Research first carried out in the 1970s revealed an association between living near overhead power lines and an increased risk of childhood leukemia.
Although some later studies failed to find such a link, the International Agency for Research on Cancer has categorized low-frequency magnetic fields as “possibly carcinogenic.”
However, a mechanism for this association has never been found, and, now, researchers have ruled out one of the prime candidates.
The team studied the effects of weak magnetic fields (WMFs) on key human proteins, including those
crucial for health, and found they have no detectable impact.
The researchers detailed this discovery in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
Alex Jones, PhD, of The University of Manchester in the UK, and his colleagues looked at how WMFs affect flavoproteins, which are key to processes vital for healthy human function, such as the nervous system, DNA repair, and the biological clock.
If these proteins malfunction, there are serious knock-on effects for human health. But after subjecting flavoproteins to WMFs in the lab, the researchers found that WMFs have no detectable impact on these proteins.
“There is still some concern among the public about this potential link, which has been found in some studies into cases of childhood leukemia, but without any clear mechanism for why,” Dr Jones said.
“Flavoproteins transfer electrons from one place to another. Along the path the electrons take, very short-lived chemical species known as radical pairs are often created. Biochemical reactions involving radical pairs are considered the most plausible candidates for sensitivity to WMFs, but for them to be so, the reaction conditions have to be right. This research suggests that the correct conditions for biochemical effects of WMFs are likely to be rare in human biology.”
“More work on other possible links will need to be done,” noted study author Nigel Scrutton, PhD, also of the University of Manchester.
“But this study definitely takes us nearer to the point where we can say that power lines, mobile phones, and other similar devices are likely to be safe for humans.”
