DWP Takes Right Step

The decision by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power not to build an electrical power station at a controversial site in Arleta (Valley Edition, Nov. 23) is a step in the right direction.

Because electromagnetic fields are not visually perceptible, and because the term “electromagnetic” somehow reeks of high-tech jargon, most common people will tend to ignore even news reports on the subject while subjecting themselves to these inconspicuous fields waiting at bus stands or eating in restaurants or working in offices next to innocuous-looking facades behind which exist power stations emitting what could be dangerous fields.

Admittedly, not very much is known about the dangers of these fields to human health, but that is not to say that such dangers do not exist. As was reported in The Times on Nov. 18, “the most comprehensive study to date of childhood leukemia and exposure to electromagnetic fields offers new evidence that proximity to power lines may increase the risk of cancer.”

We in California have passed Proposition 65 and expect industries to divulge sources and the nature of dangerous emissions. However, we seem to be totally oblivious of emissions by electric power stations.

It is in the interest of everybody to ask the electric utilities and organizations such as the Electric Power Research Institute to take all necessary steps to ensure that adequate and proper information (however incomplete it may be at this time) concerning the electromagnetic “signatures” of various electric power installations becomes available to those most likely to be affected. Utilities such as Southern California Edison should post actually measured field intensity levels in the vicinity of power installations.

MUTHIAN GUNASEKARAN

Woodland Hills