Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: To determine relation between the electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure from nearby high voltage power line (HVPL) with genotoxicity and reported health symptoms among school children in Klang Valley.

Method: A comparative cross sectional study was carried out among 128 primary school children. Study group involved 81 children from school located less than 50m from HVPL while another 47 children from school which had no HVPL within 4km as a comparative group. A set of questionnaire were completed by their parents. The magnetic field at both selected school was measured using EMDEX II meter. Genotoxicity was assessed by examining the frequency of micronuclei in the buccal cells of the children.

Result: The magnetic field levels at the study school were higher than the comparative school, however, the lev- els were still below the guideline from the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNRIP 2010) and were also lower than level which were known to be associated with childhood leukemia. The micronuclei frequency in comparative group was significantly higher than study group (p<0.001). There was no association of reported health symp- tom with magnetic field levels among the study as well as the comparative group.

Conclusion: The magnetic fields levels at study school posed no hazard to the children. However the comparative group showed sign of genotoxicity which were not related to EMF exposure but might be due to other environmental hazards not identified in this study.

Keywords: electromagnetic field (EMF), genotoxicity, children