Value chain · CLM-1333
Low confidence
The evidence behind this statement is thin, indirect or second-hand. Read it as a lead to check, not as a settled finding.
In plain terms
By 1986 one early long-term rat study had hinted at more tumours at the level US rules called safe, but it was unconfirmed. Eastern European reports of nerve symptoms had not been confirmed by careful studies, and experts said there was no theory to predict any non-heating effects.
The claim as recorded
A 1986 review of exposure standards reports that the preliminary results of the first long-term US study of microwave exposure, presented in July 1984 from a five-year study sponsored by the US Air Force, found that low-level pulsed 2.45 GHz exposure caused a statistically significant increase in malignant tumours in rats exposed at a SAR of 0.4 W/kg, the level the 1982 ANSI standard treats as safe. The review called the findings "far from definitive" and said that, if confirmed, they would undermine that standard. It also reports Soviet claims of reversible nervous-system disturbance in workers at about 0.1 to a few W/m2, and says careful studies failed to confirm similar claims (the scope of that statement is ambiguous; see limits). It reports that a 15-year Polish study of workers within Polish limits found no irreversible damage, and that a selected subgroup examined in detail over five years was in better health than an unexposed group of similar age, length of employment and living conditions. It concludes that no predictive theory of non-thermal effects is possible, that threshold data on adverse effects in humans over the whole frequency range and all modulations do not exist, and that a later re-evaluation suggested the differences may be more apparent than real, attributing them to the Soviets' use of pulsed data against largely continuous-wave data in the US.
Evidence behind this: T2, a review; it permits "the 1986 review reports Y". The tumour finding is the review's account of preliminary results presented at a 1984 conference, not the study itself.
Scope and limits
The tumour result is preliminary and second-hand; the study's report, tumour types, exposure hours and statistics are not given here, and the final study is not held. Pulsed exposure, not the continuous wave of a power beam. The review does not cite the Soviet-claim rebuttal or the Polish study in detail on these pages (it cites ref. 9 for the latter). The scope of "careful studies have failed to confirm these claims" is ambiguous: the sentence follows "similar reports from other eastern European countries", so it may cover those reports only, or the Soviet claims as well. Whole-body SAR of 0.4 W/kg is the occupational basis; the general public basis in the same review is 0.08 W/kg. This is a 1986 view and says nothing of later long-term studies.
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.3 / printed 77: "the preliminary results of the first long-term study of microwave exposure ever carried out in the USA"; "exposures to low levels of pulsed 2.45 GHz radiation caused a statistically significant increase in malignant tumors among rats"; "a five-year study"; "sponsored by the U.S. Air Force". PDF p.4 / printed 78: "The findings are far from definitive"; rats "exposed to a SAR of 0.4 W/kg, precisely the SAR level specified by ANSI as safe". PDF p.5 / printed 79: workers "at levels between about 0.1 W/m2 and a few W/m2"; "careful studies have failed to confirm these claims". PDF p.6 / printed 80: "no instances of irreversible damage"; a group of selected subjects examined in detail over a five-year period; the exposed group "presented a better state of health" than an unexposed group of corresponding age, length of employment and living conditions. PDF p.10 / printed 84: "no predictive theory based on non-thermal considerations is possible"; "Threshold data on adverse health effects applicable to humans over the whole frequency range and to all possible modulations do not exist." PDF p.11 / printed 85: the differences "may be more apparent than real"; "attributed to the use of pulsed data by the Soviets as opposed to largely CW data used in USA".
Basis: W/kg whole-body SAR at 2.45 GHz pulsed; W/m2; years of observation
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-001 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1333
CLM-1333, Energy Aperture, as of 1986-07.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.