Microwave ovens are an important cooking and food heating tool in many modern homes, especially here in Israel. Many people may not be aware, however, just how dangerous these gadgets are to human health. Recently, much attention has been given to microwaves, or “micro-gals” (as they are called by Israelis) in that they produce similar electronic frequencies as those who are found in cellular phones which are now being said to be very dangerous to human health and the cause of a number of types of cancer.
It’s not only the type of utensil that holds the food (such as those made from polymer plastics) but the actual appliance itself that is so dangerous that some countries, including Russia, have banned its sale for health reasons. And Green Prophet’s Eco-Mum has her own thoughts — see Safe Bottle Feeding. Although the recently published information dealing with microwave impulses from ringing cell phones popping popcorn turned out to be a hoax, the possibility of this happening is relevant enough as both cellular phones and microwave ovens produce similar electronic frequencies.
An example of how dangerous microwaves really are can be was found recently when medical research personnel placed water in a glass bowl inside a microwave and heated it to boiling, like many people do when heating soup or warming their favorite hot beverage in the morning. When the water cooled, they placed some seeds in two pots and water and poured micro-waved water into one and a similar amount of water straight from the kitchen sink into the second pot. What was really startling is that the seeds in the pot with the “micro-waved” water would not sprout!
There appears to be some kind of chemical reaction occurring in the micro-waved water that will not allow the seeds to grow. This kind of example would also be the case when warming up food in a microwave oven as well as heating milk, including human “mother’s milk”, to feed to infants and small children (see. The heating of the milk in a microwave actually destroys much of the milk’s nutritional value; and in human milk in particular, the milk’s natural immunity and disease fighting qualities are negated.f Heating food items, especially on high heat, appears to severely alter the bio-chemistry composition of the food, resulting in a negative affect on humans, including changes in the body’s blood chemistry.
Other negative effects from microwave ovens include brain damage by causing electrical impulses in the brain to become confused or simply “short out”, due to eating the reduced or altered nutritional content of “micro-waved” food. Eating micro-waved foods have also been linked to heart attacks and cancers, and can result in memory loss, lack of concentration, and lower mental development in children.
The connection to microwaving foods in plastic containers has been known for some time, and in addition to many plastic “microwavable” containers being noted to cause cancers, using microwave ovens itself has now been found to cause cancer cells to increase in human tissues and blood.
So, taking all of the above into account, there may be many reasons for getting rid of your microwave oven before it is too late!
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
THE SKY IS FALLING, THE SKY IS FALLING! I always thought the Israelis were better educated than this! Actually, I think most of them are, but like in the US, there is a contingent of dummies. There is always the lunatic fringe in any society, throughout time, and across continents. The fear-mongers keep them around as some odd form of crowd control, washing their brains & filling them back up with garbage! Garbage in, garbage out! This is like yelling FIRE in a movie theater – it should be treated like the crime it is! Is this a way to keep the populace’s mind off real issues – …. LIKE WAR? RACISM? GENOCIDE? WATER SHORTAGES? SIMPLY PUT, THERE ARE FEWER AND FEWER RESOURCES AVAILABLE BUT MANY MORE PEOPLE WANTING THEM! What to do? Why gee – let’s all yell FIRE and run away from our microwaves!
Up next on today’s news: Zombies are on the loose in Northern England and are … headed YOUR way! They do respond well to being microwaved!
IDIOT! microwaves are not banned in Russia and since u lie or missinform about that i dont trust any of what u wrote there, dont waste peoples time, asshole.
If the microwave oven cooked water was used to germinate seeds and the seeds did not sprout then humans could have fertility problems also.
That was a good experiment http://greenprophet.com/2009/03/04/7305/microwa… with good intentions but it was only able to prove that seeds are able to sprout in microwaved water. Isn't it a little like, an newborn infant being alive after going 2 days without milk? We have abandoned babies in our country, still alive after 2 days (when found). In fact, all living cells are capable of mutating AND then surviving in toxic environment. The experiment, unfortunately, proved little (to nothing) about dangers/side-effects of microwaved water.Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture mentioned that,”Clear disadvantages were detected when broccoli was microwaved, namely high losses of flavonoids (97%), sinapic acid derivatives (74%) and caffeoyl-quinic acid derivatives (87%).”Thank you for this topic by the way. A lot of info to learn and explore.
