The Challenge of Nonionizing Radiation: A Proposal for Legislation
Karen A. Massey · 1979
This 1979 analysis predicted today's EMF regulatory crisis, calling for legislation that still hasn't materialized decades later.
Plain English Summary
This 1979 analysis by Karen Massey examined the regulatory gaps surrounding nonionizing radiation sources like microwaves and radio frequencies. The paper proposed legislative frameworks to address the growing biological effects evidence and environmental protection concerns. This represents early recognition that existing radiation laws weren't keeping pace with emerging EMF technologies.
Why This Matters
What makes this 1979 paper remarkable is its prescience. Massey was sounding the alarm about nonionizing radiation regulation when most people had never heard of a cell phone. She recognized that our legal frameworks were woefully unprepared for the explosion of microwave and radio frequency technologies that would soon flood our environment.
The reality is that 45 years later, we're still grappling with the same fundamental challenge Massey identified: how do you regulate invisible radiation that causes biological effects but doesn't immediately burn tissue? Her call for comprehensive legislation remains largely unheeded, even as we're now exposed to EMF levels millions of times higher than what concerned researchers in 1979. The science demonstrating biological effects has only grown stronger, yet our regulatory response remains stuck in the past.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.
Study Details
To assess the immediate need for a regulatory system that would control nonionizing radiation in the public interest and offers a critique of the existing system, or lack thereof, for controlling such radiation.
The regulators here are being asked to regulate themselves, as well as private industry, because the government is as much a polluter as the private sector. If nonionizing radiation use is to be controlled, the multiplicity of concerns must be integrated and coordinated into some sort of uniform approach. NEPA points in the right direction, but it is much too weak a tool to deal with the complex problem of nonionizing radiation pollution. The challenge is to translate the concept of technology assessment into practice on a national scale, assuring that the health and environmental perspectives gain their rightful place.
Show BibTeX
@article{the_challenge_of_nonionizing_radiation_a_proposal_for_legislation_g7320,
author = {Karen A. Massey},
title = {The Challenge of Nonionizing Radiation: A Proposal for Legislation},
year = {1979},
}