The truth about microwaves... I think I'll throw mine out:

[Deja Q]

http://www.houseofstrauss.ukonline.co.uk/natural_living/eating/microwave_food.htm

http://csifcem.free.fr/bbb.html

http://www.mercola.com/article/microwave/hazards.htm

I'd say it's :tinfoilhat: except microwaves like those... :D

[MsUnderstood]

1. And. . .

The 1st and 3rd links are the same article published under different websites and the 2nd one went WAAAYYY over my head.

Ofcourse you shouldn't microwave blood in a microwave and give it to a patient or baby formula then give it to a baby because microwaves don't heat evenly.

BUT what is the point exactly of these articles besides trying to scare us with abnormal situations that caused bad results?

[ElsewheresDaughter]

20. the reason why you shouldn't heat baby formula in microwave is because

it destroys many of the nutrients.

[Ilsa]

23. The other reason that i heard is that

some things continue to heat after coming out.

Breastmilk doesn't go into the machine either for all of the same reasons, but also, like blood, it has living cells in it, not just nutrients.

[sir_captain]

2. Yeah, this is some serious tin-foil hat nonsense

it appears that the 1st and 3rd articles are the same thing?

i just skimmed through them, but really, they were pretty crazy and clearly not written by anyone who knows anything about, oh, physics, chemistry, or biology. my favorite part was when the author equated the direct radiation from the sun with DC current. that's a good one.

but seriously folks, your body wouldn't do too well if you were inside the microwave while it was on, but it wouldn't do very well in a 500 degree oven either. other than boling liquids (which can be dangerous because the inside layers of the liquid can be hotter than the outside ones, which could cause the liquid to "explode" into your face) there isn't any real reason to be afraid of your microwave.

[T Roosevelt]

3. Strange that two of those are the same

...but I use mine for its timer...never liked food cooked in a microwave.

[girl gone mad]

4. Microwaving..

is actually the best way to cook vegetables. It preservees more vitamins and nutrients. People tend to use too much water and overcook with the microwave, though.

[Mika]

5. Not proven

Some of the chemical/mineral compounds in fertilizer, fumigants, & pesticides etc in/on foods recombine in a microwave into unknown substances.

[sir_captain]

7. this doesn't sound right to me

i don't see how electromagnetic radiation, well within the normal spectrum of use, could have such a physically mutating effect on, well, nearly anything. do you have any actual proof of this?

also, there is no way that the "substances" caused by microwaving food would be unknown. with technology like mass spectroscopy and gas chromatography, it is really a snap to identify pretty much anything.

[mobuto]

13. Well, actually that makes sense

The radiation causes water molecules to vibrate which produces heat. Heat can induce chemical reactions, so its entirely possible that that could affect pestiside residues, etc. But you have exactly the same problem with food cooked in other ways.

[sir_captain]

24. ok, sure

i can see that. but certainly, as you point out, that isn't an argument against microwaves.

[Mika]

15. If its a snap, how often do you test?

Different metalics heat differently in microwave heating fields (try putting different types of metal pots in a microwave --NOT!!!). There are many metals in fertilizers and pesticides etc. Different foods cook at different speeds in a microwave due mainly to the metalic/mineral content of said food (and the frequency of the microwave). Also, not saying that all compounds created are unkown to mankind, just saying that its unkown to the person eating the microwaved foods that have differing and various sundries and cocktails of compounds in the internal and on the external of said foods. Plus it is known that certain urea and steriodal compounds that make up some plastics do migrate into foods cooked in microwaves.

btw, I don't own one.

[sir_captain]

19. clearly i do not own a mass spectrometer

as they are very expensive. but every decent laboratory has access to this kind of equipment, and food laboratories in particular. i'm just pointing out that if microwaves are mutating food molecules it is literally impossible that these new molecules have not been tested.

metal in the microwave will do one of two things: either a) it will heat up or b) it will reflect the microwaves (since they are at a frequency tuned to water) which will then bounce around your microwave and possibly cause an electrical arc. the point is this: if there is a tiny bit of metal in your food, it might reflect a few microwaves, but they will then just get absorbed by the food when the microwave bounces back at a different angle. and if the metal heats up a little, so what? that's not going to mutate it into some sort of toxic compound as far as i can gather.

sure, different foods cook at different speeds in microwaves (though it's due to different water contents, not mineral contents so much) but again, how is this dangerous? microwaves do not cause some sort of fission reaction combining molecules together...

as for the plastics, yeah, one should be careful to cook things in microwave safe containers. that's true.

[DrWeird]

26. As a chemist

I say nuts to that. Microwaves don't "mutate" chemicals. In can cause chemical reactions to occur, burning for example. But only through indirect heating. And you'll have the same thing occur regardless of how it's cooked.

And if I may toot my own horn, I have access to one of the leading mass spec. labs in the world.

[sir_captain]

31. good to know, doc

i'm glad to hear i wasn't spouting utter nonsense

[sir_captain]

6. that's probably essentially

steaming, which is something the microwave is very good at. i mainly use mine to steam/reheat leftovers.

[Kadie]

29. Actually, I just read an article not too long ago that said the opposite

I went out and bought a steamer. Veggies taste a lot better steamed too.

