STUDY POSSIBLE HAZARDS OF MICROWAVE EXPOSURE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B01125R000300120111-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2012
• Sequence Number: 111
• Publication Date: June 19, 1977
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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FOR
PUBLIC AFFAIRS STAFF
PROGRAM Sixty Minutes
DATE June 19, 1977 7:00 PM
STATION W TO P T V
CBS Network
Washington, D.C.
Study Possible Hazards of Microwave Exposure
SUBJECT
MIKE WALLACE: This past week the Senate began hearings
Into whether or not microwave radiation can hurt us, which raises.
the question: What is a microwave? We'd like to show you one,
but you can't see them or smell them or hear them. But If you
think in terms of sound, sound radiates from, say, a siren. The
closer you come to a siren, the more Intense the sound. Well,
it's the same with things that give off microwaves: TV trans-
mitters, radars, microwave ovens. The closer they are to you,
the more intense the radiation.
And now there Is concern that perhaps our increasing
exposure to microwaves is more than our bodies can take.
Some scientists estimate that we are daily exposed to
electronic smog as much as 200 million times thicker than Mother
Nature Intended. Television transmitters In 35 years have in-
creased from six to almost a thousand. The same Is true with
radio and with long-distance telephone calls. They used to
travel on long-distance cables, now they go by microwave, and
there are about a quarter million of these microwave transmitters.
On the road, speed traps mean you're not only getting a
ticket, you're getting zapped with a radar gun. Try to avoid
them with your CB, more radiation. The number of CB radios is
now at 15 million and climbing. In the air, the enormous Increase
In air travel has meant a proportionate Increase In air traffic
controls, and air traffic controls means,radar. Mircrowaves are
.used in thousands of factories for drying products. And in the
home, microwave ovens by the millions. More about those ovens
later.
To get a better handle on what we're talking about,
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you have to know that microwaves are only one part of a vast. spec-
trum of radiations. Beginning with the most lethal from a nuclear
explosion -- that's gamma rays -- we pass on down through a range
of radiations that can either help you or hurt you, depending on
how they're used.
For Instance, X-rays are vital to doctors, but now we know
that too much X-ray can give you cancer. 'Laser beams can be used
for delicate eye surgery, or they can cut through six feet of steel.
When we get toward the bottom of this spectrum of radia-
tions, we come to mircrowaves, from TV transmitters and radars
and microwave ovens. Scientists and the Federal Government, for
the most part, feel that to be in real danger from microwaves you
have to feel heat. Nonetheless, they are concerned.
Arfd indeed, for 20 years the Federal Government has said
that If our bodies are exposed to microwaves no stronger than 10
mliliwatts per square centimeter, an area bout'the size of a finger-
nail, we're just fine. Well, It's that 10-milliwatt standard that's
now being challenged.
For Instance, the Soviet Union has standards a thousand
times toilgher than our 10-milliwatt standard. The Soviets think
that low-level doses of microwave radiation can cause a raft of
ailments, from coronary disease to depression, partial loss of
memory, anxiety, sexual Impotence.
So, when Washington learned the Soviets were beaming
microwaves at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, some eyebrows went'up.
The CIA asked your advice about the Moscow Embassy irradi-
at ion.
DR. MILTON ZARET: That Is correct.
WALLACE: When and what did they ask?
DR. ZARET: They first came to me, I think, early in '65.
WALLACE: Dr. Milton Zaret Is an eye surgeon, professor
of opthalmology at New York University,. and he's been studying
microwave radiation and its effects on us for 20 years.
DR. ZARET: We reproduced some of the Soviet experiments,
and I also analyzed Soviet literature, and I found that If I were
a professor,of opthalmology at Moscow instead of at NYU, I would
believe that radiation would have an anti-personnel effect. The
multiple frequencies they were using, the wavelengths they were
using all fit ipto the pattern they would expect a behavioral
.effect on our people.
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DR. SAM KOSLOV: Well, we first realized that there was
a specific signal directed at the embassy about 1963 or '64;.1
couldn't tell you the exact date.
WALLACE: What'd we do about It?
WALLACE: Dr. Sam Koslov. He is the chief scientific
adviser to the Navy on microwave radiation. He's been Into the
subject since the early '60s.
DR. KOSLOV: We decided that one. possibility, vague as It
was, could be they were on to something In radiation'effects we
didn't understand.
WALLACE: Conceivably, they were beaming that radiation
at our embatssy to induce the same kind of sleeplessness, fatigue,
disorientation, etcetera, etcetera, that they have seen in their
own workers that had been exposed to microwave radiation.
DR. KOSLOV: The only problem with that, Mike, is that..
characteristically of that period, the maximum level that you
would find Inside the embassy was about one microwatt per square
centimeter, perhaps two microwatts per square centimeter, which.
Is substantially less, even, than the Soviet standard.
A large body of people who looked at the data said,
"Look, there's no hazard here," and we turned that particular
program off.
