2100 · ' STllET N W August 16 1971 Mr Harry Sonnemann Special Assistant to the · · Assistant Secretary of the Navy R D Department of the Navy The Pentagon Room 4D745 Washington D C 20350 · Subject Review of Contract N00014-69-C-0358 11 Radio-Frequency Hazards Principal Investigator Dr Mil ton M Zaret - Dear Harry An ad-hoc committee cons isting of the undersigned was established at your request to revie w the above contract in pa ticular to establish whether the procedures bei ng e mployed to investigate t ha pote ntial hazard of low-level microwave ra d ia tion a re adequate The issue is whether the techniques em ployed will resul t in scientifically c redible data from which pertine nt clue s with r espec t to the fornation of cataracts can be extracted with a s sura nce that the data base is va1id This is a summary of the commit tee ' s findings It is i mportant to re cog nize at t he outset that this contract consists of two s eparate studie s The first study is being c onduc ted at the Za re t Foundation primate facility on L ula unni Island in Pearl Harbor a nd in·✓ch·e s Dr- r Za re t who wa s ot -e s ida lt at the si e and Dr w F Lyons a s sisted by Miss S B Robi nson This e xperim e n t i s d ire cted- primaril y toward long-term low -level chronic exposu re o f p r ma te s The s e cond study is bei ng cond ucted at the Polytechnic _a ' -- __ Ira T - _ _ ___ _ __ ___ --r ---- --· _____ _ S _ i _ e _ u v _ J f t A u y r 4 V J l V'- '-'0 -6 L •• • l V - C •L L Cl ''-' Ul • • Ka pla n of the Zaret Foundation a s sis ted by Mr Leo BireP bau m P I B wi h cons ltati fror 1 C - Zaret Thi s cons i c cf labor tory r ic i s ure me nt s of hea t rate rcspi ra tion ra e and sub-cu taneo s te mpera ture of rabbits expos e d to ON 2450 M Ez microwJve energy tr Harry Sonnema nn - 2- August 16 1971 According to Dr Za ret' s statement a pproximately 10 percent of the funds w ere e x pended in t e secon s t id y 1 It is clear that the intent of your letter primarily was to review the Hawaii study I General Findings It is the general opinion of the committee that A Long-term low-lev el exposure of primates to microwave is a worthwhile and necessary ex perimental effort B The principal study in concept and execution has not utilized adequate techniques or prope r scientific methodolo gy and will not result in scientifically c redible data The performance to da te i s such that i t is doubtful whether valid re s earch on this problem would oe pe rformed in the future by the same pers onnel using the same or ano the r a pproa c h C It is concluded that t he second expe riment a t Brooklyn has employed adequate te chniq ue s and can supply use ful contributions to the ' scientific literature Continued work coul d lea d to additional useful research D It must b e po i n ted ou t that the Navy shares responsibility for the poor showing i n t he pri ncipal experimenta l effort According to Dr Zare t and evide nt from the course of the experiment the Navy clearly did not supply a source of a d equate intensity to properly carry out the experiment and it is the opinio n o f the committee that inept and casual management was demonstrated by the Navy organization involved in controlling the 1 course of the study Further both Dr Zaret and the Navy organizations involvep d id no t a dequa tely ei ther estimate the cost or the planning n e cessary for pro per u tilization of a large number of expensive animals for this type of ex periment Nor was there adequate utilization of the b as ic e xpe r imental capability fo·r other physiological biochemical or behavioral measurements It is also q estionable whether data on only f two a n ima ls per point coulti provide credible extrapolai ion to man in a 'natter of this level of significance In summary the experiment was Fadly underestimated in both technical complexity and funding he specific findings of the co nmittee in the prin ipul experi Gnt allow Mr Harry Sonnemann I - 3 - Augus t 16 1971 Experimental Procedures These were generally inadequate for studying the effects of low -level radia tion in animals A Animal Handling practice l ll I 1 Animal care was not in accordance with good laboratory 2 Animal restraint procedures during exposures were poor Exam ination of the data log indicated that of five monkeys' deaths three •J ere certainly due to strangulation resulting from poor experimental design of the restraint system Leaving animals on their perches overnight is poor practice and was probably contributory to some of the deaths 3 No s atisfactory evidence was pre sented Qf provision for routine pre- and post-experimental examination of the animals B Microwave Calibration and M asurement Techniques 1 While the instruments used were calibrated by Dr Rosenthal P I B he never himself visited the site nor participated in on-site measurements fields 2 No satisfactory measurements were presented for the exposure The only data shown seemed vague casual and amateurish I 3 There was no measurement or logging of the radiation data during exposure periods · I 4 The problem of artifacts in neasuring mjcrowave fie lds in the presence of metallic collars support pipes and the presence of dielectric s of unknown propertie s was not analyzed or documented There is no evi- • · dence that variations due to the· presence or absence of the animals in various ans tra ining systems were measured or recorded I ' C Observations were poorly recorded The data books gave no details of factual observations Pre-experimental experimental and post experimental records on the exposed and controlled - nimals were incomplete Necropsy records did not indicc1 te gross or microscopic findings J1r Harry Sonnemann - 4 - August 15 1971 D There is no evidence of any adequate biochemical or physiological control procedures o f even a routine nature that s hould be intrins i c to an experiment of this type lI Scie· 1tific Mana gement and Planning A The microwave field intensity levels used were a factor of 5 less than the proposed l evel and as such did not overlap exposure intensity levels tnown to produce cataracts As mentioned above the Navy shared responsibility in not providing equipment adequate for performing the intended experiment B There is a substantial question as to whether Dr Lyons and Miss Robinson had adequate training or experience to carry out the microwave experiments without considerably more supervision than indicated Notations in the log appear to be those o f inexperienced non-iechnically trained individuals • I I C No information was presented of adequate laboratory or other support facilities available to a program of th is magnitude D It is difficult to u nderstand why radiations cea sed February 1971 when personnel were still on the site and the primate colony equipment and site were available particularly after fund ing was made available until June · I1 E It did not appear to the committee that Dr Zaret was adequately familiar with or had exercised a careful review function on the data during or since the exposure · i 1 III Results At the cOnc usion of the radiation only one primate had over 1 OOO hours 2 at 20 mw cm and only one other had 1 000 hours a t 10 mw cm2 No of c ataracts were reported They were not necessarily antiI observations cipated for these exposures · No r iaterial has ·been presented to date which is scientifically credible and which could result in scientific publication In fact it appears that no technical report of any degre e of d e tail has been presented relative to work on this portion of the contract '-✓ Harry Sonnemann - 5 - August 16 1971 We wish to express our appreciation for the opportunity to assist the Department of the Navy in this matter Please let us know if any additional information is required S nc1Jt4C Samuel Koslov The RAND Corporation Chainnan ' Jt il f '7 1 llJ · William A Mills Ph D 1 Environmental Protection Agency - lo '· -- u ¾- Sol M Michaelson D V M University of Rochester U 1111 Cb-e i- R eon aohn M Osepchuk Company