Hah! It's even worse than that. TEL was thought to be dangerous by some even before GM started selling it to the public in 1923. Numerous fellow scientists (including the US Surgeon General) wrote letters of concern to GM regarding the safety of TEL in 1922. Worker deaths began in 1923 once commercial production started.
Many people sit adjacent to spinning magnets, in the form of electric motors. It's the basic principle on which they operate... It's also a big hole in the EMF scare mongering, as nobody is protesting all the magnetic fields emanating from fridges, washing machines, and other motor-driven appliances. They're too focused on what's coming from clock radios and baby monitors.
I can't see a significant difference between a 60Hz magnetic field emanating from a wire vs. a 60Hz field emanating from a magnet spinning at 3600RPM. In both cases the field is changing polarity 120 times per second. Elementary school science tells us that a spinning magnet can be used to induce current in a wire, and current in a wire can be used to cause a magnet to spin. I've yet to hear anybody claim that magnets are a health concern.
Quite the contrary...
No one is denying washer, refrigerators and the like emit EMF. And transformers are even bigger offenders. And as I said either turn them off or move away from them.
But things like cell towers, HV transmission lines, wiring errors should be considered seriously because they can always be avoided. Perhaps not eliminating every cell tower or transmission line but if a risk exists common sense engineering solutions can be applied.
A recent transmission upgrade involved placing the phases hire up because of EMF concerns, which sounds expensive, but was worth it because the summer rating of the line was increased by at least 250MW because the allowable NESC sag distance was increased. Plus higher up placement means less change of right of way trees causing a fault.
In terms of a spinning magnet vs a wiring error. Yes a spinning magnet will induce current, but will a simple spinning hard drive cause conduit to heat up the way a wire carrying 6 amps of missing net current will?
Baby monitors and cell phones might be more concern because again, apples to oranges. One is a 50/60 hz field the other is a KHZ or MHZ field. Frequency also plays a role, and IMO the higher the frequency the more risk. X ray and Gamma rays while both in the electro magnetic spectrum have a higher frequency over visible light which is considered harmless. Yet X rays are known many times over to be a hazard.
Many factors play a role.
Either way, to EMFs themselves. If a risk does exist, do believe that will become well known to the general public? Before cell phones made it big there was buzz they might be a cancer risk. But suddenly every possible media outlet became silent and with that people.
Lets say cell towers have a slight to moderate cancer risk for the sake of the argument. If you are a cell company, do you want that getting out? An urban area already has poor coverage and you need to build a new tower in order to increase customer coverage and in turn profit.
Case 1: People know the risk and studies back it up. Very quickly you realize every sight even alternative ones wont do because every resident within a half mile is screaming not in my back yard. Protests occur, and even lawsuits claim "known carcinogen" Home values would fall as already have those with cell towers.
Now what? Suddenly the major cellular network envisioned a challenge with every tower.
Case 2: Evidence is repressed and media is made to portray those having concerns as loons. General public has no opposition, even welcomes the tower knowing better service. Health effects are not even given a second thought. In this case cell towers can be built anywhere and to any degree without fear of lawsuit or anything for that matter. A vital tool to business remains unrestricted. Profit flows in.
Where money is involved suppression of risk is a norm. It is seen well worth it by those that profit, at least another headache not having to deal with. As previously said, many chemicals were known to be hazardous, but cost kept them in use. And in some cases necessity as well. Asbestos may be toxic, but it made some of the best fire proofing and insulation known to man.
The fact people immediately jump to tin foil hate rather than healthy curiosity in itself an indicator IMO.
