A UK research laboratory may have found a mechanism to explain the possibility of a link between power lines and childhood leukaemia. A new theory suggests tht weak magnetic fields from power lines might cause cancer by interfering with the process of cell division.
The US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences lists low frequency magnetic fields as a "possible human carcinogen" a classification reflects the weakness of the evidence for any link. Some studies have found clusters of leukaemia cases around the routes of power lines, but the effect has proved to be impossible to replicate in laboratory tests.
Until now, no mechanism has been found by which this kind of magnetic field could cause permanent damage to DNA. But work at the Biomedical Radiation dept of the University of Aberdeen suggests that such magnetic fields make it less likely that cells will repair damage before dividing. Cell cultures were bombarded with gamma radiation, and then exposed to a low frequency magnetic field. Normally, cells stressed with gamma radiation delay division while they repair the damage, but those subjected to the magnetic field didn't so pause. In fact, 12 out of 20 cultures exposed to the field actually divided faster than normal.
Brian Heaton from the University of Aberdeen believes that magnetic fields interfere with the repair processes that normally delay division. As a result, exposure may increase the chances of cancer, whether or not such fields directly damage DNA.
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