16. "Electronic Smog"
"Studies have linked sustained microwave exposure to headaches,
dizziness, fatigue, irritability, loss of judgment, leukemia, cataracts,
changes in the blood-brain barrier, heart trouble, and central nervous
disorders." Yet a cover-up exists.
The food industry uses microwaves to roast peanuts and coffee beans;
freeway call-boxes use microwaves; burglar alarms and automatic garage
door openers use microwaves; TV transmitters, CB radios, police radios,
cab radios, telephone relay systems, and at our airports, radar, all
consume microwave in some form. And these are only civilian related
uses of microwaves and not military.
People who are exposed to potentially harmful effects of microwave
radiation have no way of knowing it. Microwave radiation, studies show,
has a cumulative effect upon humans, much like x-rays. So what may appear
to be safe today may result in some harmful effect 20 years later.
The biggest user of microwaves is the U.S. military. It is the focal
point on our nuclear weapons guidance systems. Radar tracking devices
are dependent upon microwaves. Communication and spy satellites are
also linked with microwave usage.
The same people who make microwave ovens, G.E. and Litton, also are
in the radar device making business.
If low-level exposure to microwave radiation were ever to be proven
dangerous, the cost to modify its usage would be staggering. Publicity
regarding military usage of microwave has been stifled in the past.
Research projects conducted by the military and showing adverse effects
of low-level exposure to microwave radiation has been covered up. The
U.S. government allows microwave oven leakage to be five milliwatts
and considers ten milliwatts a safe level for human exposure. The Soviet
Union, which did the most complete study on microwave dangers to humans,
believes that the safety factor for microwave exposure should be 1000
times less than what the U.S. allows.
There has been no U.S. research to date on the long-range effects of
microwave radiation on humans. The military wants no part in any conclusive
research on this matter. As a result, this story, due to its lack of
public airing, is nominated as one of the "best censored stories
of 1977."
SOURCES:
Zapping of America, by Paul Brodeur, W. W. Norton Publishing, 1977.
"Microwaves," by Paul Brodeur, The New Yorker, December 13,
1976, pp. 50-75, 88-106, December 13
"The Air Pollution you Can't See," by Scott Kaufer, New Times,
March 6, 1978, pp. 30-36, 60-64.