Children's Personal Exposure Measurements to Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields in Italy
Extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF MFs) exposure is still a topic of concern due to their possible impact on children's health. Although epidemiological studies claimed an evidence of a possible association between ELF MF above 0.4 mT and childhood leukemia, biological mechanisms able to support a causal relationship between ELF MF and this disease were not found yet. To provide further knowledge about children's ELF MF exposure correlated to children's daily activities, a measurement study was conducted in Milan (Italy) Eighty six children were recruited, 52 of whom were specifically chosen with respect to the distance to power lines and built in transformers to oversample potentially highly exposed children. Personal and bedroom measurements were performed for each child in two different seasons. The major outcomes of this study are: (1) median values over 24 h personal and bedroom measurements were <3 mT established by the Italian law as the quality target; (2) geometric mean values over 24 h bedroom measurements were mostly <0.4 mT; (3) seasonal variations did not significantly influence personal and bedroom measurements; (4) the highest average MF levels were mostly found at home during the day and outdoors; (5) no significant differences were found in the median and geometric mean values between personal and bedroom measurements, but were found in the arithmetic mean.
International journal of environmental research and public health