DR. ZARET: My recommendation at that time to my contacts'
In the CIA was twofold: One, make them stop it. It was strictly
a dirty tricks operation at that point in time. And two, to tell
our people In the embassy that they had been Irradiated.
WALLACE: How long was It before the embassy staff was
DR. KOSLOV: January 1976, January-February 1976.
WALLACE: That's 13 years after you first discovered the
Irradiation was going on.
? DR. KOSLOV: And after we had pretty well ascertained
that there didn't appear to be any hazard.
WALLACE: The main target, ostensibly, was the Ambassador's
office, we are told. And maybe there Is no connection, but given
the Russian literature, doesn't It, as a scientist, make you wonder,
when two of our Ambassadors to the Soviet Union have died of cancer,
and it is our understanding that Ambassador Stoessel, who islnow
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In Bonn, now out of Moscow, has been quite III also?
DR. KOSLOV: Well, I have no way of commenting on Ambas-
sador Stoessel's condition. But let me say this.
WALLACE: Incidentally, Ambassador Stoessel won't even
answer our phone calls about this matter, and that, I confess to
you, makes me wonder. If there's nothing to hide, then the
Ambassador simply comes on the phone and says, "Mr. Wallace, this
Is the situation."
DR. KOSLOV: Well, I admit from time to time I've tried
to reform the State Department, but I don't really think I'm quali-
fied to do so.
But there is no evidence in the literature, Soviet or
ours, there is no sign, no indication that anything In the electro-
magnetic spectrum, In the non-ionizing electromagnetic spectrum,
can Induce cancer.
WALLACE: Maybe so, but the State Department is paying
$400,000 for research to find out if there is a connection between
the embassy irradiation and health complaints from our employees
there, Including a reported"high Incidence of cancer.
The beaming of microwaves by the Russians at our Moscow
Embassy was intentional, but some people in this country are now
concerned about everyday occupational exposure to that kind of,
radiation. For Instance, our military has billions of dollars
worth of microwave paraphernalia for our offensive and defensive
weapons systems, and now some people who have worked around those
systems for years say they have developed job-related ailments,
specifically cataracts.
JOE TOWNE: I can see a figure across the table but I
can't tell who you are, without the glasses. With the glasses,
you're Mike Wallace.
WALLACE: Joe Towne, former Air Force Sergeant. He's had
surgery for cataracts in both eyes. Towne for years was a radar
tech aboard EC-121s, flying radar stations.
Is there any doubt in your mind, Joe Towne, that your
cataracts were caused by microwave radiation?
TOWNE: None whatsoever.
WALLACE: The man who operated on Towne's eyes, Dr.
Milton Zaret,
Over the 15 years-that you've been dealing In this area,
how many diseased eyes do you think that you can attribute to
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microwave radiation?
DR. ZARET: Well, it's a large number. I stopped counting
quite a while ago.
WALLACE: Zaret has been called on by all branches of the
mili'i'ary and the CIA for his expertise. But when he starts talking
about cataracts due to long-term exposure to low-level microwave
radiation, military doctors like Bud Appleton take exception.
DR. BUD APPLETON: We've found no evidence that people
have sustained cataracts as a result of exposure to microwaves,
not just small amounts, but even large amounts.
WALLACE: Dr. Appleton is the chief opthalmologist at
Walter Reed Hospital and adviser to the Surgeon General of the
Army. He says the military tested the eyes of 1300 servicemen
who had'worked around radars and compared them with others who
hadn't.
DR. APPLETON: There wasn't any difference between the
microwave workers, as a population, with respect to their eyes,
and the control population with respect to their eyes.
TOWNE: We ran a study on 70 men who were radarmen in
the EC-121 aircraft, and we discovered 12 out of the 70'had
cataracts.
DR. APPLETON: There wasn't anything different about
their eyes than what one would expect from people of their age
In the population coming through the clinic of people who had
been identified as having an eye problem.
WALLACE: Despite that opinion, Joe Towne sued the makers
of the. equipment he had worked on. They claimed no liability, but
they settled anyway.
TOWNE: Lockheed settled out of court.'
WALLACE: How much?
TOWNE: $50,000.
MAN: The low-power system could still be transmitting...
WALLACE: These four men worked on Army radar sites. All
got cataracts in their 30s or early 40s. They're suing the equip-
ment manufacturer, and they're mad at military doctors for not
backing them up.
MAN: If they brought this equipment down to a safe stan-
'dardf they would have to spend billions and billions of dollIrs.
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DR. APPLETON: If they have service-connected disabilities,
then they should be compensated.
WALLACE: But you don't believe that they have a service-
connected disability.
DR. TEMPLETON: I say there is no scientific evidence to
support the claim that they have a service-connected disability.
WALLACE: Critics say'the government won't concede a
hazard from microwave radiation because it would cost billions to
move and redesign all that equipment. But Dr. Applet-on says
nonsense; it would cost more not to move it If there were a danger.
DR. APPLETON: If there were such a thing as microwave
cataract, -at it would probably cost In the long run to compensate
people for them would be astronomical, In terms of dollars.
