No Baldness Either

Radar operators during the war were frequently worried men. They worked with novel transmitters which sent out powerful beams of little-known ultrashort waves. What effect might these have on human flesh and blood? Some servicemen feared alopecia (loss of hair) or leucopenia (loss of white corpuscles). But most of all they talked about sterility. A few demanded lead pants or jockstraps.

Medical officers reassured the boys. Just to be sure, they ran tests at Wright Field. Last week the results of the tests were made public.

The victims were male guinea pigs. Thirteen were penned in small cages 18 inches from the antenna of a radar transmitter. Nine were exposed to the waves direct. Others were shielded by sheet copper, which would not stop any X rays the apparatus might be emitting.

For more than 50 days, three hours a day, the radar blasted 45 kilowatts of ten-centimeter waves at the little animals. No hair fell out--no alopecia.

Then came the crucial test. Solemnly the medical officers introduced the male guinea pigs to females of the species. Promptly the males proved that they were not impotent. Soon thereafter all but one of the females proved that their mates had not been sterilized. One male remained on the doubtful list. Medical officers dissected him, found that he too could have become a father.

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