Biological Effects of Exposure to Radiation without Heat

What are the biological effects of exposure to radiation without heat?

The problem became much more acute when the results of the navy’s SANGUINE studies became known. Because the energy in electromagnetic radiation is proportional to the frequency, there was absolutely no way that 45, 60, or 75 Hz could cause any heat effect. Yet, the SANGUINE studies indicated important functional changes in humans. Later, other studies were done at 60 Hz, and additional biological effects were found. By this time, the engineers were certain that the biologists were either very poor scientists or certifiable loons! However, the physicists were not so sure.

The work of doctors Susan Bawin and W. Ross Adey of Loma Linda University was the benchmark in this situation. In 1976, they reported that irradiation of living nerve cells in culture with 16-Hz fields produced a measurable increase in the number of calcium ions (Ca++) coming out of the cells. When other labs tried to duplicate this result, they confirmed that ELF did, indeed, produce Ca++ efflux, but they reported its occurrence at slightly different frequencies. The resulting argument over whether the efflux was due to chance or whether there was a hidden variable that had not been identified generated more heat than light for some time.