Incidence of Leukemia in Occupations With Potential Electromagnetic Field Exposure in United States Navy Personnel

Abstract

Leukemia is the fourth most commonly occurring cancer in the United States population between the ages of 17 and 34 years, an age group heavily represented in the US Navy. Historical computerized military career records maintained at the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California, were used to determine person-years at risk (total, 4,072,502 person-years) by demographic characteristics and occupation for active-duty naval personnel during 1974-1984. Computerized inpatient medical records were searched for first hospitalizations for leukemia. Cases of leukemia (n = 102) were verified by using pathology reports or Navy Medical Board or Physical Evaluation Board findings. For comparisons, age-adjusted incidence rates and standardized incidence ratios were calculated by using rates for the US population provided by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program of the National Cancer Institute. The overall age-adjusted incidence rate of leukemia in active-duty naval personnel was found to be very close to that of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program population (6.0 vs. 6.5 per 100,000 person-years). Only one occupation, electrician's mate, emerged with a borderline statistically significant excess risk of leukemia (standardized incidence ratio compared with the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program population = 2.4, 95% confidence interval 1.0-5.0). This finding is intriguing in the light of several studies showing an excess risk of leukemia associated with exposure to electromagnetic fields.

Cancer risks in naval divers with multiple exposures to carcinogens.

“…Divers trained at a naval base containing radar units, and some had episodic work on missile and patrol boats equipped with radar. We cannot rule out the possibility that risks for cancer may have been enhanced by such exposures to radiofrequency/microwave radiation from radar in light of reports noting this association (Garland et al 1990a(Garland et al , 1990bGoldsmith 1997;Grayson andLyons 1996a, 1996b;Richter et al 2000aRobinette et al 1980;Szmigielski et al 2001;Zaret 1977) and experimental evidence of genotoxic effects (Lai and Singh 1996).…”

“…Between 1990 and 1999, there were 24 additional cancers. Although there have been population-based surveys of cancer risks in naval personnel (Garland et al 1988(Garland et al , 1990a(Garland et al , 1990bHoiberg 1981;Robinette et al 1980), reports on carcinogenic risks from toxic exposures in water among professional naval divers are not available. We report the results of our investigation of exposures and risks for cancer incidence among a cohort of naval divers exposed to heavily polluted waters and examine the case for a cause-effect relationship.…”

Radio frequency electromagnetic fields: Cancer, mutagenesis, and genotoxicity

“…Garland et al [1990] studied leukemia incidence in naval personnel on active duty during [1974][1975][1976][1977][1978][1979][1980][1981][1982][1983]. The only significant finding relative to the SEER or the total naval population was for ''electrician's mate.''…”

Effect of Radiofrequency Electromagnetic Field on Human DNA

“…Opinions are often divided regarding the carcinogenic potential of radiofrequency (RF) radiation and reviews of the epidemiological studies on both occupational and general public RF exposure state that there is no consistent evidence of a carcinogenic hazard. Nevertheless, a few studies do indicate positive evidence of carcinogenicity 4,5 as well as increased incidence of cancer in human beings due to RF exposure [6][7][8][9][10][11] . Mechanism by which normal cells are transformed into neoplastic ones involves structural alterations of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), viz, point mutation, translocation, deletion, and amplification in the somatic cells 12,13 .…”