Health and Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Fields (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780300057638)

Recent articles in the press have explored a possible link between cancer and such familiar sources of electromagnetic fields as power-distribution lines or electronic appliances. In this book a distinguished physicist evaluates the properties of low-frequency electromagnetic fields and their interactions with the human body and concludes that the health risks from these interactions have been vastly overstated.

William Ralph Bennett, Jr., reviews the epidemiological evidence for a link between low-frequency electromagnetic fields and cancer. He then reviews the basic properties of these fields, outlining the simplest methods for calculating and measuring them and illustrating his discussion with original data on the electromagnetic fields produced by power lines, electrified railroads, common household appliances, video display terminals, television sets, and airport metal detectors. He considers the specific ways by which electric and magnetic fields couple to the body; compares these fields with others of much greater magnitude that must exist inside the body because of thermodynamic processes; and analyzes several resonance mechanisms that have been proposed to explain unusual sensitivity of biological tissue to low-frequency oscillating fields. A glossary and numerous tables and figures accompany the text.

The book is based on a study by the author for the U.S. Government's Committee on Interagency Radiation Research and Policy Coordination that was coordinated by Oak Ridge Associated Universities.


Author: William Bennett
ISBN-10: 0300057636
ISBN-13: 9780300057638
Publisher: Yale University Press
Language: English
Published: 06/22/1994
Pages: 208
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.53h x 6.37w x 0.84d