The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking
Recent research shows that microwave oven-cooked
food suffers severe molecular damage. When eaten, it causes abnormal
changes in human blood and immune systems.
Not surprisingly, the public has been denied details on these
significant health dangers.
Extracted from NEXUS Magazine, Volume
2, #25 (April-May '95).
PO Box 30, Mapleton Qld 4560 Australia. editor@nexusmagazine.com
Telephone: +61 (0)7 5442 9280; Fax: +61 (0)7 5442 9381
From our web page at: www.nexusmagazine.com
Originally printed from the April 1994 edition of Acres, USA.
PO Box 8800, Metairie, Louisiana, 70011 USA
Telephone: (504) 889 2100; Fax: (504) 889 2777
Back in May of 1989, after Tom Valentine first
moved to St Paul, Minnesota, he heard on the car radio a short
announcement that bolted him upright in the driver's seat. The
announcement was sponsored by Young Families, the Minnesota Extension
Service of the University of Minnesota:
"Although microwaves heat food quickly, they are not recommended
for heating a baby's bottle," the announcement said. The bottle may
seem cool to the touch, but the liquid inside may become extremely hot
and could burn the baby's mouth and throat. Also, the buildup of steam
in a closed container such as a baby's bottle could cause it to explode.
"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." The report went on. "Warming a bottle by holding
it under tap water or by setting it in a bowl of warm water, then
testing it on your wrist before feeding, may take a few minutes longer,
but it is much safer."
Valentine asked himself: If an established institution like the
University of Minnesota can warn about the loss of particular nutrient
qualities in microwaved baby formula or mother's milk, then somebody
must know something about microwaving they are not telling everybody.
A LAWSUIT
In early 1991, word leaked out about a lawsuit in Oklahoma. A woman
named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, only to be killed by a simple blood
transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a
microwave oven"!
Logic suggests that if heating or cooking is all there is to it, then it
doesn't matter what mode of heating technology one uses. 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 microwave ovens!
In the case of Mrs Levitt, the microwaving altered the blood and it
killed her.
Does it not therefore follow that this form of heating does, indeed, do
'something different' to the substances being heated? Is it not prudent
to determine what that 'something different' might do?
A funny thing happened on the way to the bank with all that microwave
oven revenue: nobody thought about the obvious. Only 'health nuts' who
are constantly aware of the value of quality nutrition discerned a
problem with the widespread 'denaturing' of our food. Enter Hans Hertel.
HANS HERTEL
In the tiny town of Wattenwil, near Basel in Switzerland, there
lives a scientist who is alarmed at the lack of purity and naturalness
in the many pursuits of modern mankind. He worked as a food scientist
for several years with one of the many major Swiss food companies that
do business on a global scale. A few years ago, he was fired from his
job for questioning procedures in processing food because they denatured
it.
"The world needs our help," Hans Hertel told Tom Valentine as
they shared a fine meal at a resort hotel in Todtmoss, Germany.
"We, the scientists, carry the main responsibility for the present
unacceptable conditions. It is therefore our job to correct the
situation and bring the remedy to the world. I am striving to bring man
and techniques back into harmony with nature. We can have wonderful
technologies without violating nature."
Hans is an intense man, driven by personal knowledge of violations of
nature by corporate man and his state-supported monopolies in science,
technology and education. At the same time, as the two talked, his
intensity shattered into a warm smile and he spoke of the way things
could be if mankind's immense talent were to work with nature and not
against her.
Hans Hertel is the first scientist to conceive of and carry out a
quality study on the effects of microwaved nutrients on the blood and
physiology of human beings. This small but well-controlled study pointed
the firm finger at a degenerative force of microwave ovens and the food
produced in them. The conclusion was clear: microwave cooking changed
the nutrients so that changes took place in the participants' blood;
these were not healthy changes but were changes that could cause
deterioration in the human systems.
Working with Bernard H. Blanc of the Swiss Federal Institute of
Technology and the University Institute for Biochemistry, Hertel not
only conceived of the study and carried it out, he was one of eight
participants.
"To control as many variables as possible, we selected eight
individuals who were strict macrobiotic diet participants from the
Macrobiotic Institute at Kientel, Switzerland," Hertel explained.
