Sunday  15 May 2005

Pylons blamed for sickness - Hunua

Residents living on a street shadowed by power pylons are demanding to know if the high voltage lines are to blame for suicides, brain aneurisms and depression in the area.

Hunua resident Donna Levesque's husband, Lance, lost his short-term memory in November 2001; a month later her brother Shane Stubbing, who lived next door, died of a brain aneurism - and the next day their other neighbour, a woman in her 20s, died of a brain tumour.  The problems came within three years of moving to Hunua's Lockwood Rd, south of Auckland.

There have also been several suicides and cases of depression in people living in the street.

While there is no official evidence linking power lines with health problems in New Zealand, some overseas research has connected exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMF) with cancer, suicide, depression and other serious illness. Other overseas experts dispute the link.

Hunua has four high-voltage lines running through it, two of them directly behind houses.  Transpower's proposed 400kv line will run behind the primary school.

"All the houses are close to each other and are all close to the lines," Mrs Levesque told the Herald on Sunday.  "One of our neighbours lost his wife to a brain tumour one year and then last year he lost his new partner to suicide."

Mrs Levesque said losing her brother one day and her neighbour the next - both to brain illness - was devastating and not just coincidence.  "We had Shane's funeral on Boxing Day and our neighbour, who lived next to Shane, was buried the next day."

When Mr Levesque was diagnosed with memory and depression problems, his wife put it down to the years he had been exposed to chemicals through his work as a boat builder. Now she is not so sure.

Ann Bremner lives opposite the Levesque home and survived a serious brain haemorrhage last year, around the time another neighbour, a man in his 40s, committed suicide.  "I'm lucky to be alive. Most people do not have a second chance."

Ms Bremner was at the local garage when she sneezed and passed out.  She woke up, went home, and then went to bed with an intense headache.  A few days later she was in hospital, where she stayed for almost a month after been diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage.  "Too many people have been sick and a lot of them aren't around anymore.

"You start to connect all the dots.  It's a short street and we are talking about a large number of sicknesses."

Doctor Virginia Hope, of the Ministry of Health, is looking into the residents' concerns.

"There are certain guidelines that the Ministry takes when looking at clusters, but I will be calling the people mentioned and will be talking to them about their concerns."

Transpower spokesman Chris Roberts confirmed the company was aware of some health concerns in the street but said it was a matter for the Ministry of Health.

The Hunua case comes after the revelation last year of an apparent cancer cluster in the West Auckland suburb of Massey.

High-profile filmmaker Cameron Duncan and four school-mates were diagnosed with cancer at around the same time, and more concerned parents have since come forward.

A health board report said there was no elevated risk in Massey but it did not use statistics from the year the school-mates were diagnosed.

Auckland doctor Robin Smart read more than 100 medical papers on EMF exposure when he learned Transpower's proposed line ran 300m from his Whitford home.

He found research showing readings above 0.1 microtesla, a measurement of magnetic field, had links to ill health. EMF readings near the Hunua homes varied from 0.5-0.8 microtesla.  New Zealand's EMF limit is set by the Ministry of Health, which follows World Health Organisation guidelines of 100 microtesla.

Residents said they wanted the Government set restrictions on pylons near homes.