratories, where the government knows and bus the children to other schools. Aut~o~ of ~wo ~t~ers ~e n~ci~ e×~ert ov~o~ w~ts
fear is deemed either established or ir- no utterances will get out." Poole, who refers to himself as an "ag- ucs ~e~r ~ch Am~nca'~ mos~ ~no~s stoc~ ~ick~r ~d ~ ~ot ~1 Yes. S~d my
relevant." As ~ard told the alliance These arguments have a certain per- nostic" on the F. MF issue, says, "You or~ ~comrn~nd~ WORTH ~e w~t~s e×du~v~]7 f~r it. $~.~ ~o~ ~ more ~ss~ (~0
during the meeting last fall, "~Vhen the suasiveness, even if they are at best know, the buses don't have seat belts ~orrnat~a~ he o~ ~e ~eeds ~o ~vad pi~s ~d ~e~ ~ront~. e~e i~su~
voice of sweet reason doesn't work, highly debatable. For whatever reason and kids die every year in bus crashes. WORT~ is a ~r~e
property-damage cases are the club." --perhaps the influence of Hollywood We don't know there's any risk at all in ~t~ ~ars of ~c~-on experience..~d o~ cow~a~
Bredcur suggested at the meeting --Americans have a marked willing- electromagnetic fields from power lines. ~yo~d just ~oc~ a~d ~onds ~ ~o msura~c~-~ t~x~s, tuition. m~
that newspapers are reluctant to report ness to distrust any scientist who pro- But people have a fear of the unknowm estate, ~d ~or~. We c&~ t~at e~a~a~
Try Woz'th Free!
the harmful reality of EMF, because fesses to know better than the lay ex- they have a fear of these invisible rays. ~et~n t~ ~ac~d card ~o ~amp~ ~ n~×~ ~ss~ oeWo~t~ at ~o cost
they, too, must pay tribute to interested perts. The best place to go for scientific This could all easily turn out to be a false or o~arion. (If t~e c~fi ~ midst% ju~ di~ r~ coupon at
parties: "Seventy-five percent of al- expertise, however, is often the scientif- alarm." ~ For faster service, call 1-800-278-5511 ext. 4LP city ,.'t ,~- ,'.!
A/l, ,'l', t h ,ve:ei,,, lot dehve~y of first iSSLZ~ Off"f ::IC,c!d it: US OrLlyCLIt OUt and mail to:
,: itn,~l ,:::/un:l tes t,l~,,~so write for zate:-' WORTH. PO. BOx 55420, Boulder CO ~t0 ~2,: ',;' '
108 NOVEMBER 1994