The Fields and Melatonin Mystery Changing Questions without Clear Answers

Abstract

Questions concerning the possibility that exposure to power-frequency (50/60 Hz) electric fields might have adverse health effects have been of governmental, public and scientific interest in the United States since the late 1960s. Graves, Long, and Poznaniak (1) provided an apt summary of the in vivo laboratory experiments in 1979 when they suggested that the biological effects of 60–Hz electric fields were an Alice in Wonderland “Cheshire cat phenomenon” because “now you see it, and now you don't.” Interpreters of the data tended to fall into two groups. One said, “there are no effects; it is all noise.” The other said, “there are effects, but they are subtle and dependent upon specific exposure and biologic conditions.” The story might have ended then, but something new happened.