A parametric approach to the quantitative assessment of possible health risks from power frequency fields
This thesis develops a parametric approach to quantitative assessment of possible risks from power frequency electric and magnetic fields. A general three-stage effect process model was developed for a preliminary effect assessment. Contemporary scientific knowledge was incorporated into corresponding mechanism models of interaction and of health effects. Two major problems are identified for applying the conventional risk assessment model to the EMF issue: inability to define a dose metric and lack of evidence supporting a dose-response function for field exposure. Given these two problems, five categories of biologically plausible effects functions were constructed for further analysis. Using three data sets of personal field exposure time series, (EMDEX data,) seven effects functions were simulated with selected parameters. The results show that average field strength is not linearly correlated with a number of other effects functions. Thus, [open quotes]more is worse[close quotes] may not always hold for field exposure, and future exposure assessment needs to consider more characteristics of field exposure. Based on epidemiological findings of the associations between childhood leukemia risks and wire code configurations and measurements of field strength, a qualitative likelihood analysis is illustrated with the simulation results of effects functions. It is demonstrated that computed relative risks were shifted for different effects functions in terms of both distribution and allocation. A framework of parametric quantitative risk assessment is developed. Application of effects functions in exposure management is explored for two cases: transmission lines and appliance usage. The general method used in this analysis was to synthesize a set of field exposure time series, based on the available EMDEX data base and under certain assumptions, for parametric simulation of effects functions.
- Research Organization:
- Carnegie-Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 7104301
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph.D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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