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Health risks of working near high voltage transformers revealed
A man sits comfortably next to a transformer oblivious of the repercussions of such an action
A number of people in and around Kampala work nearby high voltage transformers. Many of them, it is presumed don’t understand the risks associated with the high voltage power, while others simply ignore the apparent signs such as heat that is emitted by the transformers, and they simply go about their businesses as if it were normal.
A number of scientific studies done have concluded that living or working near transformers or high-voltage power carries a significant health from what is referred to as Electromagnetic Fields which is a form of radiation
Studies suggest that electromagnetic fields, especially the type that comes from sitting and working near high-voltage power, has been linked to Leukemia, and that children are at greater risk than adults.
Neurological Problems
The World Health Organization cautions that those who live within a mile of a high voltage transformer could develop neurological disorders. Exposure to electromagnetic field waves, even weak ones, can impair the brain’s chemical balance and ability of the immune system to fight disease. According to a study titled: The Effect of the Electromagnetic Radiation from High Voltage Transformers on Students Health in Hebron District, in Israel.
Another study by Carl Blackman has shown that weak electromagnetic fields release calcium ions from cell membranes (Blackman et al, 1982).
David and his group in 1993 showed that the electric utility workers with the highest exposures to electromagnetic field radiation died from brain cancer at 2.5 times the rate of workers with the lowest exposure (Philip Heying, 1995).
A study in France showed an increase in incidence of tiredness among people living within 300m, from the base station, of headache, sleep disturbance, discomfort, within 200m, and of irritability, depression, dizziness, loss of memory, within 100m.
Women were found to complain significantly more often than men of nausea, headache, and loss of appetite, sleep disturbance, depression, discomfort and visual perturbations (Santini et al, 2002).
Electricity studies of workers exposed to strong electric and magnetic fields (60 Hz) from power lines provide no consistent evidence that these fields are damaging to DNA or that they are capable of causing mutations or cancer (Zamanian et al, 2005).
Living near mobile phone base stations are also at risk for developing neuropsychiatric problems as headache, tingling, nausea, alter reflexes, tremors, muscle spasms, numbness, memory loss, dizziness, muscle and joint paint, leg/foot pain, depression, and sleep disturbance (Abdel-Rassoul et al, 2006).
Exposure to electromagnetic fields has shown to be in connection with Alzheimer’s disease, motor neuron disease and Parkinson’s disease (WHO, 2007).
Scientists in Russia had done studies on EMF for decades, and reported that electric fields cause high blood pressure, changes in white and red blood cell counts, immune system dysfunction, chronic stress effects, increased metabolism, chronic fatigue disorders, and headaches (Havas, 2008).
A study in Iran about the effect of electromagnetic radiation from high voltage transmission lines showed that living under these transmission lines was considered to be more risky region
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