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... I wrote to 64 departments and so far I have received 40 replies. In
addition [GAM] contacted colleagues in the [AMMRL], and a number of these
were kind enough to respond.
The outcome of these enquiries, which included full literature searches
plus discussions with the NRPB and others, is that we can find no
discernible link between breast cancer and stray fields from our
instruments. We have also looked at other possible causes such as the
substances used and the handling techniques employed. There is nothing
that we can see which would cause our laboratory to be significantly, if at
all, different from any number of other NMR service laboratories in other
institutions.
I estimate that from the replies I received from other UK universities, the
number of women sampled was well in excess of 100. There were only 3 other
cases of breast tumours amongst them. None of the [AMMRL] respondents knew
of any cases of tumours. Although it is difficult to calculate the
statistics because of lack of information about age profiles and what
happened to some of the women when they moved on to other jobs, all the
indications are that, on average, they are not more at risk than any other
occupation.
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Thank you for your help in establishing these relatively reassuring conclusions.
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Dr. G.A. Morris g.a.morris@man.ac.uk
Dept. of Chemistry, University of Manchester,
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, UK (0) 161 275 4665
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