Pylon danger

A leading leukaemia charity welcomes a new report about the dangers of living near electricity pylons - have your say

An cross-party report is being published into the possible link between electricity pylons and cables and health problems - primarily childhood leukaemia.

It will recommend suspending building any more houses or schools within at least 60 metres of power lines.

Leading child cancer charity, Children with Leukaemia, has welcomed the report, which they say adds unprecedented political support to the growing international scientific, medical and professional consensus that a precautionary building moratorium should be introduced to protect children's health.

The report will recommend that the Government introduces a building moratorium within at least 60 metres of existing High Voltage Overhead Transmission Lines.

Edward Copisarow, CEO of Children with Leukaemia said: "This report really gives Government the green light it needs to introduce precaution in the UK. Precautionary measures have already been introduced in Europe (Switzerland, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands) and as far afield as Australia - it's now time for us to follow suit.

"This report clearly comes down in favour of precaution now and it does so solely on the basis of preventing childhood leukaemia."

The Inquiry, made up of five MPs with a particular interest in health, is one of a number of groups and individuals who have called for the introduction of precautionary measures to reduce EMF exposure following the publication of the Draper Report in 2005, which reported an association between children living near power lines and a 70% increase in risk of leukaemia.

Linda Tatton's story

"When we moved to our home in Trentham, near Stoke-on-Trent, in 1973, my husband and I felt it was a dream come true. We bought a house on a new estate that was built for young families like ours.

"There were power lines running directly over our back garden but at that time they were never thought to be a cause for concern.

"Our son David, who was born in 1971, and daughter Rachel, born two years later, were extremely content there. But in 1978, not long after his seventh birthday, David suddenly became very poorly. He was listless, tired and his skin was bruised. He felt awful but doctors kept telling us it was a viral illness and prescribed him endless courses of antibiotics.

"One Monday morning, David started limping badly and I took him straight to hospital and demanded to see a consultant. A bone marrow test was carried out and four days later T-cell leukaemia was diagnosed. They gave David a year to live at the most.

"We decided he would have every form of treatment possible to give him the best chance of survival and he had chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Birmingham Children's Hospital. He was in a lot of pain all the time.

"By Christmas the consultants wanted to terminate his treatment because his blood count was so low but we persevered. He went downhill badly in February 1979 and he died the following May. We were all completely devastated.

"It was in the same year that the first inkling came through from the scientific world about the dangers of pylons. Nobody took much notice but it struck such a chord with me. We had lines directly over our garden. We contacted the suppliers, the Midland Electricity Board, who assured us they were not close enough to cause any danger to people.

"Since then, more and more research has proved how dangerous they can be. On the Trentham estate there were loads of unexplained miscarriages, suicides and other mystery illnesses, far too many to be a coincidence.

"Power lines have been linked to all kinds of cancers but the leukaemia link seems to be particularly strong.

"In one study, researchers at Oxford University say there is a 70% greater chance of children living near overhead cables getting the cancer. It is frightening. Yet some experts still claim there is not enough proof that they are dangerous. What more do they need?

"Within 12 months of David's death we moved to a different house in Trentham away from any cables. We were concerned about my daughter's health. Thankfully she has been fine, had no major illnesses and now has three healthy children.

"But the worry never goes away. And the more evidence that emerges about pylons and leukaemia, the more certain I am that David's death was a result of exposure to the lines.

"My life since then has been a guilt trip and the fact that where we lived could have caused my son to die is something I will have to carry with me to the grave."

Statement from National Grid:

"National Grid welcomes all contributions to the ELF [extremely low frequency] debate, from whatever viewpoint they come. However, there have been two recent authoritative contributions against which all others must be judged:

"The World Health Organization- In June this year the WHO published the results of a review of the EMF issue, conducted over several years, involving dozens of independent experts from around the world.  It concluded:

"However, electric power brings obvious health, social and economic benefits, and precautionary approaches should not compromise these benefits. Furthermore, given both the weakness of the evidence for a link between exposure to ELF [extremely low frequency] magnetic fields and childhood leukaemia, and the limited impact on public health if there is a link, the benefits of exposure reduction on health are unclear. Thus the costs of precautionary measures should be very low."

"SAGE (Stakeholder Advisory Group on EMFs) - SAGE resulted from an initiative by the electricity industry to create a forum for providing advice to Government in which all viewpoints were represented, not just one section of opinion.  The SAGE First Interim Assessment was given to the Government in April this year.  It makes recommendations for proportionate precautionary measures: several practical recommendations to do with reducing EMFs from house wiring, and some relatively inexpensive measures concerning power lines.  It considered introducing 'corridors' around power lines and did NOT recommend this option; it estimated that the cost to society could be £1-4 billion."

We want to know what you think about this. Would you ever live near a pylon? Do you currently live near a pylon and are worried about the effects? Should schools be built near pylons? Join in the discussion on our chatroom or email us using the form below.