"We were all housed in the same hotel environment for eight weeks.
There was no smoking, no alcohol and no sex."
One can readily see that this protocol makes sense. After all, how could
you tell about subtle changes in a human's blood from eating microwaved
food if smoking, booze, junk food, pollution, pesticides, hormones,
antibiotics and everything else in the common environment were also
present?
"We had one American, one Canadian and six Europeans in the group.
I was the oldest at 64 years, the others were in their 20s and
30s," Hertel added.
Valentine published the results of this study in Search for Health
in the Spring of 1992. But the follow-up information is available only
in a later edition, and also in Acres, USA.
In intervals of two to five days, the volunteers in the study received
one of the food variants on an empty stomach. The food variants were:
raw milk from a biofarm (no. 1); the same milk conventionally cooked
(no. 2); pasteurised milk from Intermilk Berne (no. 3); the same raw
milk cooked in a microwave oven (no. 4); raw vegetables from an organic
farm (no. 5); the same vegetables cooked conventionally (no. 6); the
same vegetables frozen and defrosted in the microwave oven (no. 7); and
the same vegetables cooked in the microwave oven (no. 8). The overall
experiment had some of the earmarks of the Pottenger cat studies, except
that now human beings were test objects, the experiment's time-frame was
shorter, and a new heat form was tested.
Once the volunteers were isolated at the resort hotel, the test began.
Blood samples were taken from every volunteer immediately before eating.
Then blood samples were taken at defined intervals after eating from the
above-numbered milk or vegetable preparations.
Significant changes were discovered in the blood of the volunteers who
consumed foods cooked in the microwave oven. These changes included a
decrease in all haemoglobin values and cholesterol values, especially
the HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values and ratio.
Lymphocytes (white blood cells) showed a more distinct short-term
decrease following the intake of microwaved food than after the intake
of all the other variants. Each of these indicators point in a direction
away from robust health and toward degeneration. Additionally, there was
a highly significant association between the amount of microwave energy
in the test foods and the luminous power of luminescent bacteria exposed
to serum from test persons who ate that food. This led Hertel to the
conclusion that such technically derived energies may, indeed, be passed
along to man inductively via consumption of microwaved food.
"This process is based on physical principles and has already been
confirmed in the literature," Hertel explained. The apparent
additional energy exhibited by the luminescent bacteria was merely extra
confirmation.
"There is extensive scientific literature concerning the hazardous
effects of direct microwave radiation on living systems," Hertel
continued. "It is astonishing, therefore, to realise how little
effort has been made to replace this detrimental technique of microwaves
with technology more in accordance with nature.
"Technically produced microwaves are based on the principle of
alternating current. Atoms, molecules and cells hit by this hard
electromagnetic radiation are forced to reverse polarity 1 to 100
billion times a second. There are no atoms, molecules or cells of any
organic system able to withstand such a violent, destructive power for
any extended period of time, not even in the low energy range of
milliwatts.
"Of all the natural substances-which are polar-the oxygen of water
molecules reacts most sensitively. This is how microwave cooking heat is
generated-friction from this violence in water molecules. Structures of
molecules are torn apart, molecules are forcefully deformed (called
structural isomerism) and thus become impaired in quality.
HEATING FOOD
"This is contrary to conventional heating of food, in which
heat transfers convectionally from without to within. Cooking by
microwaves begins within the cells and molecules where water is present
and where the energy is transformed into frictional heat."
The question naturally arises: What about microwaves from the sun?
Aren't they harmful?
Hertel responded: "The microwaves from the Sun are based on
principles of pulsed direct current. These rays create no frictional
heat in organic substance."
In addition to violent frictional heat effects (called thermic effects),
there are also athermic effects which have hardly ever been taken into
account, Hertel added.
"These athermic effects are not presently measurable, but they can
also deform the structures of molecules and have qualitative
consequences. For example, the weakening of cell membranes by microwaves
is used in the field of gene altering technology. Because of the force
involved, the cells are actually broken, thereby neutralising the
electrical potentials-the very life of the cells-between the outer and
inner sides of the cell membranes. Impaired cells become easy prey for
viruses, fungi and other micro-organisms. The natural repair mechanisms
are suppressed, and cells are forced to adapt to a state of energy
emergency: they switch from aerobic to anaerobic respiration. Instead of
water and carbon dioxide, hydrogen peroxide and carbon monoxide are
produced."
