Families May Sue Over Cancer Link to Pylons
The Sunday Times
March 04, 2001
WHEN the Smith family moved into a 200-year-old house in the North Yorkshire
countryside, they thought little of the electricity pylon towering above.
Thirty years later Jannette Smith believes that the power lines above Kirby
Sigston, near Northallerton, are responsible for a blight on her family.
Her brother Matthew died of liver cancer in 1988 when he was 18. Her mother
died of cancer in 1996. Her father is also suffering from it. Even the family's
cat and dog, along with a neighbor's pet , were diagnosed with the disease.
There was no previous family history of it.
"When my brother died we assumed it was a natural disease," said Jannette,
37. "Then we saw a report in a magazine about the health risks of pylons. Now it
would take an awful lot to convince me that the illnesses weren't due to the
power lines."
The family was not alone in its suffering. Last year the secretary of the
local branch of the national Farmers' union began to worry that cancer was
becoming increasingly common in the area. He found nine cases of the disease in
19 houses along a five-mile stretch of power lines in the Northallerton area.
The report this week by the government's advisory Group on Non-ionising
Radiation (Agnir) will be welcomed by other families across Britain who have
suffered illnesses which that believed have been caused by electromagnetic
fields from power lines.
For the first time the government body will accept that children living near
power lines are at a small but increased risk from leukemia.
The link between electromagnetic fields and cancer has been bitterly
contested as scientific studies offered contradictory conclusions.
In 1979 Nancy Wertheimer published findings based on studies around Denver,
Colorado, which showed high levels of leukemia in children living close to
overhead power lines.
In 1990 a study by Stephen Perry, a retired Midlands GP, linked
electromagnetic fields to increased rates of suicide and depression. A report by
Agnir in 1992 maintained there was "no firm evidence of the existence of
carcinogenic hazard". Despite this, clusters of cancer sufferers living near
power lines began to be identified around the country. In Abergavenny, Gwent,
four neighbors developed brain tumours within 18 months. All lived near 132,000-
volt cables which they suspected of being the cause.
In the eight houses closest to overhead cables on the Shortlees estate on
the outskirts of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, nine people have died of cancer in the
past 15 years.
Denis Henshaw, professor of human radiation effects at Bristol University,
argued that power lines produced "corona ions", molecules in the air with an
electric charge. These attach themselves to air borne pollutants such as car
exhaust fumes and give them an electrical charge. This means there is a greater
chance of being absorbed by the body when inhaled, he believes.
Skeptical scientists dismissed the clusters as not statistically significant.
But several families launched legal challenges to prove the link and to claim
damages from the electricity companies.
Among them were the StudHolme family who bought a house family who bought a
house in Bury, Greater Manchester, in 1989, where an electricity meter emitted
strong electromagnetic fields. Within 18 months their son Simon had developed
acute lymphatic leukemia. He died in 1992 aged 13. The family and two others
were granted legal aid to sue, but suffered a setback when reports from the
American National Cancer Institute ruled out the link.
Now the families and others like them may have new grounds to press for
compensation. The consequences of a successful test case would be enormous. The
power lines which run over or near 25,000 homes would have to be moved; they
could be buried , which would significantly diminish the electromagnetic fields.
"In our house, magnetic field levels are tenfold the recommended safe
limit," said Maureen Asbury, who has led a campaign to force the Department of
Trade and Industry (DTI) to hold an inquiry into power lines in Trentham,
Staffordshire. "We are not prepared to sit back and let more people fall ill."
However, the DTI turned down the request last year.
Tom Robbins & Jonathan Leake
