The Great Power-Line Cover-Up: How the Utilities and the Government Are Trying to Hide the Cancer Hazard Posed by Electromagnetic Fields

The author of Outrageous Misconduct reveals the hazards of power stations and high-current wires that emit electromagnetic fields and discusses attempts by utilities and the government to hide the danger. 35,000 first printing. $35,000 ad/promo. Tour.

This important, riveting expose deserves an even wider audience than Brodeur's previous book on the subject, The Zapping of America . Here the New Yorker writer reports that people across the nation living near electric substations or high-current wires which emit strong magnetic fields are developing cancer at abnormally high rates. Children, especially, who are exposed to power-line electromagnetic fields are at considerable risk for brain tumors, leukemia and other deadly cancers, according to Brodeur, who summarizes a growing body of medical and scientific evidence. The author lashes electric utilities, public health officials and the Environmental Protection Agency for downplaying or denying what he sees as a major health crisis, and he details the efforts of citizens' groups to force remedial action. This urgent book should be on Al Gore's desk as he tackles environmental health problems, and on Hillary Rodham Clinton's bookshelf as she reorders national health priorities.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Brodeur continues to sound the urgent alarm he's rung in Currents of Death (1989) and elsewhere about the dangers of electromagnetic fields (EMF) produced by power lines. Here, the author amasses compelling evidence that exposure to EMF causes or promotes cancer; that utility companies continue to deny the existence of any health hazard; and that state and federal health agencies have been reluctant to acknowledge the problem, let alone deal with it. Two major portions of the text- -material on cancer clusters in Guilford, Connecticut, and at the Slater School in Fresno, California--appeared originally in The New Yorker. Besides recounting in meticulous detail the actions and frustrations of concerned citizens in these two situations, Brodeur has researched numerous other instances in which citizens and power companies have clashed over the EMF issue. His account of EPA's shifting position provides an unflattering view of a federal agency succumbing to political pressure. Drawing parallels with the tobacco and asbestos industries' resistance to epidemiological evidence that their products are carcinogenic, Brodeur foresees that power companies will continue to claim that the scientific evidence against EMF is inconclusive. The legal battle is still in its early stages, and, according to the author, the ultimate outcome may well depend on how much public pressure is brought to bear on government health officials to view the power-line hazard as a medical problem rather than as a political and economic one. Brodeur must be credited with helping to keep this issue in the public eye. Vigorous and persuasive reporting, backed by impressive research. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Brodeur, a New Yorker writer, documents several cases showing that exposure to electromagnetic fields from electric power lines causes brain cancer, leukemia, tumors, and lymphoma, among other diseases. Unfortunately, many children are affected since power lines are often located near schools. Brodeur reveals how government officials were slow to take action after an Environmental Protection Agency report implicated magnetic fields as the probable cause of illness in an epidemiological study. Utility companies challenged its conclusion by insisting that further research be done to prove the connection. Brodeur convinces readers that industry and government are trying to downplay the situation. His book's only flaw is the lack of a bibliography for those wanting to pursue the subject further. Recommended for public libraries.
- Bruce Slutsky, New Jersey Inst. of Tech. Lib., Newark
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This eye-opening book attempts to blow the lid off a volatile situation, much as Brodeur did several years ago when he tackled the dangers of asbestos in buildings. Now, he writes of something many people have suspected for years: living near electric substations or high-tension power lines is not good for you. Brodeur introduces a sleepy little street in Connecticut where the incidence of cancer is high--too high. He then hopscotches across the country to Southern California, Florida, Illinois, and New Jersey, each time introducing people who either live on a street near a substation or teach in an elementary school near high-tension power lines. Invariably, when concerns are raised about the health issues involved, utility company officials respond by stating that evidence that links power lines to illness is inconclusive. More shockingly, all levels of government seem to be holding hands with said electric companies. Brodeur's exhaustive research helps make the book the definitive account of the problem so far, but be prepared to wade through a ton of statistics and facts only occasionally interrupted by interviews with the people involved, including victims, utility company and government officials, and researchers. Joe Collins