World News – CA – Report claims the mysterious « Havana Syndrome » was most likely the result of microwave weapons

A new report claims to have found the cause of « Havana Syndrome »: microwave weapons. But the story is far from over.

As early as 2016, employees at the US and Canadian embassies in Cuba began to experience strange symptoms, including headaches, hearing loss, nausea, anxiety, disorientation and « cognitive fog », sometimes accompanied by a high-pitched noise and sometimes not.

To make the experience even more unsettling, some would hear the sound while others standing right next to them would not. Theories have been suggested, from strange acoustic weapons to mass hysteria.

The affected person’s brain seems to be showing that something is going on. A study of 40 diplomats published in the medical journal JAMA shows « significant differences in whole-brain white matter volume, regional gray and white matter volume, cerebellum » comparing tissue microstructure integrity and functional connectivity in auditory and visual subnets to controls. « 

In this case, the researchers did not suggest any possible causes for the injury, but concluded that there had been some sort of brain trauma. Cuba, meanwhile, denied the study, claiming the brain scans were inconclusive.

A new report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine now claims to have found the most likely cause of the syndrome.

« The committee found that the unusual presentation of acute, directional, or site-specific early-stage signs, symptoms reported by [the] staff is consistent with the effects of directional, pulsed radio frequency energy, » they write in the report. before ruling out other factors such as exposure to chemicals (from insecticide spraying) as there is no evidence of high exposure and the clinical history is inconsistent with the symptoms of these chemicals.

« Overall, directed pulse radiofrequency energy, particularly those with pronounced early manifestations, appears to be the most plausible mechanism for explaining these cases, » although they add that psychological factors could have exacerbated symptoms, especially after the event.

They cite « significant research in Russia / USSR » on the effects of pulsed radio frequency energy, and reports from military personnel in Communist countries who were « exposed to non-thermal microwave radiation [and] reported having headaches, fatigue, dizziness, irritability , Insomnia, depression, anxiety, forgetfulness and poor concentration as well as internal sound perception. « 

They also refer to the Frey Effect, which was discovered by Alan Frey in 1961. Frey discovered that after exposure to microwave radiation, people put pressure on their heads and can hear a « buzzing, clicking, hissing, or knocking » sound at certain frequencies.

Which all sounds very sci-fi. However, there are reasons to be skeptical that microwave weapons are the cause of Havana Syndrome. Extremely skeptical indeed.

First, the report itself did not seek to prove that pulsed radio frequency energy was the cause of the strange symptoms, but instead chose it as the most plausible of the explanations and suggestions Russia may have come up with during the year Soviet times are very speculative. More importantly, there is no evidence that such weapons exist or could exist in a way that would have the described effects on the embassy staff.

« Not a single person who has tried to link the symptoms to microwave energy has ever described – based on known technical and scientific knowledge – what this device would look like or how it would work, » said the head of the Yahoo News’ DC Bureau points out on Twitter. « Because that’s where the whole story falls apart. « 

The person who first described the mechanism behind the Frey Effect, University of Pennsylvania bioengineer Kenneth Foster, told Buzzfeed News that the report does not provide a plausible reason why the syndrome should be caused by microwaves. The Frey Effect requires a lot of energy to produce barely audible noises.

« Perhaps someone bothered to haul a large microwave transmitter so staff could hear ‘clicks’, » Foster told Buzzfeed. « But there are easier ways to harass people. « 

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Cuba, Havana, United States Senate, Microwave