PEOPLE living near high tension power lines and pylons may be exposed to a greater than average risk of certain types of cancer, according to new British research.
The findings, which will reopen the debate on the dangers of electric cables, are to be announced in a Channel 4 documentary on Wednesday. This claims to show "that power cables cause people living near them to inhale greater amounts of radon, where this is present.
Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive gas known to cause "lung cancer, which is found in thousands, of Irish homes.
The ESB says it will study the findings, but adds that all research up to now has failed to prove that the electromagnetic fields associated with power lines cause cancer.
Dr Michael Moriarty, consultant radiographer at St Luke's Hospital in Dublin, said the new data "do not indicate these lines are a cancer risk. However, we will be waiting to see the results of this research."
The scientists at Bristol University believe the electrical field created by power lines adds charge to radon particles in a room, causing more of them to be deposited on surfaces such as floors and walls. The occupants are then more likely to breathe in the particles, thus contaminating the lungs and bloodstream.
However, Britain's National Radiological Protection Board has rejected the findings. It argues that electric fields would lower, not raise, exposure to radon.
"No biological mechanism has been established to indicate that electromagnetic fields can influence any of the accepted stages in the development of cancer," it states.
Such assurances leave environmental campaigners unimpressed. "People's health is in danger anywhere there is an abnormal, magnetic field, whether this is from high tension lines, distribution cables or even household electrical appliances," says Mr John Royds, a Co Wicklow based consultant on, and campaigner against, non ionising gradiation.
Mr Royds says the lines leading from the Moneypoint generating station in Co Clare form a 300 metre wide "polluted corridor" which should be cleared of all human habitation. But ESB data appear to show the magnetic field created by all power lines drops away to zero 50 metres from the cable.
The dangers from ionising radiation - radiation such as X rays and ultra violet light which has the energy to break apart the molecules containing genes - have long been known. However, the latest research adds to the scientific questions about non ionising radiation, much of it man made and linked to electricity distribution, microwave links and even TV and radio signals.
This scientific concern has been matched by popular protests against various projects: the ESB plan for a high tension line to Co Donegal; the Loran C mast in Co Clare; British army use of microwave surveillance equipment in Co Armagh; and MMDS television transmitters.
The ESB acknowledges that "questions have been raised which need to be answered", and has called for further research. It is one of several electricity utilities contributing to a £3.8 million study of the causes of childhood cancer, but these results will not be known until 1998.
The Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland says its brief does not extend to this area.
