Overview
The most significant difference between East and West relative to biological mechanisms of effects of microwaves concerns the question of thermogenic versus nonthermogenic (or athermal) effects.
Eastern View
Soviet and East European specialists are convinced that electromagnetic fields in the microwave and radio frequency range exert two influences: thermal and nonthermal. At "high power densities" (in excess of 10 mW/cm²), the effects are associated with the liberation of heat in biological objects with all the consequences thereof (i.e., heating of organs and tissues, thermal damage, etc.). At "low power densities" (less than 10 mW/cm²) the physical mechanisms behind various biological effects remain unclear, but it is generally accepted in that community that nonthermal microwave effects do exist.
Western View
The prevailing Western view, particularly in the United States, is that the effects of microwave and radio frequency fields are attributable only to the heating mechanism of those fields which are generally encountered at power densities in excess of 10 mW/cm².
Evidence Supporting Non-Thermal Effects
Soviet and East European investigators continue to report a variety of reversible changes in nervous and related functions which can occasionally be correlated with changes in animal behavior and organelle shifts under experimental (and clinical) conditions. These findings include:
- Behavioral changes: Animals respond behaviorally to microwaves at power densities below 15 mW/cm², appearing associated with thermal factors.
- Electrical forces: Quantitative measurements show cats exposed to 147 MHz fields at 1 mW/cm² exhibited altered spontaneous and conditioned EEC patterns. In neonatal chick brains, modulation rates lower than 9 Hz and higher than 20 Hz did not alter tagged calcium ion efflux, while exposure to fields modulated at 9, 11, 16, and 20 Hz resulted in a 10 to 20 percent increase in calcium ion efflux.
- Free radical formation: Studies of rabbits exposed to 9.3 GHz microwaves at power densities between 0.7 and 2.8 mW/cm² speculated that microwaves cause or enhance the formation of free radicals from naturally occurring compounds in the brain.
Evidence Supporting Thermal Effects
Recent Western experiments suggest that electrical forces induced in the brain tissue by low intensity VHF fields can trigger local conformational changes in the macromolecules of the outer zone of the neuronal membrane resulting in displacement of surface-bound cations. Aplysia pacemaker preparations exposed to 1.5 to 2.45 GHz fields of less than 5 mW/cm² power density showed occasional functional changes, most of which could be reproduced by simple heating.
Selective Thermal Sensitivity
Some Soviet and American studies indicate that some nervous system structures are more severely damaged by thermogenic microwave fields than others. This suggests that these same thermally-sensitive structures might react to microwave power densities below the classically defined thermogenic threshold.
Such a selective thermal sensitivity to microwaves, perhaps expressed as local or even microscopic heating (which is extremely difficult to measure) may explain many of the Soviet and East European findings.
Status
While there is no unanimous international agreement as to the mechanisms of the many observed effects of microwave and radio frequency fields on neural targets, a number of trends seem to be emerging. Recent Western investigators are beginning to obtain certain functional and morphological data suggestive of Soviet and East European findings, indicating that the disparity between schools of thought may be narrowing.
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