The Electric Wilderness is a David-and-Goliath tale that demonstrates how the military-industrial establishment can squash an embarrassing scientific enterprise, even though the results coming from it prove to be correct.
The book is a detailed inside account of the controversy over the possible health effects from electromagnetic radiation which pitted two outspoken scientists—Andrew Marino and his chief, researcher and orthopedic surgeon Dr. Robert Becker—against the electric power industry, State and Federal regulatory agencies, and the military. Marino and his co-author, Joel Ray, trace the struggle from the New York hearings on the health risks of 765,000-volt powerlines to their successful conclusion (the lines were acknowledged a potential human hazard, for the first time) and their bitter aftermath. As the only two U.S. scientists speaking out about powerline health hazards, Becker and Marino became the victims of unprecedented problems with publications and of mysterious interference with grant applications. When it was all over, Becker had lost all grant support and had to close his Syracuse, N.Y. lab after twenty years of path-breaking research on the electromagnetic basis of living things.
The Electric Wilderness begins with an explanation of the significance of Becker’s research, then moves swiftly to the hearing and its consequences. Along the way, the story provides important insights into the politics of science in America.