I guess I know where these myths came from:
We are back in time, many years ago. At start, there was someone with hearth problems, lets call him MisterA. MisterA got an electronic cardio stimulator to treat his problems, a new, perfect dream device, allowing people with such diseases nearly normal life. So after that he was able to live like anyone else, go to work, party with his friends, so really huge improvement given his condition. Now MisterA walked somewhere with MisterB, one of his friends. And it happened, both approached such cabinet. MisterA felt problems, so told MisterB they have to leave that place, because he has hearth problems. So MisterB knew, his friend have hearth problems and have seen the electrical cabinet apparently worsening it. So he concluded, the field from the cabinet is worsening the hearth problems of someone having them, so took that as an evidence the magnetic (or whatever) field affecting the hearth function. So a big article was born, how fields from these cabinets have bad effect on health, particularly hearth functionality, so how devilish the power companies are to expose public to that fields.
Well, in all that noise an important fact get lost in the very beginning: MisterA used a cardio stimulator tohelp his heart to work reasonably. And it was this cardiostimulator, what was affected by the magnetic field and malfunctioned. Well, nothing unpredictable with a sensitive electronic device. So it was the malfunction of his stimulator, what caused MisterA problems, by far not the magnetic field. Of course, people using these devices are instructed about this sensitivity. Of course, the immunity of such devices greatly improved over the years, so practically such malfunction should not happen with modern devices anymore, but still, as the precautions (no test could catch really all situations), wearers of such devices are adviced to be careful about any source of an electromagnetic fields potentially disturbing the equipment, just to be sure. As MisterA was aware about the sensitive nature of his stimulator, but MisterB wasn't. MisterB have just seen the electrical box proximity being related to the acute problems of his friend, it was sufficient to create such myth.
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