Joint HVAC Transmission EMF Environmental Study : Final Report on Experiment 1.
This document describes the rationale, procedures, and results of a carefully controlled study conducted to establish whether chronic exposure of female (ewe) Suffolk lambs to the environment of a 500-kV 60-Hz transmission line would affect various characteristics of growth, endocrine function, and reproductive development. This experiment used identical housing and management schemes for control and line-exposed ewes, thus minimizing these factors as contributors to between-group experimental error. Further, throughout the 10-month duration of this study, changes in electric and magnetic fields, audible noise, and weather conditions were monitored continuously by a computerized system. Such measurements provided the opportunity to identify any relationship between environmental factors and biological responses. Because of reports in the literature that electric and magnetic fields alter concentrations of melatonin in laboratory animals, the primary objective of this study was to ascertain whether a similar effect occurs in lambs exposed to a 500-kV a-c line in a natural setting. In addition, onset of puberty, changes in body weight, wool growth, and behavior were monitored. To determine whether the environment of a 500-kV line caused stress in the study animals, serum levels of cortisol were measured. The study was conducted at Bonneville Power Administration`s Ostrander Substation near Estacada, Oregon.
- Research Organization:
- United States. Bonneville Power Administration.
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- BI79-90BP04293
- OSTI ID:
- 10164303
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/BP-1792; ON: DE92017863
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: May 1992; Related Information: "Experiment 1" - Cover title.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
SHEEP
CHRONIC EXPOSURE
PROGRESS REPORT
ENDOCRINE GLANDS
MELATONIN
REPRODUCTION
BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION
OREGON
INTERGOVERNMENTAL COOPERATION
POWER TRANSMISSION LINES
HVAC SYSTEMS
Sheep as laboratory animals
Electric fields - Environmental aspects
Electromagnetic fields - Environmental aspects
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OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTANT EFFECTS