- Italian Scientists Attack Politicians
- For Supporting 'Electrosmog' Law
- By YAROSLAV TROFIMOV
- Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
- ROME -- Few things arouse more passion in Italy nowadays
than the
- debate over catching cancer from powerlines and radio
antennas.
- Though the World Health Organization says there is no proof
that
- this "electrosmog" causes cancer, the issue is
already causing a
- government rift. With the election campaign in full swing,
the nation
- has been entertained by the spectacle of government
ministers accusing
- each other of "immorality" and disregard for
human lives as they battle
- over a controversial law that would cost taxpayers tens of
billions of
- euros.
- Those are tens of billions of euros that, according to
Italian Health
- Minister Umberto Veronesi, would be wasted on pandering to
"irrational
- fears" without any tangible benefit to the public
health. Mr. Veronesi,
- a leading oncologist who doesn't belong to a political
party and isn't
- running in the May 13 general election, went on the attack
against
- fellow ministers this weekend, backed by scientists
increasingly angry
- at being ignored by Italy's politicians.
- "It's very convenient for some people to fan a panic
about imagined
- health disasters so that they can come forward and say, 'I'm
your
- savior, vote for me,' " said Umberto Tirelli, director
of medical
- oncology at Italy's National Tumors Institute and one of
the authors of
- an open letter by Italian scientists to President Carlo
Azeglio
- Ciampi. "One thing is clear -- there is no such thing
as electrosmog
- and it doesn't cause cancer."
- The target of these scientists' ire is the so-called
electrosmog law
- that was passed by a wide margin in the Italian Parliament
in February
- and that would require burying a big part of Italy's
power-transmission
- lines. While the law itself doesn't set limits on
electromagnetic
- fields, the government's draft implementation decree
reduces these
- limits to just 0.5% of the internationally accepted
guidelines. The
- potential fallout is enormous. For instance, Enel SpA, the
nation's
- biggest power utility, would have to spend 21 billion euros
to 26
- billion euros ($19 billion to $23 billion) on rebuilding
its power grid
- to satisfy the new requirements, according to Chairman
Enrico Testa.
- The utility, he said, is authorized by regulators to pass
all these
- costs to Italian consumers, who already face some of
Europe's highest
- electricity bills.
- Mr. Veronesi, consistently ranked by opinion polls as one
of Italy's
- most popular public figures, believes that's a stiff price
to pay for
- combating a peril that may not even exist -- while no
action is taken
- against proven cancer dangers like smoking in public spaces.
Though
- electrosmog is a favorite cause of Italian Greens, who
belong to the
- ruling center-left coalition, the World Health Organization
doesn't
- even list electromagnetic fields among the 385 agents that
clearly,
- probably or possibly cause cancer. The WHO said that
recently a
- specially set up "working group" of U.S.
public-health professionals
- unanimously recommended classifying electromagnetic fields
among
- the "possibly" carcinogenous elements -- about
the same risk as coffee
- and pickled vegetables.
- Citing a British statistical analysis that said
electromagnetic fields
- could have caused a maximum of two additional cases of
child leukemia
- in the entire population of the United Kingdom, Mr.
Veronesi repeatedly
- questioned the morality of spending all that money on
preventing such a
- small risk when it could be used to save the lives of
thousands of real
- cancer patients. "I will not change my ethical code
for a boost in
- popularity," he wrote in an open letter published on
Monday.
- Mr. Veronesi's opinion is crucial here because the
electrosmog law's
- implementation decree, originated by the Environment
Ministry, must be
- counter-signed by the Ministry of Health. Mr. Veronesi
won't do so
- until he receives a scientific opinion from the nation's
Supreme Health
- Council, an advisory board made up of health professionals,
his
- spokesman said.
- Such resistance is prompting an outpouring of fury from
some of Mr.
- Veronesi's fellow ministers. "I'm amazed. He's
essentially saying that
- our Parliament is made up of madmen," Agriculture
Minister Alfonso
- Pecoraro Scanio, one of the leaders of Italy's Green Party,
said in an
- interview. "Veronesi's opinion represents a small
minority of
- scientists. I can't believe that a person of good sense can
affirm
- things like this." If Mr. Veronesi doesn't sign the
decree, other
- ministers will pressure Prime Minister Giuliano Amato to
overrule him,
- Mr. Pecoraro Scanio said. Experiences with previously
dismissed health
- risks like asbestos and mad-cow disease should have taught
Mr. Veronesi
- to be less complacent, he added.
- Environment Minister Willer Bordon, who is already locked
in a high-
- profile campaign to turn off the Vatican Radio for
allegedly breaching
- Italy's existing limits on electromagnetic radiation, said
Mr.
- Veronesi's talk of two hypothetical cases of leukemia
"makes shivers go
- down my spine." While Mr. Veronesi can dispassionately
count the risks
- because of his experience as a surgeon, this isn't the case
for the
- parents of these two ill children, Mr. Bordon said.
- That reasoning made Enel's Mr. Testa, himself a former
- environmentalist, react with disbelief. "This is a
classic example of
- an infantile mental state, where you don't take into
account the
- resources at your disposal," he said in an interview.
"In the same
- logic, we must forthwith shut down our streets and prohibit
alcohol,
- tobacco and cars."
-
- Wall Street Journal April 10, 2001