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The Body Electric
that nonthermal microwave cataracts
exist, Zaret's work has proven
beyond good-faith dispute that low doses exert a cumulative effect that
eventually stiffens and clouds the posterior capsule. Surveys by others
here and abroad have confirmed his conclusion. In fact, these behind-
the-lens cataracts constitute a "marker disease" for sustained microwave
exposure. Zaret has personally diagnosed over fifty clear-cut cases, many
in airline pilots and air traffic controllers.
In 1971 Zaret was involved in a projected five-year primate study for
the Navy when he made the mistake of telling his overseers the disturb-
ing news that one of the monkeys had died after a few hours' exposure to
just twice the U.S. safety level. Within days Captain Paul Tyler "hap-
pened to be in the area" of the Hawaii research facility and wanted Zaret
to show him around. He left in about twenty minutes, having seen little
of the equipment, and in a few days more the entire project had been
canceled.
The double-dealing has only made Zaret dig in his heels. Through the
years he has been one of the few doctors willing to take on the govern-
ment by testifying on behalf of plaintiffs filing claims for microwave
health damage. At such proceedings one always runs into the same cast
of characters speaking more or less the same lines. At one trial the ubiq-
uitous Michaelson attacked Zaret's professional abilities, only to have
later testimony reveal the embarrassing fact that Michaelson's mother
owed the vision in one eye to the ophthalmologist's surgical skill.
As we've already seen, there are
many indications that EMFs and
EMR weaker than the Schwan guideline have serious effects on growth.
The 10,000-microwatt level was directly tested in 1978 by a group at
the Stanford Research Institute. Pregnant squirrel monkeys and their
offspring were irradiated. Of nine babies zapped in utero and/or after
birth, five died within six months, compared with none in the control
group.
The U.S. safety standard would be grossly inadequate even if it was
law. In actuality, although some businesses and military agencies have
adhered to it, it has never posed any threat to those that have not. A
federal court case decided in 1975 and upheld in 1977 defined it as an
advisory or "should" guideline, which couldn't be enforced. Now, as per
instructions dated March 17, 1982, Occupational Safety and Health Ad-
ministration (OSHA) inspectors can no longer issue even meaningless
citations to companies for exposing workers to more than the limit.
The only actual regulation of public electromagnetic energy dosage
pertains to microwave ovens.
In
1970 the FDA's Bureau of Radiological
Health stipulated that no oven should leak more than 1,000 microwatts
at a distance of 2 inches when new, nor more than 5,000 after sale. Even