Do EMFs affect people with pacemakers or other medical devices?
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), electromagnetic interference can affect various medical devices, including electronic cardiac pacemakers and implantable defibrillators. Most current research in this area focuses on higher-frequency sources such as cellular telephones, citizens band radios, wireless computer links, microwave signals, radio and television broadcast transmitters, and paging transmitters. However, sources such as welding equipment, power lines at electricity generating plants, and rail transport equipment can produce lower-frequency EMFs strong enough to create interference in various medical devices. Some research suggests that metal equipment located near a magnetic field source can greatly enhance the intensity of the field from that source (Hansen, 1990). Some metallic medical implants (such as pins, nails, screws, and plates) can be affected by high static magnetic fields from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment and aluminum refining p
