Northern Pass and Health Effects (2)

Part 2 of a three-part series by Campbell McLaren, MD, FACEP.
Dr. McLaren practices emergency medicine at Littleton Regional Hospital
   

 Part 1 examined the health risks of high voltage alternating current (HVAC) in general--the two fold increase of leukemia in children exposed to magnetic fields above 3-4 milligaus (generally within 500') for over four hours a day--and the precautionary principle and prudent avoidance that many states and countries have adopted.

Part 2 examines the health risks of the existing PSNH HVAC line and the proposed Northern Pass HVDC line.

The Existing PSNH HVAC Line

     On the existing PSNH right of way (ROW)--the 100-mile preferred route for Northern Pass through the White Mountains and down the I-93 corridor--is an HVAC transmission line. Several schools lie within 600'  of this existing PSNH HVAC line. This proximity to HVAC lines indicates a 70% higher risk of childhood leukemia (Dept. of Health, UK).

                                                     

The Proposed Northern Pass HVDC Line

      
     The 100-mile “preferred route” on PSNH's current ROW would add HVDC lines alongside the existing HVAC lines, possibly necessitating widening of the ROW. 

     DC lines produce minimal electro magnetic frequency (EMF), but there is some indication that AC fields in combination with DC fields may cause adverse bio-effects through augmentation.

     DC lines do not require tall towers, but Hydro-Quebec is proposing 90'-135' towers. They presumably plan to add transmission lines to these towers in the future.

     If they add more AC lines, what kind of electromagnetic soup is going to be created, with what increase in health risk?

     Once the transmission towers are established the power companies are not required to inform the public of line additions.

     Is it worth risking one case of childhood leukemia in permitting Hydro-Quebec to drive their transmission line overland through New Hampshire?

     The burden of proof is on Hydro-Quebec to demonstrate that there is no increased health risk from their project.

     Note that in their flyer – in the Myth & Fact section – there is no mention of health risks.

     They cannot tell us that it is not harmful.

     If it has to traverse New Hampshire – then it must be buried.

Coming next in Part 3, regulations adopted by other states and countries in light of scientific suspicion concering the health effects of power lines.

Northern Pass and Health Effects (1)

This is a multi-part series on Northern Pass and health effects written by Campbell McLaren, MD, FACEP. Dr. McLaren is an emergency physician at Littleton Regional Hospital


Part 1. High Voltage Alternating Current (HVAC)

 For several decades much research has been directed at the health hazards of HVAC power lines.

     It was not until 1992 that an adequately funded program was authorized by the U.S. Congress. The Electromagnetic Frequency Research and Public Information Disseminating System (EMF RAPID) was directed and managed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Studies (NIEHS), the National Institute of Health (NIH), and the Department of Energy (DOE). Their brief was to clarify the potential for health risks from extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields.

     The end result was that the strongest evidence for health risk was for childhood leukemia, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in exposed adults.

   The RAPID Program recommended that the power industry site power lines to reduce human exposure. The International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC), in 2002, classified extra-low frequency electro-magnetic fields (ELF/EMF) as possibly carcinogenic to humans. That statement was based on pooled studies demonstrating a consistent pattern of a two-fold increase of leukemia in children exposed to magnetic fields above 3-4 milligauss (a measurement of magnetic activity). Italy defines as harmful exposure to more than 3-4 milligauss for more than four hours a day.

     Children have a higher rate of cell division and have developing immune systems and are therefore at greater risk of harm from EMF fields.

     The American College of Pediatrics recognizes this danger to the pediatric population.

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     Causation has not been proved, but numerous studies have shown an association and an increased statistical significance of the development of childhood leukemia in those children living in an environment of more than 3-4 milligauss.

     The magnetic field from a heavily loaded transmission line will fall off to less than 3 milligauss about 500' from the lines.

     Because of the lack of strong scientific evidence, many countries and states have adopted the Precautionary Principle* and/or Prudent Avoidance Policy*.

     Spain, Sweden, UK, and Australia  now prohibit the construction of high-voltage power lines withing 300' of homes or schools.

     Connecticut recommends burial of lines near schools.

     There are many other examples of adoption of the precautionary principle and prudent avoidance policy.

     The above studies and health risk evaluations were based on studies of high-voltage AC lines.

       *PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE: Avoidance of unnecessary exposure to power-lines as long as there is scientific suspicion about their harmful side-effects. The precautionary principle states that if an action or policy has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or the environment; in the absence of scientific consensus that the action or policy is harmful, the burden of proof that it is not harmful falls on those taking the action.

       *PRUDENT ACTION/AVOIDANCE: Whereby even without any demonstrable risk. the most achievable low-cost measure will be taken to reduce EMF exposure.

Coming next in Part 2--what happens when HVDC lines are added to ROWs with existing HVAC lines?

Colebrook High School Students Study Northern Pass

With apologies and compliments to The Onion

COLEBROOK, NH, Feb. 14, 2111--According to students in Ms. Long’s  3^rd period  U.S. history
class, it's "really pathetic" how long it took for people in New Hampshire to realize what a bad idea Northern Pass was. The class said it was "laughable" that anyone would even have considered putting up 135' towers. "Whoa! That's almost as high as the state capitol dome," exclaimed Garry Johnson, just back from a class trip to Concord.

The classroom of 15-year-olds at Colebrook High School—all of whom were born in the late 2090s and grew up never having seen an overhead transmission line—was reportedly "amazed" to learn that electricity used to be shipped that way for hundreds and hundreds of miles and across international borders.

"Wow, that is nuts," said student Joan Guyot. “Like, didn’t they know how dangerous those lines were?” she asked. "I mean, was everybody just so ignorant back then or what?" Guyot added. "They used to put them right next to schools, too. But everybody smoked then too, so they were going to get cancer one way or the other."

The early-22nd-century high schoolers told reporters that while a few of them had seen depictions of these overhead lines in "old movies" such as Gone with the Wind, it was "really bizarre" to learn that anybody still thought of putting them up in NH  a hundred years ago.

"There were apparently these really important electric companies who said that it was too expensive to bury the lines," said  Keith Addison, adding that he couldn't imagine companies like that actually staying in business for very long if it were. "I guess in the end I feel really bad for people in New Hampshire back then. What a sucky time to live."

John Dumas said that "they had this sucky thing called eminent domain back then too. It meant that electric companies could take your land even if you didn't want to give it to them." "It wasn't too long after the end of slavery in this country," John explained.

After breaking into study groups to examine old newspaper articles in the Colebrook Chronicle from 2011 to 2014,  Ms. Long’s students spent much of the class period discussing, in disbelief, how even some supposedly smart politicians didn’t understand that they should demand that the lines be buried. "I get that they wanted to be reelected or whatever, but come on, “ said Jeremy Desmers. “That is so stupid."

Ms. Long’s class also discussed the opposition groups that sprang up 100 year ago in New Hampshire. Betsy Hardy commented that “those activists were, like, so old. They all had gray hair. Nobody under 35 did it.” John Connors concluded that must have been one of the reasons it took so long to defeat Northern Pass. “Old people do things very slowly,” he explained, “I mean, my grandmother moves like mud." “But she gets there eventually,” he added.

Ms. Long, 42, nodded and smiled.

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