Living under or near high voltage power lines: is it dangerous?

Ok, I've googled this topic and it seems every one agrees...... to disagre about this topic

Does anybody have any input they can give on the topic. Is it really potentially dangerous to live under or near high tension / voltage power lines?

Exactly what would make it dangerous? How near would one have to be to possible be affected?

Thoughts? Opinions? Facts? Rumor? Innuendo?

Not unless one falls on you!

Early studies showed some sort of link to childhood leukemia, but those results have since been disproved. The researcher falsified the data.

You can hear a subtle buzzing/humming noise on humid days right under them though. If that bothers you, it could be a problem to live real close to one. And they're kind of an eyesore.

I haven't seen any reliable study that shows health effects from electromagnetic fields of the magnitude and frequency that you would get from power lines. Careful epidemiology has been done comparing cancer, etc., to estimated field levels, and the best of these studies show not correlation. But high levels of microwave = microwave oven, so be careful around powerful transmitters.

I have seen results that show measureable effects in cells, but it's unknown whether those effects would translate into health effects in humans.

Would I live under power lines? No way! Herbicides were often used to keep the right of way clear of brush (think agent orange and dioxins). PCBs are a possibility from transformers etc. These substances are proven to be bad for you (cancer, etc.). Generally it's not a great idea to live under or next to an industrial site, because there is always the possibility of something nasty there.

The worst result using magnetic materials I know of was experiments using an aerosol of iron particles inhaled then the amount left in the lung was measured over time. They exploded a dog -- fine iron particles mixed with air is explosive. Fortunately they did that experiment on a dog rather than a graduate student.

--Walter

I'd be rather hesitant to live under high voltage electric lines, not for their supposed EM effects, but if the insulators become broken (such as by some yahoo shooting them out), causing the line to fall.

Only if you're real tall.

Cliff

Yeehaaa!!! Got six of 'um last night. Shoulda seen the sparks.

Seriously and anecdotally, I had a very good friend who lived under one for about 8 years. He was completely (and historically) healthy when he moved there but within a year became ill with a number of strange maladies that continued and worsened all the time he was there.

I do believe it had a negative effect and I'm a really serious skeptic when it comes to all the "sky is falling" stuff.

I wouldl'nt live under or near one.

The research I read years ago indicated that cells grown in cultures exposed to high voltage fields would align their structures with the field, rather than in their usuall orientations. But it was not clear that there was a health effect from this.

But I would not want to live below high voltage lines either, just on general principles.

There is noting to support the idea of any danger, except from the lines falling on you. Mythbusters recently did a show on getting power from the lines and barely got a reading with a big coil of wire 15- 20 feet in the air.
The inverse square rule applies and I suspect sittng to close to a TV might generate more EMF.
I used to play "music" with the EMF off my radio shack model one and found out that I was causing so much interferance on an ambulance transmitter three feet away that I had to move my computer and I'm still fine and I'm still fine and I'm still fine and I'mstillfine.