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From: parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S)
Newsgroups: net.ham-radio
Subject: Radio Hams Prone to Leukemia? - new study cited
Message-ID: <566@ihu1h.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 11-May-85 18:47:23 EDT
Article-I.D.: ihu1h.566
Posted: Sat May 11 18:47:23 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 12-May-85 06:03:43 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 41

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		     HAM RADIOS	AND LEUKEMIA

		reprinted from the New York Times

     "Statistics turned	up by Dr. Samuel Milham	Jr., an	epi-
     demiologist  for  Washington  State,  suggest  that ham
     radio  operators  may  be	nearly	twice  as  prone  to
     leukemia as the rest of the population."

     "Reporting	in a recent issue of The Lancet, Dr.  Milham
     presented	the  results  of a survey of more than 1,900
     amateur radio operators in	the states of Washington and
     California	who died from 1971 to 1983.  After obtaining
     death certificate information for	1,691  of  the	sub-
     jects,  he	 discovered  that  24  had died	from various
     types of leukemia.	 The  expected	number	of  leukemia
     victims  in a suitable matched control group would	have
     been 12.6.	 The incidence of  lymphatic  and  monocytic
     leukemias was not higher among the	radio hobbyists	than
     normal, but myeloid and  unspecified  leukemias  showed
     sharp increases."

     "Dr. Milham noted that in 1982 he	had  presented	evi-
     dence  of	a  link	 between  leukemia  and	 exposure to
     electrical	and/or magnetic	fields.	 His  latest  study,
     he	  said,	  offers   'some  further  support  for	 the
     hypothesis	that  electromagnetic  fields  are  carcino-
     genic.'"

     "In a separate study reported in The Lancet, government
     researchers  in  New  Zealand  found  the leukemia	rate
     unduly high for occupations involving exposure  to	 the
     electrical	 and  magnetic fields associated with alter-
     nating current.  Comparing	546  male  leukemia  victims
     with  2,184  men  selected	as controls, the group found
     the statistics 'generally support the  suggestion	that
     electrical	workers	are at increased risk of leukemia.'"
-- 
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Bob Parnass,  Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414