But there is no consensus among scientists that thermal effects are the only biological effects this kind of non-ionizing radiation can produce. Hackett said it is unclear whether millimeter waves cause non-thermal effects. There's controversy in the scientific community whether what are called non-thermal effects exist in response to energy of this type. As far as we know, and we have not seen any other effects other than thermal with this energy. But some scientists question whether the Air Force's focus on thermal receptors might lead researchers to overlook other kinds of less-obvious effects millimeter waves might have on the body.
Skin is an interesting organ.
It's a pretty complex one. If a researcher is interested in the thermal receptors and is studying them, there is a possibility other receptors are being affected but not being measured and there could be changes in them that have other potentially irreversible consequences, Frey explained. You can be making a difference. Even though MMW radiation is non-ionizing and said not to be capable of breaking chemical bonds or causing mutations, there is still a question of whether MMWs could impair the human body's ability to kill off mutations that arise from other causes, Frey said. You have three billion base pairs and when they replicate, whenever cells are divided which happens a lot in the skin, errors are made, there are mutations, so there's always essentially the potential for cancer occurring everyday in everybody.