
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 1, 1993                   TAG: 9305010105
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO                                LENGTH: Short

JURY RULES POWER LINES DID NOT CAUSE CANCER

High-voltage power lines stretching over a couple's home didn't cause their young daughter's rare kidney tumors, a jury ruled Friday.

The Superior Court jury deliberated just four hours before ruling for San Diego Gas & Electric Co. in what was believed to be the nation's first courtroom test of allegations that power lines promote or cause childhood cancers.

Despite the verdict, many attorneys and utility companies believed the trial would prompt similar lawsuits nationwide.

Ted and Michele Zuidema contended that electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, generated by high-power distribution lines over their former house in the Serra Mesa area had caused or contributed to their daughter's kidney cancer. Mallory Zuidema, now 5 years old, has been in remission for two years.

- Associated Press

by CNB