WALLACE: But other employees of the Federal Government
have made out better. Air traffic controllers have put in claims
for disability from cataracts after working around radar for years.
Thomas Markey of the Department of Labor told us that six claims
were paid, others are still pending.
settlements.
These claims amount to tens of thousands of dollars, and
we asked Markey on whose medical expertise did?you depend In these
DR. ZARET: What was his answer?
WALLACE: Dr. Milton Zaret.
DR. APPLETON: I'm not surprised. But I'm not the only
optha.lmologist who disagrees with Dr. Zaret.
WALLACE: Indeed, Dr. Milton Zaret does not have support
for his theories in the scientific community, and a layman has to
wonder, if Zaret's right, why aren't microwave cataracts showing
up everywhere?
DR. ZARET: Well, there's great Individual variation In
how you're exposed. There's no constant rate of exposure for the
general population. It takes 20-30 years before the radiational
effect becomes apparent, in some people. Age Is a factor. And
who's to tell In 30 years from now what our incidence of cataract
will be?
WALLACE: Microwave ovens. They're the gadgets that have
brought microwaves from the Job Into the home, about four million
of them In the past five years, sales approaching half a billion
dollatr3 worth 'h year. Food In those ovens Is bombarded with'heavy
dosb1 of Microwaves. The question is: How much radiation leaks
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out of the ovens.
The Consumers Union is a private, nonprofit testing organi-
zation which examines consumer products for their effectiveness and
safety. To this day, scientists at Consumers Union refuse to testify
to the safety of microwave ovens.
Executive Director of Consumers Union, Rhoda Karpatkin.
RHODA KARPATKIN: Consumer Reports tested microwave ovens
and studied the literature about microwave ovens. We reported in
the magazine on what we found, and what we found is that-there is
varying levels of leakage in each of the machines we.tested. We
found that the:literature has not established those levels of leakage
as safe.
Wf,LLACE: We asked the industry for a spokesman. They sug-
gested,Dr. John Osepchuk (?), a microwave expert employed by the
Raytheon Corporation, which makes the Amana Radarange.
DR. JOHN OSEPCHUK: All of the respectable scientists in
this country, beginning with the HEW 15-man advisory committee, the
AMA, the IEEE -- that is, the electrical engineering organization --
professors galore, have said the emission standard for this oven put
out by the American Government is compatible with the U.S.S.R. expo-
sure standard. So any debate about exposure standards is irrelevant
to the safety of this oven.
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WALLACE: There's a federal regulation that says microwave
ovens can leak one milliwatt per square centimeter at sale, five
milliwatts once they're in the home. But that raises the question:
How does an owner know how much an oven leaks.
KARPATKIN: Either by asking the government to test it for
them or by acquiring the equipment to test It themselves.
WALLACE: Consumers Union scientists report some models
they tested under severe conditions leaked much more than the federal
regulations permit. And the Federal Government this year announced
the recall of 36,000 ovens because of potential leakage problems.
Regardless, Dr. Osepchuk insists that no models need testing
In the home.
? DR. OSEPCHUK: The government has such strict regulations
.with this device, that are unprecedented in the kitchen. It has to
be beaten to death and still survive a radiation standard.
WALLACE: Well, then what's wrong with Consumers Union?
I mean they're hardly out to put the GE or Westinghouse or Amana
or Raytheon or whomever out of business.
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OR. OSEPCHUK: I would say, in view of the fact that the
most prestigious scientists across the world agree that this-is so
safe, I would just say that Consumers Union must be misguided.
WALLACE: You're a scientist. Scientists developed Thali-
domide and food additives and pesticides and X-rays, and originally
no one worried, and only later did we begin to find out.
DR. APPLETON: Well, the only thing I can say is that in
the case of the electromagnetic environment, we've been living in
it for a long time. We have seen no pattern.
Everything we do has a risk-benefit characteristic to It.
I have an oiI burner in my house to heat it. Oil bueners'sometimes
blow up. Okay? But I still want to heat my house.
Al! I'm saying here is that in the case of the environ-
mental pollution, which there Is, fram eIectromagnetIcs, we haven't
approached that risk-benefit threshold yet.
WALLACE: The Federal Government, In the past five years,
has finally coordinated all the various experiments being done by a
dozen different agencies on microwave radiation. They're spending
$9 million this year, mostly for exposing test animals to a variety
of radiation under a variety of circumstances. They want to determ-
ine which, If any, of the Russian conclusions might be right when they
talk about disorders of the central nervous system, or heart problems,
or sexual Importence from microwaves, and whether there could possibly
be such a thing as microwave cataracts, as Dr. Zaret claims.
To be sure, the scientists waving flags are a minority of
a minority, scoffed at by a lot of their colleagues. But in the
middle is a sizable group, including some government scientists, who
admit it's going to take years before we can' be sure electronic smog
is not.dangerous, before we can hold it harmless, or before we might
say, "If only we had known."
i_.
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