DISTINGUISHABILITY OF THE VIDEO DISPLAY TERMINAL (VDT) AS A SOURCE OFMAGNETIC-FIELD EXPOSURE

Magnetic field strength or its surrogate has been used as the measurem ent of exposure in all studies involving field exposure. Video display terminals (VDTs) are considered a minor source on this scale because its field strengths lie in the low range of magnetic fields. Several e xperiments show, however, that field strength may not be the only rele vant variable in determining exposure. This paper explores the use of a method based on ''effects functions'' to determine the extent to whi ch the VDT can be distinguished from other sources. It is shown that V DT exposure may be of consequence if exposure depends on certain types of time variation of the field. Because of the incompleteness of scie nce in this area, this is a demonstration of a method rather than an a ctual demonstration of VDT as a significant source of exposure. (C) 19 95 Wiley-Liss, Inc.