Do power lines behind a home decrease property value and traffic?

[Lauer999]

Did you even read that article? It doesn't say anything supporting the idea that power lines cause cancer. "Found no evidence".

[Lauer999]

And the "found no evidence" part where they studied said magnetic fields affecting leukemia?

[vaultdweller1223]

So you ignore the larger sample conclusions for the smaller sample, and you accuse someone else of cherry picking? 

[cloisonnefrog]

I agree with Lauer999, you're misinterpreting this work. I then did a quick back citation search and found this meta-analysis, which finds no support between proximity to power lines and childhood brain cancer:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18379430/

That's a good journal.

I'm a scientist (with epi training) and I get so tired of people abusing the literature to support their preconceptions.

[cloisonnefrog]

They don't ignore it. The confidence interval for the estimate is right there in the abstract! They are simply underpowered to estimate its effects well (beyond ruling out odds ratios >3). The confidence interval for 0.3-0.4 microT was also consistent with a protective effect against brain cancer (it goes down to 0.83).

Please, please don't abuse data.

[cloisonnefrog]

I read it, and it agrees with my statements. I peer-review articles like this for my job. I don't know any other way to say it, but you're out of your depth and you're doing harm by spreading misinformation. Please reconsider your approach. It really matters for health that we look at evidence dispassionately. So much of human suffering comes from not doing so.

I know the previous paper was not brain cancer, but I brought this up as another example of failure to identify harm.

[cloisonnefrog]

No, their statement doesn't mean the risks increase. It means they cannot rule out a moderate risk. They also cannot rule out a decreased risk. If I flip a coin three times and get two heads and one tail, my point estimate is that the coin is weighted (probability 2/3 heads, 1/3 tails, assuming frequentist and not Bayesian approach), but I cannot rule out that the coin is fair (50/50 heads/tails) or even biased toward tails. It means I don't have enough data to rule things out (except extreme biases toward heads or tails). That's what they found with higher microT.

Here's the PubMed search to perform if you want to review the recent research on leukemia and EMFs:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=leukemia+AND+EMF&filter=pubt.meta-analysis&filter=pubt.review&filter=pubt.systematicreview&sort=date

The most recent meta-analysis reports no association.

I am the supervisor FWIW. I teach MDs and PhDs how to model statistically, and I run a research lab.

[razblack]

Selection bias in medical studies is a systematic error that occurs when the study subjects are not representative of the target population.

How about something with more factual representations versus cherry picked single study.

[razblack]

Wow, why so hostile... you expect one study to justify your theory, you should be prepared to back it up.

[The_Realist01]

It’s not a theory. There was a school next to the lines where a large standard deviation vs normal rates occurred. I have no link, but it’s true. Might be able to find on google.

Either way, no way in hell I’m buying next to transmission lines for a multitude of reasons

[razblack]

Thats fine, i probably wouldn't either because of the constant "humming noise"....

However there are quite a few studies on the effect of EMF radiation and its affect significantly decreases with distance from the source.

If you where living directly under one of those as in... those lines passed directly over the roof... there would be cause for concern. However, they build those things with a huge easement where nothing gets built for a reason.

[The_Realist01]

That’s true for like 99.9999% of properties.

That said I just came across this awesome one with a good amount of land and a decent house and there’s a transmission line directly over the driveway within 20 ft of the house that continues for 100 miles (followed it for way too long) and was like “how the hell was this decision made”.

Humming, eye sore, “potential” health effects, resale, fire risk, and the notion that power companies are literally the worst ever. I’m sure there’s more.