A retrospective study on reproductive hazards was performed among 542 employees at Swedish power plants. Questionnaires were answered by 89% of the employees. Data on pregnancies were checked by studying hospital case records. There was a statistically significant, decreased frequency of "normal" pregnancy outcome, almost exclusively due to an increased frequency of congenital malformations, when the father was a high-voltage switchyard worker. The differences in pregnancy outcome could not be explained by any of the confounding factors analyzed. The total number of children with malformations (26) and the total number of pregnancies in this study, however, were very small.
In vivo and in vitro studies of the clastogenic effects of power frequency electric fields and transient electric currents have been performed. For the in vivo investigation peripheral lymphocytes from twenty switchyard workers were screened for chromosome anomalies. The rates of chromatid and chromosome breaks were found to be significantly increased compared to the rates in 17 controls. Exposure of human peripheral lymphocytes, in vitro, to a 50-Hz current with 1 mA/cm2 current density did not induce any chromosome damage. Exposure to ten 3 mus-long spark discharge pulses with a peak field strength in the samples of 3.5 kV/cm, however, resulted in chromosome breaks at a frequency similar to that induced in lymphocytes in vitro by ionizing radiation at 0.75 Gy. The biological significance of chromosomal damage induced in somatic cells is discussed.
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