Some people believe that living near high-voltage power lines raises the risk of childhood cancer. Most people are skeptical. A Chinese group have just published a paper in the journal Leukemia and Lymphoma, claiming that a genetic polymorphism in the XRCC1 gene, which has been previously linked to various cancers, raises the risk of electromagnetic field (EMF)-related leukemia. People who believe in EMF-related leukemia are happy. The Daily Mail report on this study quoting no less than three such people.
What's the real story? The authors took 123 childhood leukemia patients living near Shanghai. They took blood samples for DNA analysis and asked the parents to report on a wide range of possible environmental risk factors, not just EMF:
