Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Radiation from Electrical Power Lines

The following section is an excerpt the section on ELF radiation from Chapter 8, Man Made Electromagnetic Radiation Fields, of the book "Cross Currents: the Perils of Electrical Pollution" by Robert O. Becker.

Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) Radiation from Electrical Power Lines

While portions of the American population are exposed to some level of microwave radiation, we are all  exposed to the electrical-power frequency of 60 cycles from the fields given off by the extensive network of transmission lines and the electrical wiring in our homes and offices.  The 60-Hz electric-power frequency lies within the band termed “extremely low-frequency,: or ELF, which covers the region of the electromagnetic spectrum from zero (or DC) to 100 HZ.

For very good scientific reasons, it was formerly considered totally impossible for an ELF field to produce any biological effect.  First of all, the wavelengths are absurdly long to produce resonance with any living thing.  For example, the wavelength of 60-Hz radiation from powers lines and
appliances is about 3,000 miles.  If you apply the antenna-resonance idea to this region, as ANSI did for the FM broadcast region of the spectrum, the only living organism that could possibly be affected would be a 3000 mile long earthworm!  Second, because the power in any electromagnetic field is roughly directly proportional to the frequency, it follows that the 60-Hz fields of power lines have an extremely low energy content.  As a result, the fields from the electrical-power system were declared absolutely and positively safe.

However, these ELF fields have some interesting properties. They may be transmitted great distances in the cavity between the surface of the Earth and the lower levels of the ionosphere and tey penetrate into the ground and the oceans with ease.  These properties came to the attention of the U.S. Navy in the mid-1960s, when the nuclear-missile submarine fleet was being expanded.  There was a need for a way to communicate with these vessels around the world without their having to come to the surface and reveal their positions.  Because of the unique transmission properties of ELF fields, the navy decided to try using them for this purpose.  A very large atenna system, with the code name SANGUINE, was constructed at Clam Lake in rural Wisconsin.  It was designed to operate at either 45 or 70 Hz, just abve and below the 60-Hz power frequency. 

espite its location in the mid-continent, the SANGUINE antenna was able to communicate with submerged nuclear submarines that were as far away as the Indian Ocean.  Flushed with this success, the navy proposed to build a truly enormous antenna, which would be buried in the ground under the entire northern halves of Wisconsin and Michigan.  This project raised considerable public opposition and political interest, and the navy was required to conduct scientific studies to evaluate the possible biological hazards to crops, livestock, and human beings.

These studies were completed in 1973.  The navy recruited a committee of outside experts, of which I was one, to review the results.  We met in “December of that year at the Naval Medical Research Institute in ‘Washington D.c..  While a number of results reported to us were positive, one was particularly disturbing.  Dr. Dietrich Beischer, working withg human volunteers at the Naval
Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory in Pensac9la, Florida , found that only a one-day exposure to a magnetic-field component of the SANGUINE signal produced a significant increase in the serum-triglyceride levels in nine out of ten subjects.  (Serum triglycerides are increased by the stress response and are related to fat and cholesterol metabolism; increases to above-normal levels are a definite cause for concern.)

The navy viewed this result seriously enough to examine the personnel operating the test antenna at Clam Lake.  All of the workers showed similar elevations of serum triglycerides.  While we could not explain it, it was nevertheless obvious from Beischer’s study and the other positive results reported that ELF fields of 45 and 75 Hz had definite biological effects, some of which were potentially hazardous.

The final report of the committee contained a number of recommendations for further study, and the following statement:

This committee went on record to recommend that the Electromagnetic Radiation Management Advisory Co7uncil (ERMAC, the White House agency that had overall advisory capacity in this area) be apprised of the positive findings evaluated by this committee and their possible significance, should they be validated by future studies , to the large population at risk in the United “States who are exposed to 60-Hz fields from power lines and other 60-Hz sources.

This statement was unanimously agreed upon by the committee.  We were all concerned over the exposure of the civilian population to the 60-Hz power frequency (lying just between the two SANGUINE frequencies), considering the fact that the field strength from the SANGUINE system was a million times smaller than that of the field produced by the ultrahigh-voltage electric power transmission lines.  We concluded that civilians living in the United States might currently be at risk from these facilities.

After the meeting, the navy denied that it had ever taken place and insisted that it had no knowledge of any scientific studies indicating possible harm to human beings from the operations of the SANGUINE system.
Within a day of returning from Washington, I became aware of the plan to construct ten ultrahigh-voltage power lines in New York State to transmit power from the Canadian James Bay Power Project into the East Coast power grid.  I wrote to New York’s Public Service Commission (PSC), the agency with approval authority over the electric utilities in the state, notifying them that the navy had substantial evidence for possible harm to the human population in the vicinity of the proposed lines.  I provided them with the name and telephone number of the navy commander in charge o the SANGUINE health studies and suggested that they contact him.  “A few weeks later, I was called by the PSC and told that the navy had refused to talk to them.  

The results of this was a lengthy series of public hearings on these transmission lines and their possible health hazards.
The final decision by the PSC was to accept my recommendation for a moratorium on constructing these lines and for a five-year scientific study of the possible hazards.  This study was to be under the direction of the New York State Health Department; its cost would be $5 million, which would be assessed from the utilities.  The utilities fought in  court to prevent implementation of this order, but they finally lost, and the program began in 1981.