Children’s personal exposure measurements to extremely low frequency magnetic fields in Italy

Abstract

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.