Value chain · CLM-1359
In plain terms
Rabbit eyes needed a local field more than six times the 230 W/m2 design centre, held for over an hour and a half, to form a cataract; repeated daily exposures at about four times the design centre did not cause one.
The claim as recorded
A 1974 ONR contract report finds that the lowest single-exposure cataract-producing level for the rabbit eye in the near zone of a 2450 MHz applicator was 150 mW/cm2 for 100 minutes (1500 W/m2, maximum absorbed 138 W/kg), from 81 rabbits, and that ten rabbits given repeated exposures at 100 mW/cm2 (30 min a day x 4, 60 min a day x 5 to 9, or 120 min a day x 8 to 9) showed only transient conjunctival injection and pupil constriction, with no cataracts over six months. At 100 mW/cm2 the retrolental temperature stayed below 41 deg C, while at 200 and 300 mW/cm2 it passed 41 deg C; under general hypothermia, otherwise cataractogenic exposures produced no lens damage, and the report concludes heat alone explains single-exposure cataracts.
Evidence behind this: T3, a university contract report to ONR (coord tier ruling 2026-10-03); it permits "the report states Y". Threshold points 3-6 rabbits each; chronic arm 10 rabbits.
Scope and limits
ANIMAL, NOT HUMAN. Near-zone local exposure of one eye at 5 cm under anaesthesia, not whole-body far-field; incident density measured by Narda probe with the box in place and animal absent. Chronic arm: 10 animals, 4 to 9 sessions, not years. The threshold is the onset criterion of this laboratory (slit-lamp). 100 mW/cm2 = 1000 W/m2, 4.3 times 230 W/m2; 150 mW/cm2 = 1500 W/m2, 6.5 times (my arithmetic).
What it assumes
No assumptions are recorded against this claim.
Where it comes from
PDF p.17: 100, 200, 300 mW/cm2 for 60, 35-40, 30-35 min, absorbed 90, 180, 270 W/kg; 100 mW/cm2 below 41 deg C (paraphrase); 81 rabbits for the threshold. PDF p.19: minimum cataractogenic density 150 mW/cm2 for 100 min, 138 W/kg (paraphrase). PDF p.30: hypothermia result and heat-alone conclusion (paraphrase). PDF p.31 (render): schedule table; "At no time were cataracts or any other permanent ocular damage observed".
Basis: mW/cm2 incident at the eye, near zone of a 2450 MHz applicator at 5 cm; W/kg absorbed; minutes per exposure
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-023 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-1359
CLM-1359, Energy Aperture, as of 1974-01.