| Public Health Impact of Extremely Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields Leeka Kheifets,1 Abdelmonem A. Afifi,2 and Riti Shimkhada1 1Department of Epidemiology, and 2Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California USA Abstract
Introduction: The association between exposure to extremely low-frequency electric and magnetic fields (ELF) and childhood leukemia has led to the classification of magnetic fields by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a "possible human carcinogen." This association is regarded as the critical effect in risk assessment. Creating effective policy in light of widespread exposure and the undisputed value of safe, reliable, and economic electricity to society is difficult and requires estimates of the potential public health impact and associated uncertainties. Objectives: Although a causal relationship between magnetic fields and childhood leukemia has not been established, we present estimates of the possible pubic health impact using attributable fractions to provide a potentially useful input into policy analysis under different scenarios. Methods: Using ELF exposure distributions from various countries and dose–response functions from two pooled analyses, we calculate country-specific and worldwide estimates of attributable fractions (AFs) and attributable cases. Results: Even given a wide range of assumptions, we find that the AF remains < 10%, with point estimates ranging from < 1% to about 4%. For small countries with low exposure, the number of attributable cases is less than one extra case per year. Worldwide the range is from 100 to 2,400 cases possibly attributable to ELF exposure. Conclusion: The fraction of childhood leukemia cases possibly attributable to ELF exposure across the globe appears to be small. There remain, however, a number of uncertainties in these AF estimates, particularly in the exposure distributions. Key Words: attributable fraction, ELF, extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields, health impact, health policy. Environ Health Perspect 114:1532–1537 (2006) . doi:10.1289/ehp.8977 available via http://dx.doi.org/ [Online 22 June 2006]
Address correspondence to L. Kheifets, , UCLA School of Public Health, Department of Epidemiology, 650 Charles E. Young Dr. South, Box 951772, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1772. Telephone: (310) 825-6950. Fax: (310) 206-6039. E-mail: kheifets@ucla.edu The authors declare a competing financial interest: The research described in this article was supported by the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California. Received 4 January 2006 ; accepted 22 June 2006.
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