What ELF Is:

The ELF spectrum starts, technically, at the lowest probable frequencies (i.e., less than 1 Hz) and expands upward to around 3 kHz. This corresponds to wavelengths longer than 100 km. The most general ELF field in the modern world has a frequency of 60 Hz. Such ELF waves are emitted by all live utility wires in the United States and many other countries. (In several countries it is 50 Hz.) In the Great Lakes region of the United States, the military has an ELF installation which is used to communicate with submarines. The ELF waves travel underwater and underground more proficiently than radio waves at higher frequencies.

The word extremely-low-frequency radiation and the media attention it has received have led several people to unreasonably fear this form of EM energy. The ELF field is not like a barrage of x-rays or gamma rays that can cause sickness and death when received in large doses. Neither does ELF energy look like UV radiation that has been linked to skin cancer or intense IR radiation that can cause burns. The ELF field will not make something radioactive. Some scientists deduce, nonetheless, that long-term exposure to high levels of ELF energy is connected to an abnormally high incidence of some health problems. This is a hotly debated matter and, like any such matter, has become politicized.