Are Health Risks Associated With Driving Electric Cars?

planetgreen.discovery.com:

The Health Risks
There are some who fear the electricity generated by the electric car. An article in the New York Times, takes a look at these risks. Some worry that the electromagnetic fields generated by hybrids and electric cars are unhealthy. There is some speculation that the EMFs cause leukemia in the unborn. One lady says that after driving a hybrid 200 miles a day for work, she got high blood pressure and fell asleep at the wheel three times.

Are the Health Risks Real?
The health risks are mostly conjecture. First, no one has proven that EMFs cause cancer. EMFs might. It's possible, but no one is really sure. Furthermore, even if some EMFs caused cancer, you'd then have to prove that the EMFs in hybrids and in electric cars cause cancer. Some people might be sensitive to EMFs, but that is an unknown factor as well. For safety's sake, pregnant women may want to consult a doctor before driving a hybrid or an electric car.

The only real health risk is crashing your car, but you don't need an electric car to do that.

Read the whole story: planetgreen.discovery.com

Comments

[CR46]

01:33 AM on 02/17/2009

I would love for somebody to market an electric car!!! I'm off the grid, or I should say I'm on it but sell elec to the power co. Free charging for me, at home anyway.

[research]

04:21 PM on 02/15/2009

It doesn't matter what you drive, 200 miles of driving per day will raise your blood pressure, take hours out of your day, and stress you to the max.

FUD

[spartanmom]

01:33 PM on 02/15/2009

No one ever mentions all the pollution from battery production!
Where does that fit into the discussion.

So far a BioDiesel VW TDI looks like the best bet to me. Low emissions, 50mpg and great performance.

BioDiesel really seems the way to go but I hear so little about it. What gives?

[research]

04:33 PM on 02/15/2009

Batteries do not necessarily produce pollution.

Most lithium Ion batteries are actually non-toxic,

And fully recyclable.

[degenerate1991]

01:37 PM on 02/17/2009

Because hybrids are the next big fad in the auto industry. For example, a Toyota Prius goes for ~30,000 dollars and has about the same useful space as a Corolla, which is at least 10,000 dollars less.

[Tom95134]

11:43 PM on 02/14/2009

We could all go back to driving a horse & buggy, except then you'd have to worry about stepping in a pile of fresh horse droppings, slipping and breaking your neck from the fall.

This electrical field worry sounds like something dreamed up by the same group that is concerned about living near power lines.

Go put on your tinfoil hats.

[degenerate1991]

04:48 PM on 02/14/2009

I'm certainly an old-fashioned "clinging to my pistons" type of guy with cars, but fearing for health risks from driving an electric car is unreasonable. Certainly the more conventional risks of driving are much more of concern than any EMFs; I'd be more concerned with the one from my cell phone (and I'm not).

[mamacat]

04:44 AM on 02/14/2009

There are EMFs in the Internal Combustion (IC) cars that we use today, and no one has cried out that those EMFs are dangerous.

How much, if any, are the EMFs in hybrids, PHEVs, and EVs, stronger than what we are already exposed to?

Any question might be reasonable, but has any evidence yet been gathered that this article is based on anything other than the need to sell advertising space?

[PaloAltoPunk]

04:47 PM on 02/13/2009

With both the Toyota Prius and Toyota Camry Hybrid offering only "marginal" rear crash protection according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (see http://www.iihs.org/ratings), occupants of these vehicles have much more to fear than EMFs generated by the motor.

[KillTheMessenger]

06:15 PM on 02/13/2009

Except that the rear crash test does not test the vehicle body but the seats and restraints. You are absolutely welcome to upgrade your hybrid to a better seat and restraint system.

The HUMMER H3, by the way, gets a poor rating. So do all F-150s between 2004 and 2008. The F-150 of 2009 gets a good. And if you look at all vehicles, it's a total hit and miss that does not seem to correlate with build or vehicle mass at all and it changes from model year to model year.

In other words: it has nothing to do with the fact that these are hybrids.

[PaloAltoPunk]

08:32 PM on 02/13/2009

Indeed, hybrids can certainly be safe. The following 2009 MY hybrids earned IIHS Top Safety Pick designations: Honda Accord, Honda Civic, Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, and Mazda Tribute.

[PaloAltoPunk]

10:02 PM on 02/13/2009

The F-150 was redesigned for 2009 with added safety features that helped it earn the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's Top Safety Pick award.

[marlovian]

02:29 PM on 02/13/2009

Hmm, electric chairs were the high-tech instrument of final judgement in the 20th century, but sitting on a high-voltage electrical system for several hours each day is the way to commute in the 21st. Who knew that prisons were way ahead of the green curve?

[KillTheMessenger]

03:47 PM on 02/13/2009

400V are not a very high voltage and you can't get into contact with it unless you use a screw driver and are suicidal. Even then the chances to electrocute yourself are not that high.

Now, your electric washer/dryer and your stove at home are running on almost that much. When did you poke wires into those holes in the wall the last time? Ever?

Electric chairs run on 2.5kV, way higher.

Modern streetcars use 750-1000V. Electric rail is typically 16kV and the TGV uses 25kV high voltage (you can find 15-25kV in any old style tv set, by the way). Power distribution is done with up to 120kV and 240kV transmission lines.

No big deal. As long as you keep a safe distance from any of these, nothing bad happens.

[KillTheMessenger]

01:19 PM on 02/13/2009

There are some who fear everything. No big deal.

And who wouldn't get high blood pressure driving 200 miles a day? I doubt that a non-hybrid will make that better.

What nonsense. Who comes up with such verbal diarrhea? And why?

[DrVeruju]

02:19 PM on 02/13/2009

"And why?"

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Now who would want us to use more fossil fuel???

[KillTheMessenger]

03:32 PM on 02/13/2009

I see... you got a point there.

:-)