Several studies have raised the possibility that exposure to electrical and/or magnetic fields may be particularly harmful in the promotion or initiation of cancer. The purpose of this study which was based on a geographical correlation design was to investigate any association that may exist between residing near radio broadcast towers and carcinogenic activity in Korea.

In this study, the health effects of EMF of 10 AM radio broadcast towers in Korea were investigated. The electric powers of the towers were above 100kW. We chose exposed areas that were located within 2 km from the towers as well as four control regions which had similar populations in the same province(Do) but had no towers nearby. The incidence of leukemia, malignant lymphoma, brain tumor and breast cancer between the exposed areas and the control areas was compared. The standardized incidence ratios(SIRs) were calculated. Korean Medical Insurance data(between Nov,1,1993 and Oct,31,1996) was used for the cancer incidence estimation. The Nationwide Population Census data(in 1995) and the Resident Register data(in 1995) were used for information about population and locations.

Among the 10 exposed areas, one area for leukemia and one area for brain tumor showed a significantly high incidence compared to the control areas. There were no significant increased areas for malignant lymphoma and breast cancer.

This study design must be considered to be exploratory and not used for determining causality. However, the results suggest the necessity for further analytical epidemiological studies that have a more precise exposure measurement scale and information on confounding factors.