Proven Dangers of Microwaves

The Proven Dangers of Microwaves
Extracted from NEXUS Magazine, Volume 2, #25 (April-May ‘95).
Originally printed from the April 1994 edition of Acres,USA.
Back in May of 1989, after Tom Valentine first moved to StPaul, Minnesota, he heard on the car radio a short announcementthat bolted him upright in the driver‘s seat. The announcementwas sponsored by Young Families, the Minnesota Extension Serviceof the University of Minnesota: "Although microwavesheat food quickly, they are not recommended for heating ababy‘s bottle," the announcement said.
he bottle may seem cool to the touch, but the liquid insidemay become extremely hot and could burn the baby‘s mouth andthroat. Also, the buildup of steam in a closed container suchas a baby‘s bottle could cause it to explode. "Heatingthe bottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in themilk. In infant formulas, there may be a loss of some vitamins.In expressed breast milk, some protective properties may bedestroyed."
The report went on. "Warming a bottle by holding itunder tap water or by setting it in a bowl of warm water,then testing it on your wrist before feeding, may take a fewminutes longer, but it is much safer." Valentine askedhimself: If an established institution like the Universityof Minnesota can warn about the loss of particular nutrientqualities in microwaved baby formula or mother‘s milk, thensomebody must know something about microwaving they are nottelling everybody.
A LAW SUIT
In early 1991, word leaked out about a lawsuit in Oklahoma.A woman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, only to be killedby a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed theblood for the transfusion in a microwave oven"! Logicsuggests that if heating or cooking is all there is to it,then it doesn‘t matter what mode of heating technology oneuses. However, it is quite apparent that there is more to‘heating‘ with microwaves than we‘ve been led to believe.
Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed-but not in microwaveovens! In the case of Mrs Levitt, the microwaving alteredthe blood and it killed her. Does it not therefore followthat this form of heating does, indeed, do ‘something different‘to the substances being heated? Is it not prudent to determinewhat that ‘something different‘ might do? A funny thing happenedon the way to the bank with all that microwave oven revenue:nobody thought about the obvious. Only ‘health nuts‘ who areconstantly aware of the value of quality nutrition discerneda problem with the widespread ‘denaturing‘ of our food. EnterHans Hertel.
In the tiny town of Wattenwil, near Basel in Switzerland,there lives a scientist who is alarmed at the lack of purityand naturalness in the many pursuits of modern mankind. Heworked as a food scientist for several years with one of themany major Swiss food companies that do business on a globalscale. A few years ago, he was fired from his job for questioningprocedures in processing food because they denatured it. "Theworld needs our help,"
Hans Hertel told Tom Valentine as they shared a fine mealat a resort hotel in Todtmoss, Germany. "We, the scientists,carry the main responsibility for the present unacceptableconditions. It is therefore our job to correct the situationand bring the remedy to the world. I am striving to bringman and techniques back into harmony with nature. We can havewonderful technologies without violating nature." Hansis an intense man, driven by personal knowledge of violationsof nature by corporate man and his state-supported monopoliesin science, technology and education.
At the same time, as the two talked, his intensity shatteredinto a warm smile and he spoke of the way things could beif mankind‘s immense talent were to work with nature and notagainst her. Hans Hertel is the first scientist to conceiveof and carry out a quality study on the effects of microwavednutrients on the blood and physiology of human beings. Thissmall but well-controlled study pointed the firm finger ata degenerative force of microwave ovens and the food producedin them.
The conclusion was clear: microwave cooking changed the nutrientsso that changes took place in the participants‘ blood; thesewere not healthy changes but were changes that could causedeterioration in the human systems. Working with Bernard H.Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and theUniversity Institute for Biochemistry, Hertel not only conceivedof the study and carried it out, he was one of eight participants."To control as many variables as possible, we selectedeight individuals who were strict macrobiotic diet participantsfrom the Macrobiotic Institute at Kientel, Switzerland,"Hertel explained. "We were all housed in the same hotelenvironment for eight weeks. There was no smoking, no alcoholand no sex." One can readily see that this protocol makessense.
After all, how could you tell about subtle changes in ahuman‘s blood from eating microwaved food if smoking, booze,junk food, pollution, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics andeverything else in the common environment were also present?"We had one American, one Canadian and six Europeansin the group. I was the oldest at 64 years, the others werein their 20s and 30s," Hertel added.
