Development of chicken embryos following exposure to 60-Hz magnetic fields with differing waveforms.

Previous studies in my laboratory have revealed a reproducible and statistically significant increase in the number of malformations in live chicken embryos that had been exposed during the first 48 h of incubation to a pulsed magnetic field (unipolar pulses, 100-pps, 1-microT peak density). In marked contrast, no adverse effect was seen following similar exposure to 60-Hz, bipolar, unipolar, or split-sine waves at 3-microT peak-to-peak. In the four experiments comprising the present study, differences in the numbers of malformations between control and experimental groups were not statistically significant. Field-free incubation for an additional 72 h after exposure to a bipolar sine wave for 48 h resulted in an increase in normal live embryos in both control and treated groups.