Neutra R R
Special Epidemiological Studies Program, California Department of Health Services, Berkeley 94704.
Public Health Rev. 1991;19(1-4):1-17.
The problem posed by electric and magnetic fields (EMF) is an example of a class of problems increasingly faced by environmental epidemiologists. An easily observed characteristic of location is associated with disease. This characteristic is clearly a surrogate for some component of a complex mixture, but there is no compelling biological theory to indicate what the responsible component or components are. Indeed, the lack of theory and a measurable agent leads some to doubt the reality of the association between disease and the surrogate. How does one home in on the responsible component of the mixture? The research strategy for approaching EMF health effects by the California Department of Health Services is described. The author argues, from some preliminary results about the stability of spot measurements and personal monitoring for magnetic field intensity, that the time integral of magnetic field intensity may not be a prime candidate as a causal agent of cancer. An approach is suggested for evaluating locations with cancer clusters in the context of a systematic study which could provide useful information. The approach used for EMF is generalized for other complex mixture problems such as the sick building syndrome. Nine recommendations are made.
电场和磁场（EMF）带来的问题是环境流行病学家日益面临的一类问题的一个例子。一个易于观察到的位置特征与疾病相关联。这个特征显然是一种复杂混合物中某些成分的替代物，但没有令人信服的生物学理论来表明哪些成分是起作用的。实际上，由于缺乏理论依据和可测量的致病因子，一些人怀疑疾病与替代物之间关联的真实性。如何找到混合物中起作用的成分呢？本文描述了加利福尼亚州卫生服务部研究电磁场对健康影响的研究策略。作者基于关于磁场强度的现场测量和个人监测稳定性的一些初步结果认为，磁场强度的时间积分可能不是癌症致病因子的主要候选因素。本文提出了一种在系统研究背景下评估癌症聚集区位置的方法，该方法可能会提供有用信息。用于电磁场的方法被推广到其他复杂混合物问题，如病态建筑综合症。本文提出了九条建议。
