To discard a house because it's less than 1 km from pylons

[BananaMamas]

I have tried to research this and there doesn't seem to be any specific advice other than the very minimum distance required for security. I came across an old research suggesting a potential correlation between child leukemia and living less than 1 km away from electricity pylons.
A new house came on the market just now which is in an area we'd consider but right at the border or where we'd stretch to and just under 1 km from pylons. Am I mad to say I don't want to go and see it because of that?

You can hear the pylons humming. So what? Ear cancer?

I’d me more concerned about the things in an area you can’t find out about. Something you can’t see 1km away is nothing. Bad neighbour, yappy dogs,drug dealer, daily fireworks etc are all things I’d find way more interesting that a mast or anything.

Exactly this. I have a small list of deal breakers when buying a house and will discount immediately as feeling happy and relaxed in a new home is very important to me.

Do you plan to use electricity in your new house? Yet you don't want the pylons which bring the electricity.

I'm an epidemiologist and we use the pylon/leukaemia as an example of correlation =/= causation.

New towns were built near pylons, the population structure is different in new towns versus traditional housing and once these factors were accounted for the association disappears.

Put simply: new towns are family homes, so more children in them which would mean more childhood diseases per head of population.

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-02-07-power-lines-dont-raise-risk-leukaemia-children#:~:text=This%20new%20study%20includes%20children,power%20lines%20on%20leukaemia%20risk.

I also grew up near pylons - less than 200m from some big ones, 300m from smaller ones. You could hear them crackle when it was very humid or raining.

My mum still lives in the same house. No negative side effects for us either.

I dont think anyone can tell you how to feel about something but unless you also own all the land in a 1km radius of the house whats to stop a pylon (or anything else you object to) being built there in the future

My teeth hurt near them. So it would be a no from me

@BananaMamas have you heard of Google Scholar?

Go to it, enter your search terms, and you can get lots of publications.

When searching for electricity pylons and cancer risks, there are very few recent publications and the reason is very clear... Because it was debunked back in the 1990s/2000s.

If you don't like the house that's fine, but this really feels like you're flailing around for an excuse. You'll need a better excuse (or just say you don't like it), this one doesn't even hold up against a quick google.

There are about to be a LOT of pylons built near a LOT of poeple’s properties in the UK due to the rapid move towards renewables and electrification of everything. All very important and welcome

I’m currently in an area where pylons are planned.

They are most definitely not welcome!

Honestly, I think it's fine to discard a house for any reason at all, however irrational.

But, this might help: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2005/jun/03/medicineandhealth.cancercare

I wouldn't want to live right next to one but I probably do live within 1km. I did refuse to see a house I had initially liked the look of because it was very close to a petrol station and I heard there was an increased cancer risk living so close (and also apparently harder to get a mortgage on)

I'd say 1km is pretty low risk, you're likely more at risk if near a main road.

I'm obviously thinking of the wrong things, I thought pylons were dotted all over the place? Is anywhere with electricity more than 1km from one? How do you know where the closest one is? Where I live now I'd see it, but I grew up in town and wouldn't see 1km away

We have a lovely view of a pylon - I didn't even notice it until after we moved, its probably less than 150m from our home, not sure if I am totally oblivious or that the "view" really doesn't actually matter.

I am shocked and saddened at how many people appear to have fallen into the trap of a) believing utterly nonsense fearmongering by companies that thrive on people buying their nonsense products and b) thinking that because someone they know once got cancer, it might have been a pylon.

This is such a classic case of hearsay and fearmongering with a smattering of mistakenly thinking that correlation equals causation and that anecdotes equal data.

Those people that got cancer and also happened to be near a pylon at some point- they probably also ate strawberries at some point. Why don’t we panic that strawberries cause cancer? They probably listened to the radio. But we don’t panic about that? And yet, bizarrely, we have solid evidence that bacon can increase cancer risk and yet most people still happily tuck into that.

There are SO MANY reputable sources reassuring the public that they don’t cause cancer, and yet inherent confirmation bias causes people to only notice the scary bullshit ones. Anyone can write nonsense online- academic institutions like Oxford uni, or public bodies such as the NHS, are reputable trustworthy sources.

No, pylons are zero risk.

Plenty of big pylons in Greater London. Incl zone 3.

But yes, central London seems free, and the air pollution will probably get you before the pylons do.

I work in the energy field - there are hundreds of kilometres of pylons coming to ensure that we reach our net zero energy commitments. A lot of people who are not near pylons will soon find themselves closer to one.

I assuem they will like the electricity it brings to their houses?

Is this like when people object to mobile phone masts near them and then moan about how bad their mobile signal is?

Does the electricity for rich people reach them wirelessly then?

Pylons are built where the OHL are needed to move electricity from one place to another - I promise you their locations are not planned based on the socio-economic status of the people around them.

The electromagnetic fields generated by the mains cabling in your house are probably far stronger than those generated by pylons a km away.

Some people are just batshit. The issue I have is when you look at people like this and their lifestyles they are often doing stuff far worse for themselves, but because they are completely ignorant of the science they don't realise it.

Anyway, good news for those of us who are happy to live within a km of a pylon because that means a cheaper house.

I'll repeat the actual research for you https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-02-07-power-lines-dont-raise-risk-leukaemia-children#:~:text=Children%20who%20live%20near%20overhead,University%20of%20Oxford%20have%20found.

Magnesium is good for anxiety.

My gran smoked here whole life and died at 90 and didn't get cancer. That doesn't mean cigarettes are safe

@Ghastisflabbered the amount of nimbyism around pylons is appalling. Rich are happy to have them in deprived areas to fuel their electric cars but not spoiling their views!