Valentine published the results of this study in Search forHealth in the Spring of 1992. But the follow-up informationis available only in a later edition, and also in Acres, USA.In intervals of two to five days, the volunteers in the studyreceived one of the food variants on an empty stomach. Thefood variants were:
raw milk from a biofarm
the same milk conventionally cooked
pasteurized milk from Intermilk Berne
the same raw milk cooked in a microwave oven
raw vegetables from an organic farm
the same vegetables cooked conventionally
the same vegetables frozen and defrosted in the microwave oven
and the same vegetables cooked in the microwave oven
The overall experiment had some of the earmarks of the Pottengercat studies, except that now human beings were test objects,the experiment‘s time-frame was shorter, and a new heat formwas tested. Once the volunteers were isolated at the resorthotel, the test began. Blood samples were taken from everyvolunteer immediately before eating.
Then blood samples were taken at defined intervals aftereating from the above-numbered milk or vegetable preparations.Significant changes were discovered in the blood of the volunteerswho consumed foods cooked in the microwave oven. These changesincluded a decrease in all hemoglobin values and cholesterolvalues, especially the HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (badcholesterol) values and ratio.
Lymphocytes (white blood cells) showed a more distinct short-termdecrease following the intake of microwaved food than afterthe intake of all the other variants. Each of these indicatorspoint in a direction away from robust health and toward degeneration.Additionally, there was a highly significant association betweenthe amount of microwave energy in the test foods and the luminouspower of luminescent bacteria exposed to serum from test personswho ate that food.
This led Hertel to the conclusion that such technically derivedenergies may, indeed, be passed along to man inductively viaconsumption of microwaved food. "This process is basedon physical principles and has already been confirmed in theliterature," Hertel explained. The apparent additionalenergy exhibited by the luminescent bacteria was merely extraconfirmation.
"There is extensive scientific literature concerningthe hazardous effects of direct microwave radiation on livingsystems," Hertel continued. "It is astonishing,therefore, to realise how little effort has been made to replacethis detrimental technique of microwaves with technology morein accordance with nature. "Technically produced microwavesare based on the principle of alternating current.
Atoms, molecules and cells hit by this hard electromagneticradiation are forced to reverse polarity 1 to 100 billiontimes a second. There are no atoms, molecules or cells ofany organic system able to withstand such a violent, destructivepower for any extended period of time, not even in the lowenergy range of milliwatts."Of all the natural substances-whichare polar-the oxygen of water molecules reacts most sensitively.This is how microwave cooking heat is generated-friction fromthis violence in water molecules. Structures of moleculesare torn apart, molecules are forcefully deformed (calledstructural isomerism) and thus become impaired in quality.
HEATING FOOD
"This is contrary to conventional heating of food, inwhich heat transfers convectionally from without to within.Cooking by microwaves begins within the cells and moleculeswhere water is present and where the energy is transformedinto frictional heat." The question naturally arises:What about microwaves from the sun? Aren‘t they harmful? Hertelresponded: "The microwaves from the Sun are based onprinciples of pulsed direct current.
These rays create no frictional heat in organic substance."In addition to violent frictional heat effects (called thermiceffects), there are also athermic effects which have hardlyever been taken into account, Hertel added. "These athermiceffects are not presently measurable, but they can also deformthe structures of molecules and have qualitative consequences.
For example, the weakening of cell membranes by microwavesis used in the field of gene altering technology. Becauseof the force involved, the cells are actually broken, therebyneutralizing the electrical potentials-the very life of thecells-between the outer and inner sides of the cell membranes.Impaired cells become easy prey for viruses, fungi and othermicro-organisms.
The natural repair mechanisms are suppressed, and cells areforced to adapt to a state of energy emergency: they switchfrom aerobic to anaerobic respiration. Instead of water andcarbon dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and carbon monoxide areproduced." It has long been pointed out in the literaturethat any reversal of healthy cell processes may occur becauseof a number of reasons, and our cells then revert from a "robustoxidation" to an unhealthy "fermentation".
The same violent friction and athermic deformations thatcan occur in our bodies when we are subjected to radar ormicrowaves, happens to the molecules in the food cooked ina microwave oven. In fact, when anyone microwaves food, theoven exerts a power input of about 1,000 watts or more. Thisradiation results in destruction and deformation of moleculesof food, and in the formation of new compounds (called radiolyticcompounds) unknown to man and nature.
