Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Apr 2000

Vol. 517 No. 6

Written Answers. - Electromagnetic Field Exposure.

Bernard Allen

Question:

144 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if she will initiate a study into the effects that prolonged exposure to low frequency electro-magnetic fields may have on persons, particularly in view of new research (details supplied) which suggests that prolonged exposure may increase the risk of suicide. [10661/00]

Minister for Public Enterprise (Mrs. O'Rourke):

My Department has been monitoring scientific research on this subject in various countries for several years and will continue to do so. In view of the fact that the weight of scientific evidence from such research does not support the views expressed by the University of North Caro lina researchers, I have no plans to initiate the study Deputy Allen seeks.

To be more specific, the research to which the Deputy refers was undertaken by epidemiologists and statisticians at the University of North Carolina and was published recently in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The health and mortality of a cohort of 138,905 male electricity utility workers was examined. Among this cohort there were 536 deaths from suicide. The study found that there were more suicides than expected among electricians but fewer than expected among power station operators.

The North Carolina study is the eleventh epidemiological study published since 1980 concerned with the potential association between electromagnetic field exposure and depression and suicide. Of the ten previous studies, three of which were undertaken in the United States, five in the United Kingdom, one in Canada and one in Denmark, nine provided no persuasive evidence for an association between electromagnetic field exposure and depression or suicide. In fact, in an earlier study published in 1995 of the same 138,905 workers, the researchers from North Carolina found that the overall mortality of the cohort was some 23% less than that of the overall US male population.

More recently in 1997 the National Academy of Science in the United States reported to Congress on the health effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields and concluded that the epidemiological evidence does not support an association with neurobehavioural disorders such as depression and suicide. The following year the US National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, addressing the same question, stated that there was inadequate evidence to support the view that occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields caused suicide or depression.