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 μT 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 μT established by the Italian law as the quality target; (2) geometric mean values over 24-h bedroom measurements were mostly <0.4 μT; (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.
CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni IEIIT, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milano 20133, Italy. ilaria.liorni@ieiit.cnr.it.
Ilaria
I
Liorni
CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni IEIIT, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milano 20133, Italy. marta.parazzini@ieiit.cnr.it.
Marta
M
Parazzini
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel 4002, Switzerland. benjamin.struchen@unibas.ch.|University of Basel, Basel 4003, Switzerland. benjamin.struchen@unibas.ch.
Benjamin
B
Struchen
CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni IEIIT, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milano 20133, Italy. serena.fiocchi@ieiit.cnr.it.
Serena
S
Fiocchi
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel 4002, Switzerland. martin.roosli@unibas.ch.|University of Basel, Basel 4003, Switzerland. martin.roosli@unibas.ch.
Martin
M
Röösli
CNR Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell'Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni IEIIT, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci, Milano 20133, Italy. paolo.ravazzani@ieiit.cnr.it.
Paolo
P
Ravazzani
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007802:Language; D007938:Leukemia; D008297:Male; D012621:Seasons
children; exposure assessment; extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MF); personal measurement; power line; transformer