Adult and childhood leukemia near a high-power radio station in Rome, Italy.

Some recent epidemiologic studies suggest an association between lymphatic and hematopoietic cancers and residential exposure to high-frequency electromagnetic fields (100 kHz to 300 GHz) generated by radio and television transmitters. Vatican Radio is a very powerful station located in a northern suburb of Rome, Italy. In the 10-km area around the station, with 49,656 residents (in 1991), leukemia mortality among adults (aged >14 years; 40 cases) in 1987-1998 and childhood leukemia incidence (eight cases) in 1987-1999 were evaluated. The risk of childhood leukemia was higher than expected for the distance up to 6 km from the radio station (standardized incidence rate = 2.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.0, 4.1), and there was a significant decline in risk with increasing distance both for male mortality (p = 0.03) and for childhood leukemia (p = 0.036). The study has limitations because of the small number of cases and the lack of exposure data. Although the study adds evidence of an excess of leukemia in a population living near high-power radio transmitters, no causal implication can be drawn. There is still insufficient scientific knowledge, and new epidemiologic studies are needed to clarify a possible leukemogenic effect of residential exposure to radio frequency radiation.

[1]  J. Elwood,et al.  Epidemiological studies of radio frequency exposures and human cancer , 2003, Bioelectromagnetics.

[2]  D. Cooper,et al.  Re: "Cancer incidence near radio and television transmitters in Great Britain. I. Sutton Coldfield transmitter; II. All high power transmitters". , 2001, American journal of epidemiology.

[3]  D Krewski,et al.  Potential health risks of radiofrequency fields from wireless telecommunication devices. , 2001, Journal of toxicology and environmental health. Part B, Critical reviews.

[4]  Kenneth J Rothman,et al.  Epidemiological evidence on health risks of cellular telephones , 2000, The Lancet.

[5]  G. Hyland.  Physics and biology of mobile telephony , 2000, The Lancet.

[6]  F Forastiere,et al.  Inequality in health: socioeconomic differentials in mortality in Rome, 1990-95. , 1999, Journal of epidemiology and community health.

[7]  J. Little,et al.  Epidemiology of Childhood Cancer , 1999 .

[8]  J. Elwood,et al.  A critical review of epidemiologic studies of radiofrequency exposure and human cancers. , 1999, Environmental health perspectives.

[9]  E. Lesaffre,et al.  Disease mapping and risk assessment for public health. , 1999 .

[10]  Yongbai Yin,et al.  Childhood incidence of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and exposure to broadcast radiation in Sydney — a second look , 1998, Australian and New Zealand journal of public health.

[11]  I. Gordon,et al.  Re: "Cancer incidence near radio and television transmitters in Great Britain. I. Sutton Coldfield transmitter. II. All high power transmitters". , 1998, American journal of epidemiology.

[12]  M. Repacholi.  Low-level exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: health effects and research needs. , 1998, Bioelectromagnetics.

[13]  A. Ahlbom.  Guidelines for limiting exposure to time-varying electric, magnetic, and electromagnetic fields (up to 300 GHz) , 1998 .

[14]  J. Goldsmith.  TV broadcast towers and cancer: the end of innocence for radiofrequency exposures. , 1997, American journal of industrial medicine.

[15]  D. W. Lawrence.  Re: "Cancer incidence near radio and television transmitters in Great Britain". , 1997, American journal of epidemiology.

[16]  G. Shaddick,et al.  Cancer incidence near radio and television transmitters in Great Britain. II. All high power transmitters. , 1997, American journal of epidemiology.

[17]  L. Kinlen.  High-contact paternal occupations, infection and childhood leukaemia: five studies of unusual population-mixing of adults. , 1997, British Journal of Cancer.

[18]  I. Gordon,et al.  Cancer incidence and mortality and proximity to TV towers , 1996, The Medical journal of Australia.

[19]  Epidemiological studies of radio-frequency radiation: current status and areas of concern. , 1996, The Science of the total environment.

[20]  Muirhead Cr,et al.  Methods for investigating localized clustering of disease. Testing for over-dispersion using an adapted form of the Potthoff-Whittinghill method. , 1996 .

[21]  Peter Boyle,et al.  Methods for investigating localized clustering of disease , 1996 .

[22]  M Kulldorff,et al.  Spatial disease clusters: detection and inference. , 1995, Statistics in medicine.

[23]  Gregory G. Maskarinec,et al.  Investigation of increased incidence in childhood leukemia near radio towers in Hawaii: preliminary observations. , 1994, Journal of environmental pathology, toxicology and oncology : official organ of the International Society for Environmental Toxicology and Cancer.

[24]  A. Lawson.  On the analysis of mortality events associated with a prespecified fixed point. , 1993, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series A,.

[25]  S. Franceschi.  Cancer in Italy. Incidence Data from Cancer Registries, 1983–1987, R. Zanetti, P. Crosignani (Eds.). Associazione Italiana di Epidemiologia, Torino, Lega Italiana per la Lotta Contro i Tumori (1992) , 1993 .

[26]  C. Muirhead,et al.  Human Health and Exposure to Electromagnetic Radiation , 1992 .

[27]  D. Jolley,et al.  Incidence of cancers of the larynx and lung near incinerators of waste solvents and oils in Great Britain , 1992, The Lancet.

[28]  R. A. Stone.  Investigations of excess environmental risks around putative sources: statistical problems and a proposed test. , 1988, Statistics in medicine.

[29]  H. Kay.  Environmental Health Criteria , 1980 .

[30]  H. M. Ami.  Royal Society of Canada , 1884, Nature.