Today‘s established science and technology argues forcefullythat microwaved food and irradiated foods do not have anysignificantly higher "radiolytic compounds" thando broiled, baked or other conventionally cooked foods-butmicrowaving does produce more of these critters. Curiously,neither established science nor our ever-protective governmenthas conducted tests-on the blood of the eaters-of the effectsof eating various kinds of cooked foods. Hertel and his groupdid test it, and the indication is clear that something isamiss and that larger studies should be funded.
The apparently toxic effects of microwave cooking is anotherin a long list of unnatural additives in our daily diets.However, the establishment has not taken kindly to this work."The first drawing of blood samples took place on anempty stomach at 7.45 each morning," Hertel explained."The second drawing of blood took place 15 minutes afterthe food intake. The third drawing was two hours later.">From each sample, 50 ml of blood was used for the chemistryand five millimetres for the hematology and the luminescence.The hematological examinations took place immediately afterdrawing the samples.
Erythrocytes, hemoglobin, mean hemoglobin concentration,mean hemoglobin content, leukocytes and lymphocytes were measured.The chemical analysis consisted of iron, total cholesterol,HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. The results of erythrocyte,hemoglobin, hematocrit and leukocyte determinations were atthe "lower limits of normal" in those tested followingthe eating of the microwaved samples. "These resultsshow anaemic tendencies. The situation became even more pronouncedduring the second month of the study," Hertel added.
"And with those decreasing values, there was a correspondingincrease of cholesterol values." Hertel admits that stressfactors, from getting punctured for the blood samples so ofteneach day, for example, cannot be ruled out, but the establishedbaseline for each individual became the "zero values"marker, and only changes from the zero values were statisticallydetermined. With only one round of test substances completed,the different effects between conventionally prepared foodand microwaved food were marginal-although noticed as definite"tendencies".
As the test continued, the differences in the blood markersbecame "statistically significant". The changesare generally considered to be signs of stress on the body.For example, erythrocytes tended to increase after eatingvegetables from the microwave oven. Haemoglobin and both ofthe mean concentration and content haemoglobin markers alsotended to decrease significantly after eating the microwavedsubstances.
LEUKOCYTOSIS
"Leukocytosis (an increase in white blood cells),"Hertel explained, "which cannot be accounted for by normaldaily deviations such as following the intake of food, istaken seriously by haematologists. Leukocyte response is especiallysensitive to stress. They are often signs of pathogenic effectson the living system, such as poisoning and cell damage. Theincrease of leukocytes with the microwaved foods was morepronounced than with all the other variants.
It appears that these marked increases were caused entirelyby ingesting the microwaved substances." The cholesterolmarkers were very interesting, Hertel stressed: "Commonscientific belief states that cholesterol values usually alterslowly over longer periods of time. In this study, the markersincreased rapidly after the consumption of the microwavedvegetables. However, with milk, the cholesterol values remainedthe same and even decreased with the raw milk significantly."
Hertel believes his study tends to confirm newer scientificdata that suggest cholesterol may rapidly increase in theblood secondary to acute stress. "Also," he added,"blood cholesterol levels are less influenced by cholesterolcontent of food than by stress factors. Such stress-causingfactors can apparently consist of foods which contain virtuallyno cholesterol-the microwaved vegetables."
It is plain to see that this individually financed and conductedstudy has enough meat in it to make anyone with a modicumof common sense sit up and take notice. Food from the microwaveoven caused abnormal changes, representing stress, to occurin the blood of all the test individuals. Biological individuality,a key variable that makes a mockery of many allegedly scientificstudies, was well accounted for by the established baselines.So, how has the brilliant world of modern technology, medicineand ‘protect the public‘ government reacted to this impressiveeffort?
A GAG ORDER
As soon as Hertel and Blanc announced their results, thehammer of authority slammed down on them. A powerful tradeorganization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electroapparatusesfor Households and Industry, known simply as FEA, struck swiftly.They forced the President of the Court of Seftigen, KantonBern, to issue a ‘gag order‘ against Hertel and Blanc.
