PRELIMINARY PLANNING FOR FUTURE SPS MICROWAVE HEALTH AND ECOLOGY RESEARCH AND ASSESSMENT C. William Hamilton Battelle Columbus Laboratories, 505 King Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43201 The objective of the SPS microwave health and ecology assessment task is to identify, characterize and estimate the magnitude of potential bioeffects attributable to microwave radiation (MWR) at SPS reference system power densities and frequencies. This assessment includes effects on airborne biota, terrestrial and space workers, the general public and the ecology. The general toxicological categories that are being investigated include immunology and hematology, mutagenesis, carcinogenesis, reproduction, development and growth, behavior, physiologic and integrative processes, and drug interactions and special populations. During the course of the SPS Concept Development and Evaluation Program (CDEP), investigative efforts have been directed toward identifying potential "program stoppers"; that is, potential MWR bioeffects that are severe, widespread in the population or ecology, and not subject to substantial mitigation. Such findings, if found to exist, would likely constitute an unacceptable risk in any decision to develop and deploy an SPS. Toward this end, two approaches have been adopted in the CDEP program. The first consists of "retrospective" studies -- corroboration or refutation of adverse MWR health and ecological effects reported in the scientific literature. Such reports, of course, are non-specific to SPS reference system conditions. The second consists of research in areas where few or no data currently exist and which pose questions initially judged to be of high priority in the concept evaluation of a microwave power transmission system. Research in this regard includes immunology, teratology, drugs and behavior, field complexity, and bird and bee experiments. The results of the CDEP MWR assessment will be used in two ways: as evidence, to the extent it may exist, suggesting significant adverse effects ("program stoppers") and, second, as a basis for planning future, more comprehensive assessments of potential MWR effects. On a continuum, it is the objective of the SPSPO to progressively reduce uncertainty/increase knowledge concerning human health and ecological effects associated with MWR at possible SPS power densities and frequencies. In this way the precission associated with quantitative risk assessment will increase over time, thus facilitating program decision requirements. Direction of Future SPS MWR Research and Assessment Any future decision on risk acceptance with respect to MWR health and ecology will be made in the public sector (the Congress). To support such decisionmaking, the SPSPO must provide data and methodology to make precise quantitative predictions of pertinent human health and ecology metrics. More specifically, the assessment requirement consists of causal explanations of significant bioeffects (or their absence) in terms of biological system/MWR interactions, corroborated through data from cellular and animal experiments, and extrapolated to human health inferences. This, then, is the objective and planning guideline for future research and assessment in the SPS MWR task area. To implement this objective, an approach consisting of three parallel lines of investigation is currently in a preliminary planning stage. The three investigative paths consist of acute, chronic and theory/mechanism research (Figure 1).
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