Record Display for the EPA National Library Catalog

RECORD NUMBER: 18 OF 36

Main Title Fetal and Maternal Effects of Continual Exposure of Rats to 970-MHz Circularly-Polarized Microwaves.
Author Berman, E. ; Weil, C. ; Phillips, P. A. ; Carter, H. B. ; House, D. E. ;
CORP Author Health Effects Research Lab., Research Triangle Park, NC. Developmental Toxicology Div. ;National Inst. of Standards and Technology, Boulder, CO. ;ManTech Environmental Technology, Inc., Research Triangle Park, NC.
Publisher c1992
Year Published 1992
Report Number EPA/600/J-92/319;
Stock Number PB92-227602
Additional Subjects Microwaves ; Fetus ; Mothers ; Exposure ; Rats ; Dose-response relationships ; Body weight ; Reproduction ; Reprints ;
Holdings
Library Call Number Additional Info Location Last
Modified
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Status
NTIS  PB92-227602 Some EPA libraries have a fiche copy filed under the call number shown. 07/26/2022
Collation 14p
Abstract
Virtually continual exposure to970-MHz microwaves in circularly-polarized waveguides was used to elicit fetal responses in Sprague-Dawley rats during gestation. Two hundred fifty rats were exposed to microwave radiation at whole-body averaged specific absorption rates (SAR) of 0.07, 2.4, or 4.8 W/kg, or concurrently shamirradiated for 22 h/day from the 1st through the 19th day of gestation. At SAR of 4.8 W/kg, only fetal body weight was significantly altered (-12%, P=.012). Two of twelve rats died during the exposure at SAR of 4.8 W/kg. Bred, but non-pregnant, rats that were exposed at SAR of 4.8 W/kg had significantly lower body weight gain than sham-irradiated rats; similar lower gain is assumed to have occurred in the pregnant rats exposed at SAR of 4.8 W/kg, and whose fetuses were significantly smaller. The authors conclude that continual gestational exposure at SAR of 4.8 (but not 2.4 or lower) W/kg induces fetal alterations. Apparently, deleterious maternal effects are associated with these fetal changes. Although colonic temperature was not measured in these rats, it is expected that exposure at 4.8 W/kg was hyperthermal.