Re: [IRCA] Reposting from www.qrz.com

[Scott Fybush <scott@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Patrick Martin wrote:
> Scott,
> 
> I have known a lot of engineers through the years that worked around a
> lot of high power AM, FM, & TV transmitters and quite a few passed on
> with some kind of cancer, but also a lot of other people die of cancer
> too. But I have always wondered, being around a lot of high RF, how
> healthy is it?

That's a tough question to answer. I don't think there's ever been a 
study that's looked specifically at RF engineers and cancer. It would be 
hard to do scientifically - what do you use as a control group?

Anecdotally, I haven't seen much evidence that long-term exposure to RF 
correlates to an increased cancer risk. I've known some engineers who 
have died young, but plenty who've lived very long, very healthy lives, too.

Today's engineers certainly get less high-level RF exposure than 
engineers did a generation or two ago. It used to be common to work on 
AM towers that were energized, or near FM/TV antennas that were 
energized. Current RF exposure standards have made those practices 
obsolete. There's more attention paid nowadays to ground-level exposure, 
too.

For myself, I'm much more cautious in close proximity to VHF and 
especially UHF and microwave than I am in the near field of MW stations.

I suspect most people - most engineers, even - end up getting much more 
ionizing radiation exposure from cell phones held up close to their ears 
(or on belt clips) than they ever do from the much higher powered, but 
much more distant, broadcast antennas.

s
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