Radiowave Pollution

Each year we install more electrical, electronic and radio devices to make life convenient and more fun. In so doing we surround ourselves with increasing levels of electromagnetic radiation.

Is this a serious problem? The Russians certainly think so, for they have enacted stringent regulations limiting the radiowave energy that workers can legally be exposed to. The limit is ten microwatts per square centimeter (usually simply stated as ten microwatts, leaving out the unit of area).

How about in this country? No regulations exist, although the government recommends a limit of ten thousand microwatts.

Much investigation of the effects of radiowaves on animals and people has been done in the Soviet Union, but little has been pursued in North America. Some of that research in California has used cats to demonstrate significant changes in chemicals that play a role in brain function at levels as low as 100 microwatts. The average leakage from microwave ovens as measured a few inches outside the door is 120 microwatts.

European investigators claim to have found significant impairment to the mental ability of animals exposed for a half hour to levels near 10,000 microvolts. This level is typical of that found within a few inches of a walkie-talkie, and within a few feet of mobile radios such as are carried in taxicabs.

As yet, the radio pollution level in Alaska and Northern Canada is comparatively low. Still, many northerners, especially those who work around or use high-power radio transmitters, are probably being subjected to radiation levels considered illegal in the Soviet Union.

Have you been suffering from "insomnia, irritability, headaches and loss of memory" lately? May it's time to turn off the nearest transmitter.