'Microwave weapons' could be culprit in attacks on US diplomats

The US Embassy in Havana, Cuba. Photo / 123RF

Evidence is emerging that attacks with microwave weapons are behind the mysterious illnesses that have affected dozens of American diplomats and their families in Cuba and China.

The New York Times reports that a leading researcher says microwave weapons are now considered a main suspect. The victims heard high-pitched sounds and suffered nausea, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, sleep problems and hearing loss.

Dr Douglas Smith told the New York Times that medical experts who examined 21 of those affected in Cuba are increasingly sure the diplomats suffered brain injury.

Smith, the director of the Centre for Brain Injury and Repair at the University of Pennsylvania, was the lead author of a study on the issue published in March in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Everybody was relatively sceptical at first," he told the New York Times. "Everyone now agrees there's something there."

There has been no official confirmation that such weapons are the culprit.

In a new study in Neural Computation, Dr Beatrice Golomb, professor of medicine at the University of California, says the publicly reported symptoms and experience strongly match known effects of pulsed radiofrequency/microwave electromagnetic (RF/MW) radiation.

"I looked at what's known about pulsed RF/MW in relation to diplomats' experiences," Golomb said.

"Everything fits. The specifics of the varied sounds that the diplomats reported hearing during the apparent inciting episodes, such as chirping, ringing and buzzing, cohere in detail with known properties of so-called 'microwave hearing,' also known as the Frey effect.

"And the symptoms that emerged fit, including the dominance of sleep problems, headaches and cognitive issues, as well as the distinctive prominence of auditory symptoms."

In May, the State Department reported that US government employees in Guangzhou, China had also experienced similar sounds and health problems. Affected diplomats and family members from both locations were medically evacuated to the US for treatment.

David Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University of Albany, said Golomb's study illustrates 'microwave hearing,' which results "from heating induced in tissue, which causes 'waves' in the ear and results in clicks and other sounds."

He said: "We have seen this before when the Soviets irradiated the US Embassy in Moscow in the days of the Cold War."

Cuba has denied involvement or knowledge.