are pylons and radon a lethal cocktail? - household electrical appliances

Claire O'Brien gas and a powerful magnetic field (EMFs)
There is a separate connection with cancer.
Now, British physicists claim that these two environmental hazards can be combined with fatal effects.
Dennis Henshaw of the University of Bristol and his colleagues have shown that the electric field attracts radioactive decay products of radon and makes them vibrate.
Physicists say this will make it more likely that these carcinogens will be attached to the gas and skin. “If [the theory]
It turns out to be right, and people living in high radon areas and high magnetic fields may have a greater risk, "said Barry Michael of the Cancer Research Campaign at the gray lab in Northwood, who says that
The epidemiology studies affecting EMFs have produced complex results.
Some people believe that there is little danger of living near overhead cables and other strong EMFs sources.
But more and more people have found a weak link between EMFs and the incidence of childhood and adult leukemia and a range of other childhood cancers.
The magnetic field is considered harmless and the electric field flows around, not through the human body, so it is difficult for biologists to understand how EMFs causes cancer.
Henshaw believes that the link to radon outlined this week in the International Journal of Radiation Biology may be the answer.
Radon penetrates naturally from uranium
Contains rocks.
In Britain, Cornwall, Devon, Derby and Northampton have the highest background levels.
However, even in areas with high background radon, the exposure between one house and another has changed a lot.
Nationwide, 100 families are considered to contain radon, producing more than 200 becquerels of radioactivity per cubic meter, a level considered harmful to health.
In order to predict who is at the highest risk of cancer, the researchers must go door-to-door to individually measure the concentration of radon decay products and the intensity of EMFs, Henshaw said.
Henshaw recorded with plastic film by high-
Energy alpha particles released by Pol
214, 020-
218, decay products of radon.
Based on the trajectory patterns left by particles, the researchers calculated how many pol cores hit the film and how many pol cores were in the air nearby.
The basement ceiling of a house in Bristol hangs 70 pieces of plastic film, with radon concentrations exceeding 200 becquerels per cubic meter.
The researchers applied voltage on two metal plates placed on the basement floor, producing an electric field of 5 kV per meter, typically an electric field of more than 1 m on the outdoor ground, under the wires of the State Grid
When applied voltage, the number of pol cores on the plastic film is about twice as large as on the plastic film, and in the one-meter range of the chopping board, the Radon decay products in the air have increased by up to 50 per cent.
Henshaw believes that radon decay products are attached to micro-droplets that form aerosol.
The aerosol vibrates in the electric field and drifts towards its source.
These two effects make it more likely that particles will hit the source.
People exposed to strong EMFs "will breathe in more radon decay products," Henshaw said ".
"If these aerosol vibrates, they will stick more to your tissue.
National Radiation protection committee of government radiation supervision agency (NRPB)
However, it is not believed that the combination of EMFs and radon would be as dangerous as Henshaw's work suggests.
John Stather, senior assistant director of NRPB, said: "This is an interesting theory . . . . . . We will not argue about physical measurement . ".
But he believes that by increasing the tendency for aerosol particles to stick to other surfaces in the room, EMFs will reduce the suction volume.
However, NRPB is now working with the Medical Research Council and the leading cancer research charity for childhood cancer research in the UK (UKCCS).
The study will measure radon levels and magnetic fields and electric fields in families diagnosed with cancer and with parental consent to participate.
Up to 20 000 of these families will be studied in conjunction with a similar number of controlled families without children having cancer.
When the study is completed in two years, it should quantify the real risks, says Stather.
"Comprehensive research like UKCCS is the most positive way forward," he said . ".
But Henshaw wants further action.
He advocated a study of decay products affected by EMFs, which in fact provided radiation doses.
Lei catlet, an epidemiology at the University of Leeds leukemia research fund center, said it would be very difficult to quantify risks.
According to State Grid data, 500 households in the UK are located within 50 m of 275 kV or more wires.
But, he said, given the number of appliances and changes in the configuration of lines from one house to another, home EMFs may not be so closely related to the presence of nearby wires.