The attack was so ferocious that Blanc quickly recanted hissupport-but it was too late. He had already put into writinghis views on the validity of the studies where he concurredwith the opinion that microwaved food caused the blood abnormalities.Hertel stood his ground, and today is steadfastly demandinghis rights to a trial. Preliminary hearings on the matterhave been appealed to higher courts, and it‘s quite obviousthe powers that be do not want a ‘show trial‘ to erupt onthis issue. In March 1993, the court handed down this decisionbased upon the complaint of the FEA:"Consideration.
1. Request from the plaintiff (FEA) to prohibit the defendant(Dr Ing. Hans Hertel) from declaring that food prepared inthe microwave oven shall be dangerous to health and lead tochanges in the blood of consumers, giving reference to pathologictroubles as also indicative for the beginning of a cancerousprocess. The defendant shall be prohibited from repeatingsuch a statement in publications and in public talks by punishmentlaid down in the law.
2. The jurisdiction of the judge is given according to law.
3. The active legitimacy of the plaintiff is given accordingto the law.
4. The passive legitimacy of the defendant is given by thefact that he is the author of the polemic [published study]in question, especially since the present new and revisedlaw allows to exclude the necessity of a competitive situation,therefore delinquents may also be persons who are not co-competitors,but may damage the competing position of others by mere declarations.[Apparently,Swiss corporations have lobbied in a law that nails "delinquents"who disparage products and might do damage to commerce bysuch remarks. So far, the US Constitution still preservesfreedom of the press.]
5. Considering the relevant situation it is referred tothree publications: the public renunciation [sic] of the so-calledco-author Professor Bernard Blanc, the expertise of ProfessorTeuber [expert witness from the FEA] about the above-mentionedpublication, the opinion of the public health authoritieswith regard to the present stage of research with microwaveovens as well as to repeated statements from the side of thedefendant about the danger of such ovens.
6. It is not considered of importance whether or not thepolemic of the defendant meets the approval of the public,because all that is necessary is that a possibility existsthat such a statement could find approval with people notbeing experts themselves. Also, advertising involving fearis not allowed and is always disqualified by the law. Thenecessity for a fast interference is in no case more advisedthan in the processes of competition. Basically, the defendanthas the right to defend himself against such accusations.This right, however, in cases of pressing danger with regardto impairing the rights of the plaintiff when this is requested.
Conclusion
On grounds of this pending request of the plaintiff, thecourt arrives at the conclusion that because of special presuppositionsas in this case, a definite disadvantage for the plaintiffdoes exist, which may not easily be repaired, and thereforemust be considered to be of immediate danger. The case thuswarrants the request of the plaintiff to be justified, evenwithout hearing the defendant.
Also, because it is not known when the defendant will bringfurther statements into the public. The judge is also of theopinion that because the publications are made up to appearas scientific, and therefore especially reliable-looking,they may cause additional bad disadvantages. It must be addedthat there does obviously not exist a just reason for thispublication because there is no public interest for pseudo-scientificunproved declarations. Finally, these ordered measures donot prove to be disproportionate.
he defendant is prohibited, under punishment of up to F5,000,or up to one year in prison, to declare that food preparedin microwave ovens is dangerous to health and leads to pathologictroubles as also indicative for the beginning of a cancerousprocess. The plaintiff pays the costs. (Signed) Presidentof the Court of Seftigen Kraemer." If you cannot imaginethis kind of decision coming from a court in the United States,you have not been paying attention to the advances of administrativelaw.
Hertel defied the court and has loudly demanded a fair hearingon the truth of his claims. The court has continued to delay,dodge, appeal and avoid any media-catching confrontation.As of this writing, Hans is still waiting for a hearing withmedia coverage-and he‘s still talking and publishing his findings."They have not been able to intimidate me into silence,and I will not accept their conditions," Hertel declared.
"I have appeared at large seminars in Germany, and thestudy results have been well-received. Also, I think the authoritiesare aware that scientists at Ciba-Geigy [the world‘s largestpharmaceutical company, headquartered in Switzerland] havevowed to support me in court." As those powerful specialinterests in Switzerland who desire to sell microwave ovensby the millions continued to suppress open debate on thisvital issue for modern civilisation, new microwave developmentsblossomed in the United States.
INFANT DANGER
In the journal Pediatrics (vol. 89, no. 4, April 1992), thereappeared an article titled, "Effects of Microwave Radiationon Anti-infective Factors in Human Milk". Richard Quan,M.D. from Dallas, Texas, was the lead name of the study team.John A. Kerner, M.D., from Stanford University, was also onthe research team, and he was quoted in a summary articleon the research that appeared in the 25 April 1992 issue ofScience News.
