Figures have been released ahead of the Children with Cancer UK conference which is taking place in London this week and it is terrifying to read that there has been a 40% rise in our young people being diagnosed with cancer over the last 16 years. That is a huge increase and we need to start doing far more to change this ASAP. Apparently it is down to modern living – air pollution, pesticides, poor diets and radiation and possible mobile phone use (although the jury is still out on this). So what are we doing about it all??? I have personally been aware of children who are developing cancers at an early age and this is very, very unusual.
Apparently this is down to mostly environmental factors which is surprising – I thought our air quality was far better now than back in the day when we burnt coal and London was covered in smog. Does this mean that children in China are suffering more or is it also magnetic fields, electricity and our mobile phones (and what about the masts?) that are having such a dire effect on our children’s health?
Presumably by “poor diets” they mean obesity, which is a modern day problem which we have to address. But it’s worrying to read that magnetic fields from power lines are also potentially to blame. I made an offer on a house over five years ago, without bothering to ask what the large green box at the bottom of the garden was for. When a friend suggested I find out what it was, the agents selling me the property told me they knew nothing about it and hadn’t even noticed it (no surprises there then). The agents not selling me the property said they wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole (no surprises there either). So I rang the Consumer Advice Bureau, who advised me to speak to the estate agents ombudsman, who advised me to speak to my local council, who advised me to speak to EDF Energy, who advised me to speak to ZDF Energy Network who advised me to speak to the Government Health and Safety Executive who advised me to speak to the Department of Transport and Industry who advised me to look at various websites about EMF’s and to speak to the Energy Networks Association where I finally found a very helpful man who knew what he was talking about.
Turns out it was an Electrical Sub-station in the garden, bearing one of those “don’t touch me or you’re going to die a horrible death by electrocution type pictures”. I then found some information on EMF’s which stands for “electric and magnetic fields”. This information was mainly from my local electricity company and the Energy Networks Association. Therefore I assumed they would be attempting to put a positive spin on the whole affair. However, when I read “The Facts”, it seemed to spend a lot of time and effort telling me that there is no proof of a correlation between ill health and EMF’s although childhood leukaemia was mentioned a lot. When I asked the surveyor to give me his advice he said “I strongly advise you not to buy it. We have to insert ‘unresolved medical controversy’ in our report, which means that if in five years they discover there is a link between cancer and magnetic fields you will have what is known as a blighted house and will not be able to sell it. In addition, you are potentially putting your children’s long-term health at risk and if I were you, with three young children, I would want to be able to sleep peacefully at night and not worry. This information is now over five years old and is there any more research or information about this issue? What is the latest evidence? Children are surrounded by electrical fields, warn scientists, especially with all the gadgets they use and electricity in the home as well.
Diagnoses of colon cancer among children and young people has risen 200 per cent since 1998, while thyroid cancer has doubled. Ovarian and cervical cancers have also risen by 70 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
We are not doing enough or are aware enough of how to avoid the risks at the moment and more information needs to be available. Of course we don’t want scare mongering, but it does feel as if a lot of the information isn’t getting through so that as parents we can make informed decisions.
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