It has long been pointed out in the literature that any reversal of
healthy cell processes may occur because of a number of reasons, and our
cells then revert from a "robust oxidation" to an unhealthy
"fermentation".
The same violent friction and athermic deformations that can occur in
our bodies when we are subjected to radar or microwaves, happens to the
molecules in the food cooked in a microwave oven. In fact, when anyone
microwaves food, the oven exerts a power input of about 1,000 watts or
more. This radiation results in destruction and deformation of molecules
of food, and in the formation of new compounds (called radiolytic
compounds) unknown to man and nature.
Today's established science and technology argues forcefully that
microwaved food and irradiated foods do not have any significantly
higher "radiolytic compounds" than do broiled, baked or other
conventionally cooked foods-but microwaving does produce more of these
critters. Curiously, neither established science nor our ever-protective
government has conducted tests-on the blood of the eaters-of the effects
of eating various kinds of cooked foods. Hertel and his group did test
it, and the indication is clear that something is amiss and that larger
studies should be funded. The apparently toxic effects of microwave
cooking is another in 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 an empty stomach
at 7.45 each morning," Hertel explained. "The second drawing
of blood took place 15 minutes after the food intake. The third drawing
was two hours later."
From each sample, 50 millilitres of blood was used for the chemistry and
five millimetres for the haematology and the luminescence. The
haematological examinations took place immediately after drawing the
samples. Erythrocytes, haemoglobin, mean haemoglobin concentration, mean
haemoglobin content, leukocytes and lymphocytes were measured. The
chemical analysis consisted of iron, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol
and LDL cholesterol.
The results of erythrocyte, haemoglobin, haematocrit and leukocyte
determinations were at the "lower limits of normal" in those
tested following the eating of the microwaved samples.
"These results show anaemic tendencies. The situation became even
more pronounced during the second month of the study," Hertel
added. "And with those decreasing values, there was a corresponding
increase of cholesterol values."
Hertel admits that stress factors, from getting punctured for the blood
samples so often each day, for example, cannot be ruled out, but the
established baseline for each individual became the "zero
values" marker, and only changes from the zero values were
statistically determined.
With only one round of test substances completed, the different effects
between conventionally prepared food and microwaved food were
marginal-although noticed as definite "tendencies". As the
test continued, the differences in the blood markers became
"statistically significant". The changes are generally
considered to be signs of stress on the body. For example, erythrocytes
tended to increase after eating vegetables from the microwave oven.
Haemoglobin and both of the mean concentration and content haemoglobin
markers also tended to decrease significantly after eating the
microwaved substances.
LEUKOCYTOSIS
"Leukocytosis," Hertel explained, "which cannot be
accounted for by normal daily deviations such as following the intake of
food, is taken seriously by haematologists. Leukocyte response is
especially sensitive to stress. They are often signs of pathogenic
effects on the living system, such as poisoning and cell damage. The
increase of leukocytes with the microwaved foods was more pronounced
than with all the other variants. It appears that these marked increases
were caused entirely by ingesting the microwaved substances."
The cholesterol markers were very interesting, Hertel stressed:
"Common scientific belief states that cholesterol values usually
alter slowly over longer periods of time. In this study, the markers
increased rapidly after the consumption of the microwaved vegetables.
However, with milk, the cholesterol values remained the same and even
decreased with the raw milk significantly."
Hertel believes his study tends to confirm newer scientific data that
suggest cholesterol may rapidly increase in the blood secondary to acute
stress. "Also," he added, "blood cholesterol levels are
less influenced by cholesterol content of food than by stress factors.
Such stress-causing factors can apparently consist of foods which
contain virtually no cholesterol-the microwaved vegetables."
It is plain to see that this individually financed and conducted study
has enough meat in it to make anyone with a modicum of common sense sit
up and take notice. Food from the microwave oven caused abnormal
changes, representing stress, to occur in the blood of all the test
individuals. Biological individuality, a key variable that makes a
mockery of many allegedly scientific studies, was well accounted for by
the established baselines.
