A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation

ELF EMFs in Taiwan May Be the Highest in the World

ICNRIP Seen as Not Providing Protection

June 17, 2006

Residents of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, may have the highest exposures to power-frequency magnetic fields anywhere in the world. A survey by the Taiwan EPA found that 18% of elementary school classrooms, hospitals and homes had levels exceeding 10 mG (1 µT), according to the June 15 Taipei Times.

The EPA made the measurements after a study by Fu Jen Catholic University found that 95 primary schools and 49 junior high schools, with a total of more than 18,000 students, are within 20 meters of high-voltage power lines. The EPA administrator has said that the ICNIRP standard of 833 mG does not provide sufficient protection, the Times reported last February.

In contrast, a 1998 survey estimated that less than 0.5% of the U.S. population is exposed to more than 10 mG (see MWN, M/J98). And according to a 2001 U.K. report, only 4 children in a 1,000 are exposed to 4mG or more. At the time, a panel led by Sir Richard Doll described a 4mG field as "intense" (see MWN, M/A01).

In 1998, an epidemiological study by Chung Yi Li and coworkers at Fu Jen Catholic University showed that children living within 100 meters of a transmission line had more than twice the incidence of leukemia compared to children who did not live near power lines (see MWN, M/A98).