Electromagnetic Effects on Live Beings

Professor Marcelo Sampaio de Alencar

Federal University of Campina Grande, Brazil

Abstract

This talk presents a preliminary analysis of the effects of radiation, in the microwave range, on laboratory rats of the species Rattus norvegicus. The experiments were carried out in the 850 MHz and 2.45 GHz frequency ranges, using power densities of 0.6 mW/cm2 and 1,6 mW/cm2 (which represents the maximumsecurity level adopted by international regulatory bodies, for human beings submitted to non-ionizing radiation), applied during a period of one hour,every day. During the development of the project several experiments were performed, among them one can cite: monitoring water and food consumption, hematocrit, observation of alterations on the estral cycle of females, effects on the humoral system, behavioral effects, including results of tests with Skinner cages and Morris tank, and effects on the number of offsprings produced.
 

Biography

Marcelo Alencar obtained a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 1993. Since then he has been with the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Federal University of Campina Grande, in Brazil, where he is Full Professor, and chair of the Communications Group. He is Vice-President Foreign Affairs of the Brazilian Telecommunications Society, and Senior Member of the IEEE. He has consulted extensively for industry and Government in Brazil, and has published four books in the area of Communications. He also writes a weekly column on communications for a  Brazilian newspaper. He has performed research in various areas of wireless communications for the past 20 years and published over 170 research papers in the area. He currently leads an interdisciplinary group working on the biological effects of radiation.