ALS linked to occupational exposure to electromagnetic fields

Workplace exposure to electromagentic fields is linked to a higher risk of developing the most common form of motor neurone disease.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a disease that ravages the body’s nerve cells, leaving people unable to control their bodies. People can die as soon as two years after first experiencing symptoms. “Several previous studies have found that electrical workers are at increased risk of ALS,” says Neil Pearce, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. “We don’t know why the risk is higher, but the two most likely explanations involve either electrical shocks, or ongoing exposure to extremely low frequency magnetic fields.”

Now an analysis of data from more than 58,000 men and 6,500 women suggests it is the latter. Roel Vermeulen, at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and his team found that people whose jobs exposed them to high levels of very low frequency magnetic fields were twice as likely to develop ALS as people who have never had this kind of occupational exposure.