A FORMER landlord who lost his battle to prove pub customers were at risk from overhead pylons has called for the evidence to be re-examined.

Bill Singleton, who used to run the Sparking Clog pub in Radcliffe Road, Bolton, wants a major new review following the publication of a leaked scientific report.

He claims new research findings in America have vindicated his stand.

"What these scientists are saying vindicates me 100pc. I want to warn everyone again to beware the danger of electro-magnetic-fields (EMFs)," he said.

"America is clearly saying there is a major problem with these, but our government seems determined to ignore it all."

As reported in the Bolton Evening News, Mr Singleton went to court to try and block Banks Brewery holding a licence for the pub because he claimed EMFs from the electricity cables were too much of a risk to customers. But he lost the case and Bury magistrates ordered him to pay £4,000 costs.

He says he is still ill after suffering four years of sickness while working at the pub. Tests have so far revealed no signs of cancer but he will soon return for further examinations.

Mr Singleton, 54, is still unemployed after leaving the pub and has struggled to pay off his legal bill.

He has not yet decided whether to take new legal action.

But he is determined to continue his battle to warn people about his deep concern about EMFs from electric cables.

The new report by the US National Council on Radiation Protection recommends safe limits of EMFs 8000 times lower than the current British standard.

Researchers have highlighted a "powerful body of impressive evidence" to suggest that very low exposures to EMFs have subtle long-term effects on health, possibly leading to breast cancer, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease.

It also suggests that children exposed to EMFs from power lines are at greater risk of leukaemia while adults risk leukaemia and brain cancer.

Experts recommend that new schools and houses should not be built where EMF levels breach the guidelines and exposure from power cables near existing buildings should be kept as low as possible.

Britain's National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) has refused to comment on the American work in a detailed report in the New Scientist magazine.

The NRPB and Britain's electricity industry maintain there is no established health risk from low EMFs.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.