Electrostatic trick might affect human body

High-school physics students often try the fun experiment of holding a high-voltage pole while standing on an electrically isolating mat. Just like a bird perched on a high-voltage power line, the human body, which is electrically conducting, is all at approximately the same potential, and thus no current flows. As a result, the experiment is believed to be harmless, and students can enjoy the effects of electrostatic repulsion, like the standard classroom image of wild flyaway hair. The question can be raised, however, as to what happens to our skin. Air is an excellent supplier of charge, and it can be assumed that if our skin is at the same (positive) potential as the high-voltage generator, electrons will be attracted to the surface of our bodies. If the voltage supply is at tens of kilovolts, the energy with which electrons impinge on our skin can be as high as tens of kiloelectron volts. I wonder if anyone has ever studied the incidence of skin cancer in students who played with such an experiment for prolonged periods or, for that matter, in birds that rest on high-voltage cables. To be on the safe side, the experiment should be tested only briefly, if at all.