US STUDY CASTS DOUBT ON HARM FROM VDT USE

Women workers exposed to low-level radiation emitted by video-display terminals (VDTs) do not appear to have a heightened risk of miscarriages, government researchers said. A study involving 2,430 female telephone operators found no significant difference in miscarriage rates between those who used VDTs and those who did not, Teresa Schnorr of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in Cincinnati said Wednesday.

Nancy Wertheimer, an epidemiologist at the University of Colorado in Boulder who also is studying the potential health effects of low-level electromagnetic radiation, was more cautious about drawing conclusions from the NIOSH work.

What can be said about the NIOSH study, she says, is that ``it suggests if there is a higher miscarriage risk from VDT exposure it cannot be that enormous or it would have showed up clearly.''