Blast From The Past

Here's an article from over 50 years ago, which makes it pretty clear that radio waves can be biologically hazardous, even without heating or damaging tissue.

Calgary Herald - April 25, 1959


Scientists Kill Monkeys With Radio Waves

WASHINGTON (AP) - Government scientists reported Friday that at least 10 monkeys have been killed in recent experiments by a crude "death ray" derived from certain ultra-high frequency radio waves.

But Dr. Pearce Bailey, who made the report, indicated a belief that it would be unlikely that such a thing could happen to a person listening to a radio or working a radar set.

However, he also said that while "we feel certain that radio and radar are not dangerous ... we have had mysterious airplane accidents."

"It was always assumed that with the ordinary frequencies these things could not happen," he said, "but it appears here that if you use a certain frequency and have a head in a certain critical position, it can happen."

Bailey reported what he termed a remarkable phenomenon in testimony before the House of Representatives appropriations committee released Friday. Bailey is director of the National Institute of Neurological diseases and blindness.

CAME FROM ANTENNA

Describing one experiment, the doctor said the waves that killed a monkey emanated from a radio antenna pointing toward the monkey's head and in line with his brain stem, the central and vital part of the brain. He said the monkey was killed in five minutes.

The particular radio frequency employed, Bailey said later, was 388 megacycles.

Radio experts told a reporter this is within the band of frequencies used in ultra-high-frequency line-of-sight radio communication between airplanes and is also used in some types of specialized television and radar.

In contrast, commercial radio broadcasts are in the frequency band ranging from six-tenths of a megacycle to 1 1/2 megacycles.

Frequency Modulation (FM) radio and everyday television are in the frequency band of approximately 100 megacycles. Most radars are in the range of several thousand megacycles.

Bailey reported that the deaths of a number of monkeys were apparently related to something other than the heating effect of the radio waves.

REPORTED DANGER

Several scientists have reported in the past that radar beams can be dangerous, from the standpoint of their heating effect. Dr. John R. McLaughlin of Glendale, Calif., reported in 1957 that a man died as a result of exposure in a radar manufacturing plant in Los Angeles.

Although Dr. Bailey described the frequency of the radio waves used, he did not say at what power the beams were employed. A scientist at the U.S. bureau of standards here said the power used "must have been tremendous" in order to produce such an effect.

Later, however, Bailey told a reporter that the power used was "not very large" - about 100 watts.

FEW ABNORMALITIES

Bailey said the most important scientific finding so far from the experiment is this:

Of 10 out of 21 monkeys given sufficient exposure to kill them, pathological examination of their brains after death showed "very few abnormalities." And the 11 others all had a "quite complete recovery."

This shows that sciences now has "an instrument that can change the physiology of the brain without doing permanent damage."

"Thus," he said, "this should prove to be quite a valuable experimental tool for use in research on diseases of the brain. Up to now, other research procedures, such as lobotomy, always caused destruction (of brain tissue.)"