[Kadie]

30. Here are a couple of articles.

Veggies Lose Antioxidants in the Microwave
http://www.forbes.com/health/feeds/hscout/2003/10/16/hscout515591.html

Here is one about the amount of water like you mentioned.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3341568/

[Catshrink]

8. Can't cook without one...

since I've had two kitchen fires the family really doesn't want me cooking.

[NMDemDist2]

28. well cat

that explains last nights dinner thread now doesn't it???


ROFLMFAO

[Catshrink]

33. Yes. Yes it does!

Tonight it was sushi -- Costco has a new one called caterpillar sushi. The roll is wrapped in an avocado slice. Yum.... I got that instead of a Costco chicken.

[Taverner]

9. Any research that cites Soviet studies is suspect

Soviet science often was fashioned to fit the needs of the government at the time. At a time when the Soviet Union was trying to dissuade its citizens from emulating the "decadent west", no doubt they would cast doubt on the latest gadget.

[sir_captain]

10. good call

i bet the microwave seemed particularly western and capitalist to boot

[2bfree]

11. I don't have one.

It broke last year and I never replaced it. Don't miss it either.

[bobthedrummer]

12. NSA response to a 1995 FOIA request regarding mind control

[Taverner]

14. Of course there's government sponsored mind control...

what else would you call advertising and Fox News????

[bobthedrummer]

17. The media is certainly a big part of the manipulation of human perceptions

both overtly and covertly. At least President Clinton began to address the plight of those Americans that had been used as human experimental subjects unwittingly by the US, many of these folks and their families experimented on were US military.

Richard McGarrah Helms was the driving force behind US mind control projects.

His last days as the Director of CIA were spent destroying MKULTRA docs, but he missed a few and an independent journalist won access to CIA operational mind control files in August of 2002.
http://www.rcfp.org/news/2002/0819kellyv.html

Of course mind control is real.

[mobuto]

16. Why?

Probably because releasing the Soviet document would compromise US intelligence assets, something that would "reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security." FOIA was never intended to help the Russians capture US spies.

[sir_captain]

21. what does this have to do with microwaves?

i'm confused

[bobthedrummer]

25. All kinds of radiation EMR, RFR, ELF/ULF etc were used in mind control

research, some of it bore fruit, I'm just opening up the topic a bit to include mind control.

For instance, are you aware that the new sonic weapons deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq are based on a Patented system (HSS) that American Technology Corp. of San Diego has had since at least 1974 that can, among other things, produce voices inside a human skull?

Voice-to-skull system
http://www.raven1.net/atc-ag98.htm

HSS weapon contract with DoD
http://www.raven1.net/hssweapon.htm

American Technology Corp. of San Diego is not the only entity with US Patents on this tech-which came out of mind control research, btw
http://www.raven1.net/5159703.htm

American Technology Corp. executives have engaged in insider trades
http://biz.yahoo.com/t/14/1529.html

This mind control invasive technology has prompted a movement in the mental health profession for a critical examination of diagnostic criteria for psychosis
http://www.adacomp.net/~mcherney/NewCrit-JPSS-CS2.htm

It is an important subject, not to be dismissed as tinfoil.

[DS1]

18. All I know is this, when I nuke food at the school caf, I stand far away

from the microwave.

[sir_captain]

22. that you really don't have to worry about

microwaves have a wavelength of almost 20cm which is way too big to do anything to you. you'd want to be worried about much higher frequency/shorter wavelength radiation.

in fact, if you do out the math, you'll see that the microwave radiation is about the same as the em waves used by most mobile phones and internet wireless access points

[DS1]

27. I threw away my cellphone years ago

and my wireless access point in on the opposite side of the house :7

[sir_captain]

32. heh

ok, well, you still can't avoid all the em waves that are constantly going around from other people's stuff. and seriously, there's probably about the same amount of em radiation coming out of a strong lightbulb.

edit: not to mention the computer monitor you're sitting in front of!

i don't mean to be giving you a hard time, btw...

[LastKnight]

34. their safe, dont worry.

the first study... dont bother reading it...its too dumbed down for it to make sense scientifically... skimmed it, read a few parts... but didnt bother with most of it.

as for the second study... i skimmed it breifly, only spent about 30 seconds on it but as far as i can tell its testing the effects of microwaves(radiation) on living cells, DUH it will cause damage. thats why we dont put living cells in the microwave. and thats where the problem with heating blood will come from.


i critisized the first article for being simplified... well im about to do it too, and keep in mind im only a student and im doing this from memory, and it was awhile ago, forgive me if i make a few mistakes.

ok, heres how it works... its not actuially mircrowaves that your nuke-oven puts out, thier actuially of lower energy, i cant remember which category they fall under, but the reason they use lower energy waves is, that it's wavelength has the same frequency as the natural resonance frequency of water. this is the same thing as playing a note through a loud speaker or amp and having an insturment nearby and the string of that note will vibrate seemingly for no reason, its called forced vibration.

anyway... so these waves, they force water to vibrate, adding energy to the system(in this case, whatever is in the microwave) thats why things get heated unevenly, the dry parts of a meal or whatever is in the microwave wont have anything vibrating faster near it, so it will have no reason to warm up, thats often why the instructions on a microwave meal tell you to stir halfway through, rearranges the water so it can heat a different part of the dish.

thier safe, ive been eatin outta em all my life, twice today. im fine. almost picture perfect health.

-LK