Yet another study has demonstrated that high-voltage power lines do not cause cancer, at least in children. The latest study, sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and reported in the July 3, 1997, New England Journal of Medicine, is one of hundreds which have put the power-lines-cause-cancer theory in the category of junk science.

The National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, reported eight months ago that 500 studies over 17 years yielded no convincing or conclusive evidence that electromagnetic fields (EMF) created by power lines located near residences increased chances of leukemia.

In what is being called the most extensive study of the issue ever done, the Institute engaged researchers in nine states to study 629 children with leukemia and 619 healthy children.

• Dosage meters to measure EMF were placed in the children's homes.

• Measurements were also taken in homes where the mothers of 460 children -- half of whom had cancer -- lived for five months of their pregnancy.

• It was found that children with cancer were exposed to the same levels of electro-magnetic energy as children without cancer, effectively ruling out the fields as a cause.

The controversy started with a 1979 report in Colorado which pointed to electromagnetic fields near power lines as a cancer cause. The report alarmed parents and their concerns have cost the nation an estimated $1 billion in diminished real estate prices and stalled power-transmission projects.

Public policy specialists say the whole 18-year-long issue is a prime example of how dangerous junk science can be.

Source: Steve Sternberg, "Power Lines Not a Cancer Risk for Kids," USA Today, July 3, 1997.