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She said it was now time for government to step in.
“Somebody’s got to stand up and take responsibility for this. The government are responsible for the health of our children.
“I think it has got to go direct to the Prime Minister.”
Dr Swanson said a stakeholder group, including the electricity industry, government, patient groups and cancer charities, had been set up to investigate.
He said the fact that the industry had been involved in the latest study showed how committed it was and that it took the matter seriously.
“We are as determined as anybody to get to the bottom of this.
“Even if we don’t know for certain what is causing it, just the fact that there does seem to be an increased rate of cancer near power lines means we have got to think about these questions of ’should people carry on living near power lines or not?’” he said.
Both Cancer Research UK and Leukaemia Research said there was no reason why anyone should be advised to move house on the basis of these new results.
They said there were many possible causes of leukaemia, including genes and exposure to infections.
The BMJ study estimated that if living in close proximity to power lines at birth did increase the chance of leukaemia, it would account for only 1% of all childhood leukaemias.
