FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
February 12, 1998
#98-02

NIEHS CONTACT:
Tom Hawkins
(919) 541-1402

12 Feb 1998: Schedule for EMF Study Evaluations Set to Aid Preparation of Report to Congress

The National Toxicology Program Board of Scientific Counselors' Technical Reports Review Subcommittee, assisted by three outside experts, will peer review reports on several animal studies on the effects of electromagnetic fields (EMF) March 11, beginning at 9:00 a.m., at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences Conference Center, 111 T. W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, N.C. The meeting is open to the press and public. NTP is headquartered at NIEHS and both are directed by Kenneth Olden, Ph.D.

The studies include a two-year toxicology and carcinogenesis study of male and female rats and mice exposed to 60 Hertz (Hz) magnetic fields (standard U.S. frequency), as well as three breast cancer initiation/promotion studies in rats using both 50 Hz (European frequency) and 60 Hz.

Copies of the draft study reports will be available in mid-February from Central Data Management, (919) 541-3419.

The studies and the peer-reviewed reports build into a wider effort to determine the health effects of EMF. This wider review is being coordinated by NIEHS and the Department of Energy, and is called the Electric and Magnetic Fields Research and Public Information Dissemination (EMF RAPID) Program. The program was mandated by Congress in the 1992 Energy Policy Act.

The law responded to widespread public concern about the possible health effects of electric and magnetic fields related to the distribution of electricity.

The conclusions from the NTP studies will be available to scientists in time for the third in a series of meetings designed to evaluate the science base for a risk evaluation. This meeting will review clinical and laboratory animal research studies on EMF, April 6 at the Hyatt Regency at Civic Plaza, Phoenix, Ariz. Earlier meetings reviewed tissue and microbe culture research and epidemiology studies of EMF.

The conclusions reported from all three meetings will then be reviewed by a working group of scientists from multiple disciplines June 15-24 at the Northland Inn in Brooklyn Park, Minn., with the task of writing a comprehensive review of the literature on the potential for electric and electromagnetic fields to affect human health. The work group report will be available for public review and comment in late July or early August.

For more information about the EMF RAPID Program phone (919) 541-7534, or visit the web site at: http://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/agents/emf/index.cfm.