So, how has the brilliant world of modern technology, medicine and
'protect the public' government reacted to this impressive effort?
A GAG ORDER
As soon as Hertel and Blanc announced their results, the hammer of
authority slammed down on them. A powerful trade organisation, the Swiss
Association of Dealers for Electroapparatuses for Households and
Industry, known simply as FEA, struck swiftly. They forced the President
of the Court of Seftigen, Kanton Bern, to issue a 'gag order' against
Hertel and Blanc. The attack was so ferocious that Blanc quickly
recanted his support-but it was too late. He had already put into
writing his views on the validity of the studies where he concurred with
the opinion that microwaved food caused the blood abnormalities.
Hertel stood his ground, and today is steadfastly demanding his rights
to a trial. Preliminary hearings on the matter have been appealed to
higher courts, and it's quite obvious the powers that be do not want a
'show trial' to erupt on this issue.
In March 1993, the court handed down this decision based 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 in the microwave oven
shall be dangerous to health and lead to changes in the blood of
consumers, giving reference to pathologic troubles as also indicative
for the beginning of a cancerous process. The defendant shall be
prohibited from repeating such a statement in publications and in public
talks by punishment laid down in the law.
2. The jurisdiction of the judge is given according to law.
3. The active legitimacy of the plaintiff is given according to the law.
4. The passive legitimacy of the defendant is given by the fact that he
is the author of the polemic [published study] in question, especially
since the present new and revised law 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 by such remarks. So far, the US Constitution still preserves
freedom of the press.]
5. Considering the relevant situation it is referred to three
publications: the public renunciation [sic] of the so-called co-author
Professor Bernard Blanc, the expertise of Professor Teuber [expert
witness from the FEA] about the above-mentioned publication, the opinion
of the public health authorities with regard to the present stage of
research with microwave ovens as well as to repeated statements from the
side of the defendant about the danger of such ovens.
6. It is not considered of importance whether or not the polemic of the
defendant meets the approval of the public, because all that is
necessary is that a possibility exists that such a statement could find
approval with people not being experts themselves. Also, advertising
involving fear is not allowed and is always disqualified by the law. The
necessity for a fast interference is in no case more advised than in the
processes of competition. Basically, the defendant has the right to
defend himself against such accusations. This right, however, can be
denied in cases of pressing danger with regard to impairing the rights
of the plaintiff when this is requested.
Conclusion.
On grounds of this pending request of the plaintiff, the court arrives
at the conclusion that because of special presuppositions as in this
case, a definite disadvantage for the plaintiff does exist, which may
not easily be repaired, and therefore must be considered to be of
immediate danger. The case thus warrants the request of the plaintiff to
be justified, even without hearing the defendant. Also, because it is
not known when the defendant will bring further statements into the
public.
The judge is also of the opinion that because the publications are made
up to appear as scientific, and therefore especially reliable-looking,
they may cause additional bad disadvantages. It must be added that there
does obviously not exist a just reason for this publication because
there is no public interest for pseudo-scientific unproved declarations.
Finally, these ordered measures do not prove to be disproportionate.
The defendant is prohibited, under punishment of up to F5,000, or up to
one year in prison, to declare that food prepared in microwave ovens is
dangerous to health and leads to pathologic troubles as also indicative
for the beginning of a cancerous process.
The plaintiff pays the costs.
(Signed) President of the Court of Seftigen Kraemer."
If you cannot imagine this kind of decision coming from a court in the
United States, you have not been paying attention to the advances of
administrative law.
Hertel defied the court and has loudly demanded a fair hearing on 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 with media 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 the study results have been
well-received. Also, I think the authorities are aware that scientists
at Ciba-Geigy [the world's largest pharmaceutical company, headquartered
in Switzerland] have vowed to support me in court."
As those powerful special interests in Switzerland who desire to sell
microwave ovens by the millions continued to suppress open debate on
this vital issue for modern civilisation, new microwave developments
blossomed in the United States.
INFANT DANGER
In the journal Pediatrics (vol. 89, no. 4, April 1992), there
appeared an article titled, "Effects of Microwave Radiation on
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 on the research team, and he
was quoted in a summary article on the research that appeared in the 25
April 1992 issue of Science News. To get the full flavour of what
may lie ahead for microwaving, here is that summary article:
"Women who work outside the home can express and store breast milk
for feedings when they are away. But parents and caregivers should be
careful how they warm this milk. A new study shows that microwaving
human milk-even at a low setting-can destroy some of its important
disease-fighting capabilities.
"Breast milk can be refrigerated safely for a few days or frozen
for up to a month; however, studies have shown that heating the milk
well above body temperature-37°ree;C-can break down not only its
antibodies to infectious agents, but also its lysozymes or
bacteria-digesting enzymes. So, when paediatrician John A. Kerner, Jr,
witnessed neonatal nurses routinely thawing or reheating breast milk
with the microwave oven in their lounge, he became concerned.
"In the April 1992 issue of Pediatrics (Part I), he and his
Stanford University co-workers reported finding that unheated breast
milk that was microwaved lost lysozyme activity, antibodies and fostered
the growth of more potentially pathogenic bacteria. Milk heated at a
high setting (72 degrees Celsius to 98 degrees C) lost 96 per cent of
its immunoglobulin-A antibodies, agents that fend off invading microbes.
"What really surprised him, Kerner said, was finding some loss of
anti-infective properties in the milk microwaved at a low setting-and to
a mean of just 33.5 degrees C. Adverse changes at such low temperatures
suggest 'microwaving itself may in fact cause some injury to the milk
above and beyond the heating'.
"But Randall M. Goldblum of the University of Texas Medical Branch
in Galveston disagrees, saying: 'I don't see any compelling evidence
that the microwaves did any harm. It was the heating.' Lysozyme and
antibody degradation in the coolest samples may simply reflect the
development of small hot spots-potentially 60 degrees C or above-during
microwaving, noted Madeleine Sigman-Grant of Pennsylvania State
University, University Park. And that's to be expected, she said,
because microwave heating is inherently uneven-and quite unpredictable
when volumes less than four millilitres are involved, as was the case in
the Kerner's study.
"Goldblum considers use of a microwave to thaw milk an
especially bad idea, since it is likely to boil some of the milk before
all has even liquefied. Stanford University Medical Center no longer
microwaves breast milk, Kerner notes. And that's appropriate, Sigman-Grant
believes, because of the small volumes of milk that hospitals typically
serve newborns-especially premature infants."
CHASING A STORY
Journalist Tom Valentine, after chasing this story, found it
interesting that 'scientists' have so many 'beliefs' to express rather
than prove fact. Yet facts eventually snuff out credential-based
conjecture.
Researcher Quan, in a phone interview, said that he believed the results
of research so far warranted further detailed study of the effects of
microwave cooking on nutrients. The summary sentence in an abstract of
the research paper is very clear:
"Microwaving appears to be contra-indicated at high temperatures,
and questions regarding its safety exist even at low temperatures."
The final statement of the study conclusion reads:
"This preliminary study suggests that microwaving human milk could
be detrimental. Further studies are needed to determine whether and how
microwaving could safely be done." Unfortunately, further studies
are not scheduled at this time.
If there are so many indications that the effects of microwaves on foods
can degrade the foods far above the known breakdowns of standard
cooking, is it not reasonable to conduct exhaustive studies on living,
breathing human beings to determine if it's possible that eating
microwaved foods continuously, as many people do, can be significantly
detrimental to individual health?
If you wanted to introduce a herbal supplement into the American
mainstream and make any health claims for it, you would be subjected to
exhaustive documentation and costly research. Yet the microwave-oven
industry had only to prove that the dangerous microwaves could, indeed,
be contained within the oven and not escape into the surrounding area
where the radiation could do damage to people. The industry must admit
that some microwaves escape even in the best-made ovens. So far, not one
thought has been given by the industry to the possibility that the
nutrients could be so altered as to be deleterious to health.
Well, this makes sense in a land that encourages farmers to poison crops
and soils with massive amounts of synthesised chemicals, and encourages
food processors to use additives that enhance shelf-life of foods
regardless of the potential for degrading the health of the consumer.
How many hundreds of pounds of microwaved food per capita is consumed in
America each year?
Are we going to continue to take it from established authority, without
question, on the premise that they know best?
Source: http://www.nexusmagazine.com/microwave.html
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