New criteria established for assessing human carcinogens.

As to the long standing debate about whether EMFs can cause cancer, researchers hope this study will add to the already substantial body of evidence. The most extensive study to date, released in late October by the National Resource Council, found no conclusive evidence that EMFs cause cancer. A team of EMF specialists will use a special meter to take spot measurements on electromagnetic fields in the home, said Geoffrey Kabat, Ph.D., an associate professor at SUNY-Stony Brook, and a co-investigator on the EMF study. After that, the specialists will leave behind two additional meters, which will be programmed to check EMF levels every 15 seconds for a 24-hour period. Another team of EMF specialists will measure how far the house is from the nearest transmission lines. The project's field workers — about 20 so far — take a week-long training course before they make their first house calls, Gammon said. All are trained nurses, phlebotomists, or medical technicians, and they must learn how to take soil and water samples and to operate the special vacuum. Gammon said this kind of extensive training is important so the field workers will seem competent and trustworthy. "We try not to have people show up at the front door with a huge duffel bag full of stuff," Gammon said. "We leave the vacuum cleaner in the trunk of the car until later."