In his novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame, French writer Victor Hugo tells the story of Quasimodo, the ugly but kindhearted bell-ringer of the Notre Dame de Paris cathedral. British physicist Wade Allison compared electric-power facilities to Quasimodo, saying that ugly as they might be, they are helpful to society.
Many people think that state-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) transformer boxes look awful and steer clear of them or even blame them for various problems, yet those transformers are essential for everyone who uses electricity.
There is a case concerning a transformer box on the campus of the New Taipei Special School in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口). When it emerged that five of the school’s teachers have been stricken with cancer in past five years, some people said electromagnetic waves are the “culprit.”
The school principal and councilors have become enraged over this issue, with everyone blaming Taipower.
Over the years, the state has incurred great losses over such matters. An electricity substation that was shuttered at National Taiwan Ocean University 30 years ago had cost NT$200 million (US$6.36 million) to build, and it would cost NT$13.6 million to relocate the transformer at the New Taipei Special School.
Electromagnetic fields are commonly known as electromagnetic waves. Invisible as they are, some people see them as a hidden danger and think they are harmful.
However, the human body is a “power station” in itself. The nervous and muscular activities of the human body are naturally stimulated by electric currents. The effect of external electromagnetic fields on the human body is about 1,000 times less than that generated by the body itself.
The WHO Fact Sheet No. 322 “Electromagnetic Fields and Public Health” says there is no evidence that electricity is harmful to people, and a report by the US National Academy of Sciences draws a similar conclusion. That the US, Canada and other countries set no technical standards regarding electromagnetic waves shows that they are harmless and do not need to be controlled.
The high-voltage equipment on the campus of the New Taipei Special School emits electromagnetic radiation in the range of 20 milligauss (mG), which is about the same as that emitted by a refrigerator, and much less than the Earth’s magnetic field, whose intensity is about 500mG.
The WHO’s safety standard, which used to be 833mG, has since been relaxed to 2,000mG, but Taiwan has yet to make a similar change. Moreover, the Ministry of the Interior’s list of items that must and must not be listed in real-estate manuals includes nearby installations such as electricity substations, on the grounds that such facilities are socially undesirable.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare should seize this opportunity to investigate the reasons why the five teachers got cancer. Such an investigation would probably exonerate Taipower and relieve it from being blamed.
We all need to use electricity, and the same is true of the nation as a whole. That is why Taipower has built four new electric substations to ensure sufficient power supply for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, which is a major pillar of the nation’s economy.
Protests about electromagnetic radiation are based on a misunderstanding. The associated anxiety can hurt people’s health and harm national security. Scientific education needs to be strengthened, and the government should be prepared to intervene when necessary.
Lin Ji-shing is a university professor.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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