To get the full flavour of what may lie ahead for microwaving,here is that summary article: "Women who work outsidethe home can express and store breast milk for feedings whenthey are away. But parents and caregivers should be carefulhow they warm this milk. A new study shows that microwavinghuman milk-even at a low setting-can destroy some of its importantdisease-fighting capabilities.
"Breast milk can be refrigerated safely for a few daysor frozen for up to a month; however, studies have shown thatheating the milk well above body temperature-37°ree;C-canbreak down not only its antibodies to infectious agents, butalso its lysozymes or bacteria-digesting enzymes.
So, when paediatrician John A. Kerner, Jr, witnessed neonatalnurses routinely thawing or reheating breast milk with themicrowave oven in their lounge, he became concerned. "Inthe April 1992 issue of Pediatrics (Part I), he and his StanfordUniversity co-workers reported finding that unheated breastmilk that was microwaved lost lysozyme activity, antibodiesand fostered the growth of more potentially pathogenic bacteria.
Milk heated at a high setting (72 degree;C to 98 degree;C)lost 96 per cent of its immunoglobulin-A antibodies, agentsthat fend off invading microbes. "What really surprisedhim, Kerner said, was finding some loss of anti-infectiveproperties in the milk microwaved at a low setting-and toa mean of just 33.5degree;C.
Adverse changes at such low temperatures suggest ‘microwavingitself may in fact cause some injury to the milk above andbeyond the heating‘. "But Randall M. Goldblum of theUniversity of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston disagrees,saying: ‘I don‘t see any compelling evidence that the microwavesdid any harm.
It was the heating.‘ Lysozyme and antibody degradation inthe coolest samples may simply reflect the development ofsmall hot spots-potentially 60°ree;C or above-duringmicrowaving, noted Madeleine Sigman-Grant of PennsylvaniaState University, University Park. And that‘s to be expected,she said, because microwave heating is inherently uneven-andquite unpredictable when volumes less than four millilitresare involved, as was the case in the Kerner‘s study.
"Goldblum considers use of a microwave to thaw milkan especially bad idea, since it is likely to boil some ofthe milk before all has even liquefied. Stanford UniversityMedical Center no longer microwaves breast milk, Kerner notes.And that‘s appropriate, Sigman-Grant believes, because ofthe small volumes of milk that hospitals typically serve newborns-especiallypremature infants."
CHASING A STORY
Journalist Tom Valentine, after chasing this story, foundit interesting that ‘scientists‘ have so many ‘beliefs‘ toexpress rather than prove fact. Yet facts eventually snuffout credential-based conjecture. Researcher Quan, in a phoneinterview, said that he believed the results of research sofar warranted further detailed study of the effects of microwavecooking on nutrients.
The summary sentence in an abstract of the research paperis very clear: "Microwaving appears to be contra-indicatedat high temperatures, and questions regarding its safety existeven at low temperatures." The final statement of thestudy conclusion reads:"This preliminary study suggeststhat microwaving human milk could be detrimental. Furtherstudies are needed to determine whether and how microwavingcould safely be done."
Unfortunately, further studies are not scheduled at thistime. If there are so many indications that the effects ofmicrowaves on foods can degrade the foods far above the knownbreakdowns of standard cooking, is it not reasonable to conductexhaustive studies on living, breathing human beings to determineif it‘s possible that eating microwaved foods continuously,as many people do, can be significantly detrimental to individualhealth? If you wanted to introduce a herbal supplement intothe American mainstream and make any health claims for it,you would be subjected to exhaustive documentation and costlyresearch.
Yet the microwave-oven industry had only to prove that thedangerous microwaves could, indeed, be contained within theoven and not escape into the surrounding area where the radiationcould do damage to people. The industry must admit that somemicrowaves escape even in the best-made ovens. So far, notone thought has been given by the industry to the possibilitythat the nutrients could be so altered as to be deleteriousto health.
Well, this makes sense in a land that encourages farmersto poison crops and soils with massive amounts of synthesisedchemicals, and encourages food processors to use additivesthat enhance shelf-life of foods regardless of the potentialfor degrading the health of the consumer. How many hundredsof pounds of microwaved food per capita is consumed in Americaeach year? Are we going to continue to take it from establishedauthority, without question, on the premise that they knowbest?