You have my sentiments exactly! A relative gave me their old one & I never wanted to use it. Tried it several times but my inner self wanted to get rid of it…and voila, it has been thrown out a long time ago! We need to get BACK TO BASICS & EAT like normal people USED to do ! There is MORE to life..than SPEED. Use a slow cooker. It will be done when you are home. Use a pressure cooker or oven. //Be careful, most frozen foods are radiated I was told! Guess it has to be organic. Save in other ways! FRESH IS BEST. Canned foods have problems now also & plastics.It never ends! READ LABELS & BE AWARE!
You have my sentiments exactly! A relative gave me their old one & I never wanted to use it. Tried it several times but my inner self wanted to get rid of it…and voila, it has been thrown out a long time ago! We need to get BACK TO BASICS & EAT like normal people USED to do ! There is MORE to life..than SPEED. Use a slow cooker. It will be done when you are home. Use a pressure cooker or oven. //Be careful, most frozen foods are radiated I was told! Guess it has to be organic. Save in other ways! FRESH IS BEST. Canned foods have problems now also & plastics.It never ends! READ LABELS & BE AWARE!
Results are up: http://greenprophet.com/2009/03/04/7305/microwave-health-risk-debunk/
hannahk, what about your seeds experiment???
I am more confused about this issue than ever. However, when I first became aware that there were/might be certain health risks in the use of microwaves, I searched the web and found a lot of negative articles, including those based on scientific research. However, I did NOT come across any conclusive evidence as to memory loss, cancers and across the board loss of all nutrients. What I did learn (and I’m still confused) was that it is probably not too sanguine to process your vegetables with microwaves. So, I’ve gone back to steaming, stirfrying and mostly serving up raw produce.
Sigh! I certainly wish there were something more definitive. But, in the meanwhile, caution is probably the way to go…and keep reading and being alert.
Here’s the article: http://www.naturalnews.com/023103.html
No references to medical studies are provided. That bit about seeds is easy enough to check. I’ll let you know the results. But then it’ll by my word against her.
Microwaves use signigicantly less energy than conventional cooking, and preserve nutrients. We should be sure of our facts before dismissing them as unsafe.
Is it possible that radiation may leak from defective microwave ovens into the room and how can one become aware of this leakage?
I ended up here while searching the net Why? Beats me ask the search engine but anyhow it was a nice surprise I enjoyed discovering your blog, thx for the nice read!
I like reading posts and finding out what people think. I will keep an eye on the information you will add and see what you come up with. thank you
Thank you, Daniel Pederson, for your voice of science and sanity. I use the micro a lot, but with care and common sense – largely as a tool for faster (and, yes, cleaner!) preparation of veggies; as far as I know, the less they are cooked, the more they maintain their food value. I think you’d be doing everyone a valuable service by presenting the pros and cons of the micro from a scientifically sound point of view. How about an open evening at K. Yedidya in Jerusalem devoted to the subject?
Those interested in learning more about potential health hazards in microwave ovens can read other articles in the following links:
http://www.naturalnews.com (article about microwaves published in April, 2008)
http://www.herbalhealer.com/microwave.html
Can you give references to any of the studies you cite? I sincerely doubt that eating microwaved food will cause the brain to short out and lead to brain damage. or that eating microwaved foods is linked to any sort of cancer.
Microwave ovens make the molecules in the very outer layer of the food (or whatever is being heated) move faster, which heats up the outer layer. The heat is then transferred through the food into the center. So there is no interaction with the electromagnetic waves (just another frequency of light) with the chemistry of the food, except via heat.
Microwaves do not interact with glass or plastic – they are heated up by contact with the heated food. It is possible that some plastics may release compounds when heated, but the same would happen if heated on the stove.
Finally, microwaves are cleaner than gas stoves, which release microscopic organic particles and nitrogen oxide gases into the air, both of which are serious health hazards
(for example: Dennekamp, M ; Howarth, S ; Dick, C A J ; Cherrie, J W ; Donaldson, K ; Seaton, A . Ultrafine particles and nitrogen oxides generated by gas and electric cooking. Occupational & Environmental Medicine. 58(8):511-516, August 1, 2001.)
I would be very interested to see the research that supports your warnings.
Also it is much easier to heat up your soup or other liquids in a regular pot on the gas. If you cover the pot it will boil quicker and save some gas.
Plus, microwaved food is always disgusting, IMO.