Microwave Electromagnetic Radiation and Autism

Abstract

Child numbers with autism spectrum disorders
(ASDs) and population exposure to microwave
irradiation have risen in parallel. It was suggested that
fetal/neonatal microwave exposure might predispose
to later ASD development. The hypothesis has been
evaluated through consideration of three aspects.
First, plausibility was addressed through review of
potential mechanisms: the presence of magnetite in
human brain, with pulse modulation of microwave
signals in a frequency band critical for synaptic
plasticity, suggests that microwave radiation could
interfere with brain development and function.
Second, typical levels of domestic microwave
exposure were compared against recorded effects of
gestational exposure of experimental animals. The
highest recurrent exposures are from mobile/cordless
phone handsets and domestic base-stations (up to 20
microW/cm2) whereas continuous gestational
exposure of rodents at 100 microW/cm2 was not
reported to produce adverse behavioral changes.
Third, the timing of the first rise in ASD was
compared against that of the spread of domestic
microwave devices. In the USA and other western
countries, ASD diagnoses began to rise sharply in the
early 1980s. Microwave ovens first reached western
households in the early 1980s, becoming
commonplace by the mid-1980s; uptake plateaued
from 1990 while ASD rates have continued to rise.
Mobile and cordless telephones were rare until c.
1995, a decade later than the rise in ASD.