{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1957","number":"1957","name":"P G","organization":"","posted":"2026-10-09T04:00Z","received":"2026-10-08T04:00Z","body":"See attached file(s)\nThe Possible Role of Contact Current\nin Cancer Risk Associated With\nResidential Magnetic Fields\n2000\n\nResidential electrical wiring safety practices in the US result in the possibility of a small voltage (up\nto a few tenths of a volt) on appliance surfaces with respect to water pipes or other grounded\nsurfaces. This ``open circuit voltage'' (VOC) will cause ``contact current'' to flow in a person who\ntouches the appliance and completes an electrical circuit to ground. This paper presents data\nsuggesting that contact current due to VOC is an exposure that may explain the reported associations\nof residential magnetic fields with childhood leukemia. Our analysis is based on a computer model\nof a 40 house (single-unit, detached dwelling) neighborhood with electrical service that is\nrepresentative of US grounding practices. The analysis was motivated by recent research suggesting\nthat the physical location of power lines in the backyard, in contrast to the street, may be relevant to\na relationship of power lines with childhood leukemia. In the model, the highest magnetic field\nlevels and VOCs were both associated with backyard lines, and the highest VOCs were also\nassociated with long ground paths in the residence. Across the entire neighborhood, magnetic field\nexposure was highly correlated with VOC (r 0.93). Dosimetric modeling indicates that, compared\nto a very high residential level of a uniform horizontal magnetic field (10 mT) or a vertical electric\nfield (100 V/m), a modest level of contact current ( 18 mA) leads to considerably greater induced\nelectric fields (> 1 mV/m) averaged across tissue, such as bone marrow and heart. The correlation of\nVOC with magnetic fields in the model, combined with the dose estimates, lead us to conclude that\nVOC is a potentially important exposure with respect to childhood leukemia risks associated with\nresidential magnetic fields. These findings, nonetheless, may not apply to residential service used in\nseveral European countries or to the Scandinavian studies concerned with populations exposed to\nmagnetic fields from overhead transmission lines. Bioelectromagnetics 21:538±553, 2000.\nß 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.\n\nKey words: magnetic fields; childhood leukemia; power lines; open circuit voltage","attachments":["https://downloads.regulations.gov/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1957/attachment_1.pdf"],"attachment_inventory":true,"withheld":false,"source":"https://www.regulations.gov/comment/HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1957","tags":["cancer-tumors","child-development","research-evidence"],"source_hash":"9709ecd91b3496b918b563539a8364500fc84d8ab75a352e365de7079c407a70","slug":"cancer-tumors-comment-1957","classification":{"id":"HHS-OASH-2026-0397-1957","body_sha256":"52cbfdda470d34e31460c9a0d239ef0e4dfe0dc2a4a56ffe6a20b433110ad35a","status":"ai_reviewed","primary_topic":"research","topics":[{"id":"research","evidence":"ildhood leukemia. Our analysis is based on a computer model\nof a 40 house (single-unit, detached dwelling) neighbo"},{"id":"electricity","evidence":" ``open circuit voltage'' (VOC) will cause ``contact current'' to flow in a person who\ntouches the appliance and co"},{"id":"cancer","evidence":"f residential magnetic fields with childhood leukemia. Our analysis is based on a computer model\nof a 40 hou"},{"id":"children","evidence":"ciations\nof residential magnetic fields with childhood leukemia. Our analysis is based on a computer model\nof"}],"summary":"Provides a modeling-study abstract proposing contact current as a possible explanation for associations between residential magnetic fields and childhood leukemia.","reviewed_at":"2026-10-10T00:02:05Z","review_method":"Complete published comment-body review; identical previously reviewed bodies reused with separate official IDs preserved. Attachments and external links not reviewed.","review_source_sha256":"f5165bec6f0bea91810b4f0eaaebc577db47c026bff9d2202c9423ae52727114","source_url":"https://rfsafe.net/hhs-comments/data/catalog.json","scope":"Original comment body; attachments excluded"},"forum_topics":["research","electricity","cancer","children"],"primary_topic":"research","forum_title":"Provides a modeling-study abstract proposing contact current as a possible explanation for associations b…"}