The US military is exposing monkeys and ferrets to brain injury experiments that bombard them with dangerous microwave radiation in a misguided attempt to determine human brain effects associated with the debunked Havana Syndrome illness.
LARA SELIGMAN: The Defense Department is funding experiments on animals to determine if radio frequency waves could be the source of the mysterious ailment referred to as “Havana Syndrome” that has afflicted hundreds of U.S. government personnel in recent years, according to public documents and three people familiar with the effort.
This news of the ongoing animal testing, which has not previously been reported, comes after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence determined last week that there is no credible evidence that a foreign adversary wielding a weapon caused the health incidents. Despite the assessment, the Pentagon is continuing to examine that possibility, as POLITICO reported.
The Army in September awarded Wayne State University in Michigan a $750,000 grant to study the effects of radio frequency waves on ferrets, which have brains similar to humans, according to information on the grant posted on USASpending.gov. The aim is to determine whether this exposure induces similar symptoms to those experienced by U.S. government personnel in Havana, Cuba, and China, the documents show. Symptoms have been described as severe headaches, temporary loss of hearing, vertigo and other problems similar to traumatic brain injury.
DoD has also recently tested pulsed radio frequency sources on primates to try to determine whether their effects can be linked to what the government calls “anomalous health incidents,” according to one former intelligence official and a current U.S. official who were briefed on the effort. Both were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive work. It is not clear whether these studies, which were done internally, are ongoing…
During the Wayne University study, researchers planned to expose the 48 ferrets to radio frequency waves for two hours a day for 60 days… After subjecting the ferrets to the radio frequency waves, researchers will perform cognitive measurements, for example testing memory, learning and anxiety, and assess the animals’ balance and hearing function…
Shalin Gala, vice president of the animal rights group PETA, slammed the news that DoD is testing this technology on animals. “We are disturbed by a reported military plan [exposing] monkeys to pulsed microwave radiation in a misguided attempt to determine human brain effects associated with Havana Syndrome,” Gala said. “This has been debunked as has the purported justification for the Army’s current $750,000 taxpayer-funded brain injury experiment that bombards 48 ferrets with radio waves.”
DoD spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Tim Gorman confirmed that the grant to Wayne State University, with collaborators from the University of Michigan, “will develop and test a novel laboratory animal model to mimic mild concussive head injury”… Gorman declined to comment on whether DoD has recently conducted these experiments on primates… DoD has other contracts in the works to conduct additional animal testing, the former official said, while declining to give details…
Animal testing of directed energy sources goes back to the 1960s, when scientists at the DoD’s Advanced Projects Research Agency subjected primates to microwave exposure to determine if Russia was using microwave devices to spy on U.S. government personnel in Moscow. The National Security Archive last year obtained and posted records about the program, which were being reviewed by the Biden administration as part of its investigation into Havana Syndrome…
Secretary Caspar Weinberger banned using animals in DoD “wound laboratories,” which help develop ways of treating wounds, in 1983, though this was later weakened to allow for use of goats and pigs in “live tissue training” drills… Meanwhile, the Army in 2005 prohibited the use of dogs, cats, marine mammals and nonhuman primates from “research conducted for development of biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.”
But the New York Post revealed in September 2022 that the Army Medical Research and Development Command quietly changed its policy to allow the wounding of house pets, primates and marine mammals for research purposes, with approval from the Army’s animal care and use review office…
PETA filed an appeal last year with the Army requesting the release of public information on weapons testing that harms these types of animals after the Army changed its policy. The Army initially told PETA it had at least 2,000 response records to the group’s Freedom of Information Act request, but it later backtracked and claimed to have only one protocol for weapon wounding testing on animals, which it claims is “classified,” according to Gala. The Army disputed the claim that it is withholding relevant documents. SOURCE…
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