Value chain · CLM-1297
In plain terms
In the 1970s the East set microwave limits about a thousand times lower than the US. Against the later 230 W/m2 beam centre, the Soviet public limit is 23,000 times lower and the Polish general-population limit 230 to 2,300 times lower. Poland banned any human exposure above 100 W/m2.
The claim as recorded
A 1976 comparison of microwave exposure standards puts them in three groups an order of magnitude or more apart: the USSR 1970 standard at 10 uW/cm2 for a full working day and 1 uW/cm2 for the public; the Polish 1972 standard with a safe zone of 0.1 W/m2 for stationary fields and 1 W/m2 for moving beams, and human exposure forbidden above 100 W/m2; and the US ANSI C95.1-1974 guide at 10 mW/cm2 averaged over any 0.1 hour. The paper says the US, USSR and Polish public-health limits all sit at a few microwatts/cm2.
Evidence behind this: T3-a conference typescript by a Polish physician-scientist summarising national standards; the standards themselves are not held.
Scope and limits
A SECONDARY SUMMARY; NONE OF THE STANDARDS IS HELD. The US "public" figure comes from a computed microwave-oven exposure of 5-20 microwatts/cm2 (PDF p.3), not from a US public exposure limit. Ratios recomputed against 230 W/m2: USSR public 0.01 W/m2 gives 23,000 times; Polish stationary safe zone 0.1 W/m2 gives 2,300 times; Polish non-stationary safe zone 1 W/m2 gives 230 times. These are ratios to limits, not findings of harm (QST-001). The year is inferred, not printed.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.1: standards grouped as microwatts/cm2, "hundreds of microwatts/cm2; 3. tens of milliwatts/cm2". PDF p.2: the ANSI summary includes "power density 10 mW/cm2" averaged over any 0.1 hour period (paraphrase outside the quote). PDF p.3 (render): USSR 10 microwatt/cm2 for the whole working day, 100 for up to 2 hours, 1000 for 15-20 minutes, and 1 microwatt/cm2 for places of human occupancy and people not occupationally exposed (paraphrase). PDF p.4 (render): Polish stationary-field safe zone not above 0.1 W/m2, intermediate 0.1-2 W/m2, hazardous 2-100 W/m2 with t = 32/p^2 hours (paraphrase). PDF p.5: non-stationary safe zone 1 W/m2, dangerous zone "in excess of 100 W/m2 (10 mW/cm2)", where human exposure is forbidden. PDF p.6: public-health standards are of one order, "setting MPE at a few microwatts/" cm2.
Basis: uW/cm2, mW/cm2 and W/m2; exposure time per day
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-001 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1297
CLM-1297, Energy Aperture, as of 1976.