Jul. 29, 2009 - Issue #719: Parched Prairie
Well, Well, Well
Power Lines
What they'll say ...
Of course those who want to put the high-voltage power line through west
Edmonton are going to hear the concerns of nearby residents, and of course
they're going to, after they've heard those concerns, repeat assurances that
there's no evidence of reason to worry and then go ahead and do what they
want to do.
I hope I'm wrong, but what I expect they'll do is create so much doubt about
potential risks that those who are still uneasy will begin to believe they're
being paranoid. They'll assert that there is no compelling evidence of
significant health hazards associated with power lines, that the science has
been conclusively negative and there's nothing to worry about. They'll say
that where a link has been found, it was a poorly designed study. Or things
like, well, there was an association here, or there, but we don't know that
it wasn't just coincidental.
They'll say all that just like they say there is no proven link between oil
industry pollution and cancer clusters, or nuclear power plants and cancer
clusters, or between mercury in vaccines and autism even though it is a
matter of well-known fact that mercury is a potent neurotoxin. Or like they
used to say there was no proven link between the 1976 swine flu vaccine and
Guillain Barre, or between smoking and cancer.
They'll cite the consensus of major health organizations like Health Canada,
and overlook their history of negotiating in favour of industry, and firing
scientists who prefer precaution to good industry relations. They'll say it's
silly to be fearful, even though five years ago a massive US study found
children under the age of 15 living within 100 metres of high-voltage power
lines have close to twice the risk of developing leukemia, and even though a
BC study four years ago yielded similarly damning results, and even though an
Australian study two years ago found a 300 percent increased cancer
risk.
They'll say there's nothing to fear, even though countless studies have given
us reason to fear, and even though the Canadian Cancer Society doesn't
recommend parents let children play under power lines. But what's a parent to
do when the high voltage power lines just happen to be going up in their
backyard and property values are going down, and the job is uncertain and a
move is out of the question?
They'll defend the power-line plans even though a major report prepared by 14
scientists and public health experts in 2007—the BioInitiative Working
Group—for the purpose of doing a comprehensive assessment of the
science on health impacts of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) concluded it is
clear "that the existing public safety standards limiting these radiation
levels in nearly every country of the world look to be thousands of times too
lenient. Changes are needed."
"There may be no lower limit at which exposures do not affect us," they
write. "It is time that planning for new power lines and for new homes,
schools and other habitable spaces around them is done with routine provision
for low-ELF [extremely low frequency] environments." The group's review of
the science found that exposure to EMR has been linked not only to childhood
leukemia, but to a very long list of health problems.
But when it comes to industry, it's innocent until proven guilty, necessary
to demonstrate a consistent and significant causal relationship, and until
then, it's all alarmist and unsubstantiated fear-mongering. And when it comes
to matters of natural health therapies it's the opposite—they're
ineffective and dangerous until proven 100 percent safe and effective beyond
a shadow of doubt.
In the end, while we debate the precautionary principle and talk about
conclusive science and which risks are worth taking and which aren't, we have
the heartbreaking realities of the canaries in the mine, the small percentage
that sometimes can't prove causation, but have lost someone to leukemia since
their move to a high-voltage power-line neighbourhood. Stories that, if we
were smart, we would actually listen to and validate rather than dismiss as
coincidental. V
More stories in front »
New comments for this entry have been turned off and any existing ones are hidden. We apologize for any inconvenience.