Mental health risk, maybe. :P

This EMF nonsense goes hand-in-hand with child vaccination/autism, Morgellon's disease, and 911 US conspiracy/we never landed on the moon crap,

What about electric trains? Golf carts? Ceiling fans? Microwaves?
I would worry more about the Escalade driver who thinks he/she's king/queen of the road.

They will be less and less as gas goes to $10/gal.

vsk

The Earth also has an extremely strong magnetic field. Maybe we should be concerned about that too? Surely this nonsense will stop.

In centuries that scientists have been researching with magnetic fields, there has yet to be any 'slightly' conclusive evidence that magnetic fields are harmful. They've even gone as far to be able to levitate frogs by using unbelievably strong magnetic fields without any long term harm. I'm sure the amount of field one is subject to in a hybrid is about one millionth the amount a hospital patent experiences while receiving an MRI. No one has gotten cancer from MRI's.

The people concerned about magnetic fields are likely in with the same group that believes in the heath benefits of wearing those expensive magnetic bracelets. They're all ill-informed.

The field is too small. EMF dangerous or not, like everyone is saying here, there are other EMF worries in line ahead of this.

But Steve, those Q-Ray bracelets are natural magnetism, not man made like EMF.

I also got me a Tricorder to find that bad rays.

:P

To other readers -- Is it really necessary to mock EMF concerns?

Considering how harmful some technologies have turned out to be, applying the precautionary principle to new technologies isn't a bad idea.

Mock? So decades of scientific study surrounding EMF and proving it not to be an issue is not enough? (EMF is far from "new", my friend) No, you're right, mocking this is not correct. Blatantly insulting people who believe this garbage is more appropriate. Calling them out on the carpet, administering a spanking, then a healthy dose of severe ego braking insults is really what is needed at this point. You're right, we should not let them off easily by simply giggling at their insanity. Bravo to you, my friend, keep us honest, keep us true.

I don't trust exposure to EMF is well understood. I barely use my cell phone for precisely this reason.

That said, there are plenty of simple ways to shield EMF and in a car I suspect most EMF is shielded by the sheetmetal. There is probably some leakage due to wires and tubes going through the firewall, but I would not be surprised if most EMF in the cabin is sourced from the dash, stereo, A/C, and so on.

The Apetera, being made of composites, may require EMF shielding. Some correctly grounded metal meshing should suffice and add almost no weight to the vehicle (assuming they haven't done this already).

To the extent that this is a problem, it is not particularly an electric car problem, and it is very simple to solve.

This is totally unlike cellphones because if you shield a cellphone, it won't work! The whole point of the device is to emit EMF. Same with WiFi and so on. The best you can do is use a bluetooth headset, due to the very low power rating of bluetooth, and keep the main phone away from your head and internal organs while in use.

I also think that EMFs shouldn't be mocked. And no, Willy (and other naysayers)--other studies that have been commissioned that show no reason to worry whatsoever have usually been funded by the same people who have something to gain by saying nothing's wrong.

The precautionary principle should definitely be employed until we have more peer-reviewed studies by noteworthy institutes (Environmental Working Group would be a good one to start with). I'm sure there were people who said there was nothing to worry about back in the day regarding living by power lines (or power plants) and now we know there are higher incidences of cancer around these areas if people live nearby.

The point I'm making is to be more aware and not just believe people are worrying over nothing just for the heck of it (dadgum alarmists!) or to patronize other people for different ideas. The idea of comments should be to start a healthy, respectful dialogue and back up your point, NOT to put others down.

Oh Kim, I feel for you, you poor lost soul.

Better steer clear of electric mass transit, like the SUBWAY. Just standing on the platform puts you in close proximity to the third rail, exposing you to a bazillion times the EMF that you get driving a Prius. Get in an actual subway car, and you might as well boil your brain.

Amazing, sometimes, that some people can even have enough cognisance to remember to breath.

:/

kim says:
> I also think that EMFs shouldn't be mocked.

studies have shown the coupling between very powerful EM fields and childhood cancers to be poorly if at all coupled. there work that suggest a causal relationship outside the realm of em field emissions

and we're talking much higher energy levels (ie over 100kilovolts) see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation_and_health#Leukemia_and_cancer

and no those citations are by in large not from the power industry.

em fields are subject to the inverse square law so when the distance between you and the emitter doubles your exposure is cut by half..

hybrid and electric cards are fairly low voltage (by transmission standards from 48volt up to about 300volts. they are direct current although some implementations use 3 phase ac induction motors... Low frequency noise is produced by the alternator.

Alonso Perez says
>I don't trust exposure to EMF is well understood.
>I barely use my cell phone for precisely this reason.

Dangers from microwave radiation particularly high energy emitters (which are ionzing) should not be examined in the same breath with em fields from power sources. They have different properties. in the same sense ionizing and non-ionizing microwave sources should not be lumped together.

We've got over 100 years experience with em fields at normal household voltages from around 100 to 400 volts. We got 50 years experience safely managing workplace and consumer exposure to ionizing microwave radiation. We have 25 years managing the microwave rf emissions of cellular and ism band devices.

Are cellphone safe? maybe not, but compared to what? the actual power output has dropped by about 3 orders of magnitude since the early 80s, the frequency has gone up.

Are cars dangerous? Absolutely, there are about 40,000 traffic deaths a year in the US in a population of 300 million that means your share of it is 1 in 7500 per year. So what's scarier? a vague but uncertain threat that's low probablity? or one that we're quite comfortable with but face every day.

Am I concerned about exposure to the em field from from my civic hybrid? No...