Lilea Storm
Posted : 1/23/2007 11:16:56 PM
ORIGINAL: sooner
The "proof" in your links is slightly twisted to fit the authors perception. For example, a jury found for the defendants and determined that Norma Levitt died from a blood clot. So while the article says, "microwaving altered the blood and it killed her" - and that might be true - it isn't because the microwave turned the blood into some freak substance. I can't find the original trial transcript, but [linkhttp://wyom.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?citeID=4387]this[/link] refers to the sanctions awarded to the wrongfully accused defendants.
I must have missed something when I read the articles, I don't remember reading anything about a blood clot lawsuit. I disagree about the articles being twisted, they both state a bunch of facts and studies, I don't see any twisting or one-sidedness, just facts:
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The microwave oven generates electromagnetic waves (called microwaves because they#%92re short) at a frequency of 2450 megahertz (FM radio waves are generated at around 100 MHz and cell phones transmit 800 MHz). The microwaves bombard the molecules of water in the food. These molecules each have a positive and negative end, or “polarity”. The polarized molecules try to line themselves up with the electrical field, like compass needles trying to point North. But because the electrical field is reversing polarity at a rate of 2,450 million cycles a second, the water molecules end up rotating at the same speed. That activity generates heat, which cooks the food, literally from inside out, as opposed to other types of cooking, which transfer heat convectionally from the outside in. Unfortunately, this violent movement of molecules causes substantial damage to some molecules, often tearing them apart or deforming them."
"The Food and Drug Administration in the U.S. states that “foods cooked in a microwave oven may keep more of their vitamins and minerals, because microwave ovens can cook more quickly and without adding water.” A Spanish study published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture in 2003 disproves that statement. Researchers from the Spanish scientific research council CEBAS-CSIC found that cooking by microwave is the worst way to preserve at least one key nutrient in vegetables. According to Dr. Cristina Garcia-Viguera, co-author of the study, microwaved broccoli loses 97 percent, 74 percent, and 87 percent of the three major cancer-protecting antioxidant compounds (flavonoids, sinapics and caffeoyl-quinic derivatives). By comparison, steamed broccoli loses 11 percent, 0 percent and 8 percent of the very same antioxidants."
[font=arial]"Vitamin B-12 is another nutrient that can be destroyed by microwaving. Japanese research reported in Science News in 1998 found that as little as six minutes of microwave cooking destroyed half of the vitamin B-12 in dairy foods and meat, a much higher rate of destruction than other cooking techniques. Microwaving baby formula is also a problem, according to Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii in the Lancet medical journal in 1989. She wrote that microwaving baby formula converts certain trans-amino acids into synthetic substances like trans-fatty acids. Further, one of the amino acids, L-proline, converts to a substance known to be poisonous to the nervous system and to the kidneys."
"Russian researchers found that people who ate microwaved foods had a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues, and a gradual breakdown of the digestive and excretory systems. Due to chemical alterations within the food, they had lymphatic malfunctions, causing a degeneration of the body#%92s immune system. For instance, microwaving milk and cereal grains converted some of their amino acids into carcinogens, thawing frozen fruits converted their glucoside and galactoside containing fractions into carcinogenic substances, and carcinogenic free radicals were formed in microwaved plants, especially root vegetables. They also reported structural degradation leading to decreased availability of Vitamins B, C, E and essential minerals at a rate of 60 to 90 percent in all foods tested. As a result of that research, the Soviets banned the use of microwave ovens in 1976 and issued an international warning on the health hazards, both biological and environmental, of microwave ovens and similar frequency electronic devices. The ban has since been over-turned and the rest of the world appears not to have headed the warning."
"In 1989, the Swiss food scientist Dr Dans Ulrich Hertel fed eight volunteers a range of raw, conventionally cooked and microwaved food. Blood samples, taken from each person after eating, showed serious irregularities in the structure of the food microwaved, and in the blood of those eating the microwaved samples. These changes included a decrease in all hemoglobin and cholesterol values, especially the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values. 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."
"An article also appeared a Swiss environmental magazine entitled Journal Franz Weber, which stated that the consumption of food cooked in microwave ovens had cancerous effects on the blood as indicated by an increase of leukocytes, which could indicate cell damage, after eating microwaved substances. As soon as Doctors Hertel and Blanc published their results, the authorities reacted. In 1992, a powerful trade organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers for Electro-apparatuses for Households and Industry, known as FEA forced the Swiss courts to issue a “gag order” against them. The following year, Dr. Hertel was convicted for “interfering with commerce” and prohibited from further publishing his results. However, he fought the decision and both it and the gag order were reversed in 1998 when the European Court of Human Rights in Austria ruled that there had been a violation of his rights in the 1993 decision. In addition, Switzerland was ordered to pay him compensation."
"Health writer Dr. Andrew Weil has suggested that reheating foods in a microwave oven may not be harmful. However, according to the American Journal of Epidemiology, an outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium in Alaska was traced to food taken home from restaurants. While 30 people had taken home “doggie bags” only ten became sick; they had reheated their food in a microwave oven, while those who used a conventional oven or frying pan did not get sick."
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