energy values required to damage sensitive electronic semiconductor junctions with those tolerated by the human body in volume or even at a point on the body surface. It is clear that EM energy poses a far greater hazard to a semiconductor junction than to a human. The ultimate solution to this environmental RFI problem may lie in shielding and filtering of consumer and commercial electronic devices. There are political and economic obstacles to rational technical solutions suggested here — i.e., increased cost for shielding and filtering consumer TV is opposed by the TV receiver industry. Nevertheless, one can foresee ultimately a three-tiered approval for controlling environmental RF levels as suggested in Table 8. The resolution of this problem and the even more prominent one of fear of microwaves will take many years of public discussions and education. Much of the problem derives from the existence of soft science which leads to misinformation and even propaganda (10,11) in the media. The difficulty of ferreting out the truth in such a situation and restoring a rational approach is severe and recognized even by some perceptive students (9) from Central Washington University who said: “Microwave radiation effects of SPS will become a more controversial issue, in the next few years, and once the issue starts to become confirmed, by the experts from both sides, public acceptance will become unlikely no matter what the experts find.” The existence of “radiophobia” (17) is generally recognized today, but there is hope for its mitigation. In February 1985, a Federal judge stopped the construction of a Naval communications system because of fears in this category. In June 1985, an appeals court removed (18) the injunction and in the process pointedly described the weakness and even irrational nature of alleged scientific bases for fears of low level EM energy. Lastly, in 1985 a new organization, the Electromagnetic Energy Policy Alliance, was formed (19) to fight this problem. The degree to which EEPA is successful in this fight will no doubt affect the future acceptance of SPS. QUESTIONS Question: What are the companies that formed this organization? Answer: The founders are AT&T, Rockwell Collins, Motorola, RCA, MCI, GTE, Raytheon and the National Association of Broadcasting. Question: Isn’t it just possible that the RFI problem is being greatly exaggerated which people will eventually find out just as the microwave hazard is exaggerated? Answer: The problem of potential system RFI is very real and can’t be dismissed really until some actual prototype SPS experience is achieved. In the same vein, we believe that the extensive experience in medical diathermy and recent experiments in heating people by microwaves (as in the Pound proposal (20)) help dispel the fear of microwave exposure hazard. Much of the battle for acceptance of SPS and other EM systems is political as well as matters of public education. Radioastronomers (13) believe additional spurious RF radiation in the environment is anathema and are sure to oppose projects like SPS on political grounds. They have a more effective lobby (the National Academy of Sciences) for frequency allocation than
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