EMF Cancer Promotion: An Old Idea Makes a Strong Comeback:
Large Study Shows Recent, But Not Lifetime, Exposures Lead to Brain Tumors
Large Study Shows Recent, But Not Lifetime, Exposures Lead to Brain Tumors
Microwave News, 30 June 2014
Power-frequency magnetic fields can promote brain tumors, according to the largest epidemiological study of its kind ever undertaken. The study promises to breathe new life into the idea that extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs are more likely to be cancer promoters than causes of cancer. This hypothesis gained support a generation ago but has lost currency in recent years.
The new results, published online earlier this month by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, come from INTEROCC, an international project with seven participating countries designed to investigate occupational health risks from chemicals and EMFs.1 The project is directed by Elisabeth Cardis at CREAL in Barcelona with $1.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (though none of the tumor cases are from the U.S.).
The INTEROCC team found that those who were exposed to elevated EMF exposures at work during the five years prior to diagnosis had significantly higher rates of glioma compared to those who were least exposed during that time on the job.2 The greater the exposure, the greater was the tumor risk. Those who were most highly exposed had approximately 67% more tumors. (The controls were the lowest-exposed workers from the same study population.) The risks for meningioma, a mostly benign type of brain tumor, were smaller than for glioma.
The key concept here is cancer promotion, as opposed to cancer causation or initiation. According to the prevailing paradigm, cancer develops as a two- or three-step process. First, a cell is transformed into a cancer cell; this is initiation. The cells grow into a tumor with the help of a promoter, which helps them evade the body’s immune system. (The third stage is progression, but we won’t get into that here.)
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Power-frequency magnetic fields can promote brain tumors, according to the largest epidemiological study of its kind ever undertaken. The study promises to breathe new life into the idea that extremely low frequency (ELF) EMFs are more likely to be cancer promoters than causes of cancer. This hypothesis gained support a generation ago but has lost currency in recent years.
The new results, published online earlier this month by the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, come from INTEROCC, an international project with seven participating countries designed to investigate occupational health risks from chemicals and EMFs.1 The project is directed by Elisabeth Cardis at CREAL in Barcelona with $1.5 million from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (though none of the tumor cases are from the U.S.).
The INTEROCC team found that those who were exposed to elevated EMF exposures at work during the five years prior to diagnosis had significantly higher rates of glioma compared to those who were least exposed during that time on the job.2 The greater the exposure, the greater was the tumor risk. Those who were most highly exposed had approximately 67% more tumors. (The controls were the lowest-exposed workers from the same study population.) The risks for meningioma, a mostly benign type of brain tumor, were smaller than for glioma.
The key concept here is cancer promotion, as opposed to cancer causation or initiation. According to the prevailing paradigm, cancer develops as a two- or three-step process. First, a cell is transformed into a cancer cell; this is initiation. The cells grow into a tumor with the help of a promoter, which helps them evade the body’s immune system. (The third stage is progression, but we won’t get into that here.)