Development of a New Personal Magnetic Field Exposure Estimation Method for Use in Epidemiological EMF Surveys among Children under 17 Years of Age

A number of scientific researches are currently being conducted on the potential health hazards of power frequency electric and magnetic field (EMF). There exists a non-objective and psychological belief that they are harmful, although no scientific and objective proof of such exists. This possible health risk from ELF magnetic field (MF) exposure, especially for children under 17 years of age, is currently one of Korea's most highly contested social issues. Therefore, to assess the magnetic field exposure levels of those children in their general living environments, the personal MF exposure levels of 436 subjects were measured for about 6 years using government funding. Using the measured database, estimation formulas were developed to predict personal MF exposure levels. These formulas can serve as valuable tools in estimating 24-hour personal MF exposure levels without directly measuring the exposure. Three types of estimation formulas were developed by applying evolutionary computation methods such as genetic algorithm (GA) and genetic programming (GP). After tuning the database, the final three formulas with the smallest estimation error were selected, where the target estimation error was approximately 0.03 mu T. The seven parameters of each of these three formulas are gender (G), age (A), house type (H), house size (HS), distance between the subject's residence and a power line (RD), power line voltage class (KV), and the usage conditions of electric appliances (RULE).