[Calculation of internal from external electrical field strength and its effect on cardiac pacemaker patients].

What electric field strength is developed inside a person entering the electric field produced by, e.g., a high-voltage transmission line? This question may be of vital importance for a pacemaker patient. With the aim of finding an answer, known phenomena are combined in such a way that the mean current density within the thorax at the level of the heart can be determined. In this way it can be demonstrated that the internal electric field of a grounded person is twice that of an ungrounded person, that the internal field is 0.72 mV/m per 1 kV/m external field, and that the most sensitive pacemaker can be influenced by 2 kV/m. It is also clear that the field strength limit of 5 kV/m proposed by ICNIRP for the general public cannot be justified by the basic limit of 2 mA/m2.