Scientists at the the UK's National Radiological Protection Board and Brunel university have concluded that power frequency magnetic fields have no effect on human chromosomes and therefore are very unlikely to cause effects at chromosomal level that might lead to cancer. Moreover, the research provided no support to the hypothesis of a causal connection between such magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia, a cause célèbre a few years ago when several studies suggested a weak associative link.
Exposure for long periods to magnetic fields significantly stronger than those near power lines or domestic appliances produced no evidence of damage to chromosomes leading to aberrations, nor any change in the DNA repair mechanisms that operate after damage caused by a mutagenic agent, typically DNA damage produced by gamma radiation.
Chromosomal exchange abnormalities are primary events in childhood leukaemia and other cancers. The research team,consisting of scientists from NRPB and Brunel Institute for Bioengineering, conducted a double blind study in which human blood lymphocytes were exposed to 50 Hz magnetic fields, both alone and in conjuction with gamma rays. Blood cells were exposed in parallel with sham controls for 12 hours to fields of 230, 470 and 700 microtesla. Although these fields are much higher than those expererienced from power lines or appliances, there was no evidence that they had any effect, direct or indirect, on the production of chromosome abnormalities.
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