Health Effects of Electo Magnetic Radiation

What (if any) are the adverse health effects of Electro Magnetic Radiation? I was exposed to bursts of the stuff from nearby subway equipment several times a day for three years while working in one downtown office building. The bursts were strong enough to cause the needle of a boy scout compass to dip a good 70 degrees South and to significantly distort CRT monitors larger that 15" and would occur every ten minutes or so during rush hour. The Canadian Government has declined to research this, so I turn to the next largest set of Dopes I know…or maybe, just maybe…Cecil?

Electromagnetic radiation is a broad spectrum of things. You start out with stuff like long wave radiation which doesn’t seem to be good for much except for letting submarines communicate through the polar ice. Then you move up into radio waves. Higher up in frequency you get infra-red, then visible light, then finally ultraviolet. Up to this point, electromagnetic radiation is fairly harmless. Electromagnetic radiation that gets absorbed by your body gets converted into heat, and as long as you keep the heat levels low enough it’s no big deal. Get the heat levels high enough and you get cooked. That’s how your microwave oven works, and its the same basic idea when you fry an ant with a magnifying glass.

Once you get into ultraviolet frequencies though, then things start to get bad. At these frequencies and above, the electromagnetic radiation is ionizing, which means it can strip the electrons off of atoms and create ions. This is known to cause cell damage and cancer. It’s the really high frequency electromagnetic radiation that most folks think of when you just use the word “radiation” and this is the stuff that is quite deadly. Think Chernobyl and you’ve got the right idea.

You seem to be talking more about high strength magnetic fields though instead of bursts of electromagnetic radiation. Magnetic fields are pretty much harmless. Really strong magnetic fields are used by MRI machines. You can have a problem if, for example, you have a metal splinter in your eye from operating a piece of machinery. The magnetic field of an MRI machine is strong enough that it can pull the metal sliver through your eye, which would likely not be a pleasant experience to say the least. You could have similar problems if you have metal pins or staples in part of your body. It takes a significantly weaker magnetic field to distort a compass and make a monitor go goofy, so don’t sweat it.

Be careful if you go searching the web. There are two types of crackpots out there, those who think that magnetic fields are evil and cause all sorts of health problems (but don’t have any accurate evidence to back it up) and those who think that magnets actually have mystical healing powers (some of them will even try to sell you magnetic bracelets which will make you the happiest and healthiest person on the planet :rolleyes: ). There are folks who study this stuff quite seriously and approach it from a solid scientific angle, but they are hard to find through all of the other noise on the net.

This is a good read on the subject:
http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/emf.html

…which is why tinfoil hats are de rigeur among people who live in the presence of electromagnetic fields, power lines, alien probing rays… :wink:

I think the general consensus is that the EM field itself does not cause cancers, but that the field induces an electrostatic charge to pollution particles, making them “sticky”, thus the particulates become more toxic.

Particles already inside your body, normally inert, are suddenly carcinogenic.

You’re kidding, right?

Nope.

In fact, I’m sure a fellow doper said as much within a few months ago on this very same subject.

Search electromagnetic radiation AND cancer.

Well, if you search enough, you can find anything you want, which begs the question whose concensus is it? Mentioning that another doper said something similar it gives it absolutely no more credibility than if you said my wacky great aunt Janis said likewise. Also, if you wear a copper or magnet bracelet does that lower your risk of the “sticky pollution particles” giving you cancer?

I mean, come on, this really sets off my BS meter to a high degree. I’d be interested in a cite that explains this notion of yours more fully.

I think you’re right.
:frowning:

I just Googled for electromagnetic AND electrostatic AND cancer and found no relevant citable sites.

I believed the notion because I have an Ionic Breeze air purifier which works on that very principle…a principle which I can verify by examining the electrostatic element inside.

Ah… but Consumer Reports says the Ionic Breeze dosen’t clean the air to any significant degree; a bogus technology.

I’ve been double duped!
:eek: :frowning: :mad:

And homeopathics work because water remembers what used to be dissolved in it even if the dilution is so high that there isn’t a single particle of that substance left in the dose?

Hey, better to find out sooner than later, right? After all, that’s what this place is for. :slight_smile: