Microwave Ovens
The Dangerous Price of Convenience
From an article by Tom Valentine
In his last book, A Cancer Therapy : Results of 50 Cases, Dr. Max Gerson warned people about the dangers of “convenience” in the kitchen. He referred to canned, frozen, bottled, and prepared foods since they are “devitalized”. Gerson warned about masses of dead food, chemically treated and altered, causing imbalance and toxicity in the body.
Since the book was published in 1958, there was no mention of microwave ovens – they did not exist.
Microwave ovens are convenient: you just set a button and you can walk away without worry about burning, under or overcooking. You can even put containers and packages bought in the stores into the oven; they will come out “ready-to-eat”. These ovens are also energy efficient and cheap to operate. Obviously, they have a tremendous appeal and have become a must in any “properly” equipped kitchen. Also, they have been certified as “safe” by the Underwriters Laboratory and the U.S. Government. So, we assume that they must be safe. But are they? The evidence is accumulating that microwave cooking is neither safe, healthful, nor natural. It doesn’t actually heat food like fire or radiant heat does, but rather agitates the molecules in foods, breaking the natural membranes as well as affecting the chemical structure of the nutrients. Proteins have been shown to be altered by microwaves to the point that they are no longer able to be properly absorbed and metabolized by the body.Microwave ovens are big business. They are installed in millions of homes, restaurants, fast food places, and hospitals. According to claims, microwave ovens, “when properly used” do not leak radiation into the environment. But reports are now emerging claiming that the “maximum acceptable amount of leakage” keeps being increased to allow the equipment to pass inspection and certification. In my opinion, this radiation, spreading into the environment, tends to “cook the cook”, as well as change the chemical structure of the food.
No serious studies were available about radiation leakage or changes in microwaved foods until 1986, when a study sponsored by Young Families, the Minnesota Extension Service of the University of Minnesota, warned against warming a baby’s milk bottle in a microwave oven. “The bottle may seem cool tot he touch, but the liquid inside may become extremely hot (microwaves heat from the inside out) and could burn the baby’s mouth and throat. Also, the buildup of steam in a closed container such as a baby bottle could cause it to explode.”
Worse yet, “heating the bottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in the milk. In infant formulas, there may be a loss of some vitamins. In expressed breast milk, some protective properties may be destroyed.”
If milk in a baby’s bottle is change or damaged by being warmed in a microwave oven, there are serious concerns raised regarding changes and damage in microwaved foods consumed by adults.
In 1991, a report came out about a woman in Oklahoma who had undergone successful hip replacement surgery but died from a simple blood transfusion when the blood she was receiving had been warmed in a microwave oven.
There must have been some changes int he blood the patient was receiving to cause her death!
In 1992, Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist who had worked for many years with one of the major Swiss food companies, was reportedly fired from his job for questioning certain processing procedures that denature foods.
He felt strongly that food processing techniques denature foods and that it was the job of food scientists to correct this situation and “bring man and techniques back into harmony with nature.”
Dr. Hertel worked with a team of eight scientists, including Dr. Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry, to design and carry out the study of the effect of microwaves on the food produced in them and on the blood of people who consumed those foods.
“The conclusion was clear : Microwave cooking changed the nutrients so that changes took place in the participants’ blood that were not healthy and could cause deterioration in the human system.”
The study was strictly designed to eliminate outside influences and included subjects ranging mostly in the 20’s and 30’s, with Dr. Hertel, the oldest, at 64.
“The changes detected in those subjects who ingest microwaved foods included a decrease in all hemoglobin values and cholesterol, especially in the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values.”
So how do these microwaves work? Simplified, they consist of electromagnetic radiation which is forced to reverse polarity 1-100 billion times a second. Cells are made to vibrate and ‘rub against each other’ at this violent destructive speed and are unable to withstand the energy.
These organic cells are torn apart, molecules are forcefully deformed (called structural isomerism) by friction from the inside out.
Dr. Hertel was asked about microwaves from the sun. He responded, “Microwaves from the sun are based on principles of pulsed direct current. These rays create no frictional heat in the organic substances.” On the other hand, microwave radiation, from alternating current, reportedly exerts a power input of about 1000 watts or more, causing the formation of new compounds called radiolytic compounds. Nobody really knows what these compounds are doing to the blood of consumers, nor have any tests been done by government authorities.
The Swiss government, however, did react. A Swiss trade organization lodged a complaint against Drs. Hertel and Blanc and started by issuing a gag order against them. Apparently, their crime was “to interfere with commerce”, a seemingly much more serious charge than, perhaps, causing untold suffering and disease from deep-seated changes in the blood chemistry of the consuming public, changes that could even be a beginning of the cancerous process.
Pretty soon, more evidence surfaced. In the journal Pediatrics (Vol 89, No. 4, April 1992) an article was published entitled “Effects of Microwave Radiation on Anti-infective Factors in Human Milk.” A team of physicians and scientists from Stanford University did the research and their findings were quoted in the April 25, 1992, issue of Science News. The studies were done on expressed milk from women who nurse their babies, but who work away from home, They store their milk for feedings while away. The above study shows that microwaving this human milk can destroy some of its important disease-fighting capabilities.
Specifically, ‘The microwaved mother’s milk compared to unheated breast milk showed loss of lysozyme activity, lost antibodies and fostering of the growth of potentially pathogenic (disease producing) bacteria. Milk heated at a high setting (72° to 98° C) lost 96% of its immunoglobulin-A antibodies, agents that fight invading microbes.” Even at the low setting of just 33½° C, some anti-infective properties were lost.
Madeline Sigman-Grant of Pennsylvania State University says that “Because microwave heating is inherently uneven – and is quite unpredictable when small volumes are involved (such as are needed to feed a tiny infant)- it is likely to boil some of the milk before all has even liquefied!” Stanford University Medical Center no longer microwaves any breast milk, pediatrician Dr. John A. Kemer, Jr. notes.
There are further reports on studies that, a brand new microwave oven, never used, and newly plugged into an outlet, was measured for electromagnetic emissions. They amounted to 40 Gauss when the oven was not in use.
When asked whether further studies are scheduled also involving foods for adults and emission of electromagnetic waves into the kitchen, Dr. Ritchard Quan, M.D., from Dallas. Texas, stated that none are scheduled at this time.
Since there is evidence that microwaving can have deleterious effects on foods, even if all the studies are not in, and since the microwave oven industry had to admit that some microwaves escape into the surrounding area even in the best-made ovens, we feel that Gerson Therapy patients, as well as our members and friends who are concerned about their health, should earnestly avoid (and unplug) any such ovens in their kitchen and not expose themselves, nor their food, to the damaging radiation.
Please do not even heat water in a microwave oven. From the studies of the late Freeman Cope. M.D. and biochemist, as well as others, it has been shown that water is “structured”. This structure is altered in the electromagnetic environment of the microwave oven.
The following letter came in through e-mail:
Guess I didn’t know this. I heat water in a mug, often in the microwave. Never thought of it as being too dangerous. I feel that the following is information that anyone who uses a microwave oven to heat water should be made aware of.
About five days ago my twenty-six-year-old son decided to have a cup of instant coffee. He took a cup of water and put it in the microwave to heat it up (something that he had done numerous times before). I am not sure how long he set the timer, but he told me he wanted to bring the water to a boil. As he looked into the cup he noted that the water was not boiling. But immediately the water in the cup “blew up” into his face. The cup remained intact until he threw it out of his hand. However, all the water had flown out into his face due to the build up of energy. His whole face is blistered and he has first and second-degree burns to his face that may scar. He also may have lost partial sight in his left eye.
While at the hospital, the doctor who was attending to him stated that this is a fairly common occurrence and water (alone) should never be heated in a microwave oven. If water is heated in this manner, something should be placed in the cup to dissuse the energy, such as a wooden stirrer stick/spoon, tea bag, etc. It is much safer to boil the water in a kettle.
Note: Subsequently, on reviewing the above; I consulted a set of Microwave Operation Instructions and under the heading “Liquids”, it states: Liquids that have been heated by microwaves can suddenly erupt.
This is due to layers heated to high temperatures being trapped under the surface. To avoid this happening to any liquid, e.g. coffee, custard, gravy, etc:
- Stir the liquid thoroughly before heating in the microwave.
- Stire the liquid at least twice during the heating time.
- Stir the liquid again at the end. NEVER OVERHEAT LIQUIDS.
Always use a suitably sized container, at least one third larger than the volume of liquid to be heated. If in doubt, use conventional methods, kettle, etc.
