Effects on DNA The greatest controversy surrounds the occurrence of DNA strand breaks that have been demonstrated by Lai and Singh 23 on rat brain cells at 2450 MHz both continuous wave (CW) and pulsed at between 0.6 and 1.2 W·kg –1 . This is demonstrated by a technique called the covariance matching estimator (COMET) assay, which looks for the production of single strand or damaged DNA by a technique of electrophoresis that separates the damaged DNA from the native source DNA. However, Malyapa et al. 24 studying the same model (i.e., rat brain cells) also at 2450 MHz at 1.2 W·kg –1 did not show this effect and claimed the previous results were an artifact of the method. Until this controversy as to whether there is DNA damage from nonthermal levels of microwave exposure is resolved the arguments about safety are not going to be concluded.
