A July 27 editorial-page article by Elizabeth Whelan ("Regulatory Power Is the Dangerous Kind") discusses allegations of misconduct against me. It and earlier erroneous news reports alleged that my research linked "cancer" to "electricity" and supported the claim that "electromagnetic fields near power lines cause cancer." Some journalists also reported that I was alleged to have "systematically distorted data" and engaged in "falsifications of data."
Independent scientists who have reviewed the facts do not agree with these charges. The raw data for my studies are real, and I am not withdrawing any of the scientific conclusions in my papers: as I reported in 1992, electric and magnetic fields alter calcium in normal (non-cancerous) rat lymphocytes, a fact which is not relevant to cancer biology. Other scientists have since reported alterations in calcium in cells.
The controversy is over a description of how my raw data were graphed, not over the meaning of the data. This is a narrow technical point that does not impact the conclusions. Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency and the University of California, Davis independently concluded that my findings are valid and that a charge of misconduct is not warranted. (See Science, July 16, vol. 285, p. 337.)
Regarding cancer and EMFs, your readers should know that since 1993 we and others have published that environmental magnetic fields (12 mGauss) block the action of tamoxifen and melatonin in inhibiting human breast cancer cell growth in the laboratory. Tamoxifen is the most widely used drug for post-surgical management of breast cancer, and it is currently being considered as a prophylactic treatment for high-risk women. These breast cancer studies are unchallenged and, moreover, have been independently replicated at the EPA; Battelle National Laboratory, UC Riverside; and in a government lab in Japan. The U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has categorized EMFs as a "possible human carcinogen."
Robert P. Liburdy
Tiburon, Calif.
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