The Microwave Debate

Book excerpt: Antennas, power lines, microwave ovens, color TVs, VDTs, radar, and the RF sealers used in many industries may or may not cause harmful physical effects. In this book, Nicholas Steneck takes an objective look at the multifaceted and still unresolved debate involving government, the public, and industry over the safety and use of microwaves and radio-frequency radiation. In the process he raises important issues of conflicting values, vested interests, and scientific uncertainty. Steneck traces the origins of the debate to the 1930s, when scientific research concentrated on the therapeutic, thermal aspects of radio-frequency radiation, and he also covers such recent aspects of the story as the irradiation of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the continuing controversies over the siting of satellite communication antennas. Nicholas H. Steneck is Professor of History and Director of the Collegiate Institute for Values and Science at the University of Michigan.