Immediate post-exposure effects of high-peak-power microwave pulses on operant behavior of Wistar rats.
Akyel Y, Hunt EL, Gambrill C, Vargas C Jr, · 1991
View Original AbstractMicrowave exposure disrupted rat behavior only at heating levels 1,000+ times higher than typical cell phone exposure.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed rats to high-power microwave pulses and measured their ability to perform learned behaviors like pressing levers for food. At the highest exposure level (23 W/kg), the rats' body temperatures rose by 2.5°C and they completely stopped responding for 13 minutes, with performance remaining impaired afterward. The study concluded these behavioral disruptions were caused by the heating effects of the microwave radiation.
Why This Matters
This study demonstrates that intense microwave exposure can cause immediate behavioral impairment in laboratory animals, but the key finding is that these effects only occurred at extremely high exposure levels that caused significant body heating. The highest exposure level of 23 W/kg is roughly 1,150 times higher than current FCC limits for cell phones (0.02 W/kg for partial body exposure). What makes this research particularly relevant is that it shows clear dose-response effects - no behavioral changes occurred at lower exposure levels, only when heating became substantial. The reality is that while this study confirms microwave radiation can affect brain function and behavior, it required exposure levels far beyond what you encounter from everyday devices. The thermal mechanism identified here doesn't rule out non-thermal effects at lower levels, but it does show that the most dramatic behavioral impacts require heating that simply doesn't occur with normal device use.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 0.84, 2.5, 7.6, and 23 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 1.25-GHz
- Exposure Duration
- 10 min
Study Details
Behavioral effects of high-peak-power microwave pulses on Wistar rats were studied by operant schedules.
Each of twelve rats that had been trained to press a lever to receive food pellets was assigned rand...
Exposures at the highest dose caused an average colonic temperature rise of 2.5 °C and these animals...
No behavioral effects were found at the lower dose levels. It is concluded that the behavioral perturbations produced by pulsed microwave irradiation were thermal in nature.
Show BibTeX
@article{y_1991_immediate_postexposure_effects_of_805,
author = {Akyel Y and Hunt EL and Gambrill C and Vargas C Jr and},
title = {Immediate post-exposure effects of high-peak-power microwave pulses on operant behavior of Wistar rats.},
year = {1991},
doi = {10.1002/bem.2250120306},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.2250120306},
}