The Thermal Basis for Disruption of Operant Behavior by Microwaves in Three Animal Species,
Abstract
A large variety of microwave producing devices are used in contemporary naval communications and weapons systems. Public and scientific concern about potential biological effects of microwave irradiation such as produced by these various devices requires documentations of such effects. Currently, the only well documented direct effect of microwaves is heating of the exposed organism. The present report is of a series of studies whose aim was to explore several microwave frequencies and their effect on performance and simultaneously to investigate the relationship to core heating in the exposed animals. Three difficult sized species of animals were used so that generalization to larger animals could be made. Rats, squirrel monkeys, and rhesus monkeys showed consistent effects of 60-minute exposures to microwaves when their body temperatures were increased at least 1 C above baseline temperatures. Performance was not reliably affected when body temperatures remained below this level. Greater intensities of microwaves were required to influence the animals' temperature and behavior as the animal size increased. A direct relationship between frequency and power density was observed in the rhesus monkey; e. g., as the frequency of the microwaves increased, the power density needed to affect behavior and temperature also increased.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1982
- Accession Number
- ADA127370
Entities
People
- John O. De Lorge
Organizations
- Naval Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory