NEMA Comments on EMF Report to Congress

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) announced that it is reassured by the new government report to Congress showing no significant causal link between electromagnetic fields and cancer. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences research report, based on the results of a six-year, $45 million research effort, says the evidence for a risk of cancer and other human disease from low-frequency electric and magnetic fields (EMF) is “weak.” “A careful reading of this report,” said NEMA President Malcolm O’Hagan, “shows that no research funded by the EMF/Rapid Research Program found any significant link to cancer or any other adverse health effects. The conclusions drawn by researchers at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and submitted to Congress should be comforting to the public.” The report states that “virtually all of the laboratory evidence in animals and humans and most of the mechanistic studies in cells fail to support a causal relationship.” The research, mandated by Congress under the Energy Policy Act of 1992, was funded by both public and private sector funds. While NEMA supports the conclusion that there is no significant evidence showing a causal link between EMF and cancer, it questions the report’s recommendation that, electric and magnetic fields continue to be recognized as a possible cancer hazard. “The stakes in this issue, for both the public and the manufacturing industry, are important,” said O’Hagan. “We believe that the EMF/Rapid program did what it was supposed to do. In controlled studies, it measured the effect of EMF on humans and animals in a variety of controlled settings. After five years, that research yielded data that fails to support any conclusion linking EMF to cancer or other adverse health effects.” For more information, contact: Rae Hamilton at (703) 841-3256, or e-mail: [email protected].