Last Revised:   September, 2007	Electromagnetic Fields and Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Is there a real connection? There are studies and experts that will claim opposite truths. I know that I come from a healthy background. My parents are alive and well and are currently 81 and 76. They are both the youngest siblings in their families, and they both have most of their older siblings. (One aunt died in her 50s of a stroke, another aunt died in her early 90s.) I had no (zero) bad health habits. I’ve always been more than a little health conscious, and I’ve always disliked risky behavior. I did, however, sleep and work in an environment well over any established “safe” levels of EMFs for over 20 years. My husband (knock on wood) is fine. He slept in the same room, but fortunately he left for work each morning, while I, a writer, worked in an adjacent room (directly over the major circuit breaker box in the basement) with pretty much the same high levels of EMFs that existed in our bedroom. Two Swedish studies cited in “Electromagnetic Fields” by B. Blake Levitt, found that (1) children exposed to 3mG or more had a four time higher than expected rate of leukemia; and (2) that men exposed to 3mG or more at work suffered three times the expected rate of chronic lymphocytic leukemia – the same exact leukemia I have! (“Electromagnetic Fields,” by Levitt, page 208) About Lawyers Just so you know, my son is a lawyer, so I’m not trying to malign everyone in this field. My son explained to me the difficulty with this issue is that it would be next to impossible to prove, in a court of law, that my CLL was caused exclusively by the high fields emanating from the power line behind our bedroom. It could be argued that I had exposure to some other carcinogen. They (the power company) would point out that my husband is fine. It is because the utility companies are relatively safe from losing a bazillion in lawsuits from people like me that they are unlikely to do ANYTHING about this. If they start making changes, they’re admitting that there is a problem. If they don’t do anything at all, a problem does not exist and it never did. EMFs are like radon, black mold, and radioactivity. They are all potent carcinogens, but you cannot hear, see, smell or taste it. In the case of EMFs, a brief exposure will cause no harm. It is extended exposure to high electromagnetic fields (several hours a day over a period of several years) that can cause the damage. So the important thing is to get a gaussmeter (EMF detector – see links) and not sleep or work in areas with high EMFs.		I say this: the EMF levels in our home were high enough, at 3 to 6mG, to be a potent carcinogen and there are many studies to support that belief. (See Links) And as to why my husband is fine, here is a simple analogy. The EMFs are a carcinogen, as are cigarettes. Of the millions who smoke, not all are going to get lung cancer, thank goodness. However, we NEVER question the cause of lung cancer when a 20-year smoker is diagnosed, even if her mate (who also smoked) did not become ill. It’s a carcinogen. It CAN cause cancer. Unfortunately, in my case, it did.
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