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What is the National Radiological Protection Board up to? Does it consider
that living near busy roads could constitute a health risk, or doesn’t it?

Two recent NRPB reports consider pos-sible health risks from living
near electric power lines. Both reports cite the American cancer epidemiologist
David Savitz of the University of North Carolina, who is an authority on
risks from electric fields but who has concluded that living close to busy
roads is a greater danger. But the two NRPB reports come to opposite conclusions
about his work.

In a report released in July 1992, Human Health and Exposure to Electromagnetic
Radiation, the NRPB happily endorses Savitz’s study of childhood cancer
incidence in Denver, stating: ‘The relative risks of childhood cancer associated
with high traffic densities were equal to, or greater than, those associated
with (electric) wiring codes and of greater significance than those associated
with magnetic fields.’

But by the time of the second report, Elec-tromagnetic Fields and the
Risk of Cancer, released a few months later, everything has changed. The
‘overall validity’ of Savitz’s study is now summarily dismissed because
of ‘a deficit of low income controls’.

Savitz is puzzled by the turnaround. He says that even when his study
is adjusted for indicators of social class, living near traffic is still
associated with an increased risk of cancer.

But then, dealing with possible man-made hazards is always bound to
cause a bit of a stir. Perhaps the NRPB would be better off sticking to
nice, simple, natural hazards like radon.

* * *

It is no wonder that Austria is eager to join the European Community.
Among the manifold benefits of membership appears to be a five-fold increase
in the resistance of the citizenry to a nasty side effect of certain artificial
sweeteners. On a well-known brand of sugarless gum, a note headed ‘Austria’
warns that consuming more than 10 grams a day of sorbitol, xylitol and mannitol
causes diarrhoea. The notes for Community members Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg,
however, recommend that one does not consume more than 50 grams of these
chemicals daily.

The fine print on the gum packet may also reveal why the Swiss are not
terribly bothered about joining the Community. The note marked ‘Switzerland’
does not mention any safe limits for the sweeteners at all. Evidently,
the resistance of Swiss bowels is boundless.

* * *

Here’s a charming theory. A new book called The Singing Cure is being
brought out by Rider in April. Written by Paul Newham, ‘a pioneering practitioner
of voice work’, it is ‘the first book to demonstrate the therapeutic power
of song’. Apparently, non-Western societies have known about this for ‘thousands
of years’, but it is only now, with Newham’s book, that we in the West can
discover ‘how much potential for healing can be released through song and
nonverbal sound’.

So now you know what to think about next time you’re lying back and
enjoying a hot bath, tra-la-la.

* * *

Serendipitous tale of the week comes from Chris Haughton-Brown, one
of the people here at King’s Reach Tower who fixes Feedback’s computer when
it goes wrong (a maddeningly regular occurrence, for which Haughton-Brown
is not to blame).

He is doing an evening degree course in cognitive sciences at Birkbeck
College, London, and the other day attempted to locate the work of the author
Daniel Dennett on the college library database. But he keyed in the name
‘Dent’ by mistake.

The database came up with a book published in 1601 by Arthur Dent,
‘preacher of the word of God’. The book was called The Plaine Man’s Path-way
to Heauen.

Few readers will need reminding that the hero of Douglas Adams’s book
with the not-so-dissimilar title of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
is called Arthur Dent. But not many readers will know that Douglas Adams
went to Birkbeck College.

Yet things are not quite as they seem. Adams has gone off to California
to research a new book, so he was unable to comment on the find. But his
personal assistant said that someone else had drawn Adams’s attention to
Dent’s Path-way a couple of years ago. His response was that until then
he had never heard of the book or the author.

* * *

After years of intense work, scientists in the Underutilised Species
Project at Cornell University have finally come up with a microwavable version
of that most American of foods, the English muffin.

Their ‘one-minute mackerel melt’ is a topping added to an English muffin
which has been modified by putting a hole in the centre so that it heats
evenly in the microwave oven. The topping is a blend of minced mackerel,
pickle relish, green onions, hard-boiled eggs, walnuts, cream cheese and
spices.

‘Mackerel has an excellent nutritional profile,’ observes project leader
Joe Regenstein. ‘It’s a good source of omega-3 fatty acids, protein and
vitamins; it’s tasty; and it’s one of the few species that is not ‘fished
out’ of the North Atlantic.’

Feedback was unable to procure a sample for testing, but a Cornell employee
who insists on anonymity comments that although the mackerel melt ‘tasted
great’, he advises serving it in the dark, ‘since the topping looks like
something the cat left’.

* * *

Latvia, as part of its anti-AIDS campaign, is considering legalising
brothels and call-girl services, with licences dependent on the regular
testing of employees for HIV. But if such establishments become officially
recognised workplaces, they will also be subject to the new Latvian language
laws. These state that everyone employed in Latvia must have a sufficient
knowledge of Latvian to carry out their professional duties in that language.
Government inspectors are empowered to make spot checks on all workplaces
to test the linguistic abilities of employees and to verify that the language
laws are being properly enforced. The mind boggles.