What are the dangers from electromagnetic fields when living very near tension cables?

Question

I am about to buy a house that has a huge tension cable as a neighbor. I cannot find any serious information about the possible effects.

Answer 1

The worse is cancer especially to children.

For a detailed explanation see links below:

http://www.royalrife.com/powerlines.html
http://www.ehso.com/ehshome/emf.htm

Answer 2

No one is really sure. There is evidence both ways. There is also evidence that having an electric clock near your head while you sleep is a problem (see ref 1). We are surrounded by electric fields every day. Think about your cell phones, computer, television, etc. Relatively little is known about the health effects of all this exposure. Note that there is some data that DC high tension cables may have different safety characteristics than AC high tension cables.

Answer 3

The main risk is having it fall down and start a fire, or having someone touch it when it is down. Evidence of other risk is extremely weak. Evidence of such risk from using an electric blanket is greater than evidence of risk from high voltage power distribution lines. The more concrete risk is electromagnetic interference to your TV and radio from arcing across dirty insulators. Even bigger is the risk from deployment of BPL (broadband over power lines), using power lines for consumer data transmission.

In terms of property values, what matters is not the risk, but the perception of risk. Some people will decide it's risky without bothering to even look at facts. On the other hand, electric companies and neighborhood groups often decide to turn areas dedicated to power transmission right of way into parks, and that can be a big plus to the neighborhood.

Answer 4

The jury is still out on this one. There's some weak statistical evidence that some cancers like childhood leukaemia are more common among people who live near power lines. But if it's true, it's only a very slightly increased risk. Much less than exposure to tobacco, radon or X-rays, or even living in high country where your exposure to cosmic rays is greater.

Answer 5

I maintain that living near power lines is less dangerous than having light bulbs in your house. That's the basis of quantum mechanics, doesn't matter how many photons, just how much energy they have.

PS - there's also no link to light bulbs causing cancer...