The Conscious Cook, LLC
"Reaching Toward Perfect Health"
Hidden Dangers
There are no regulations on cookware in the United States.
Can scratch, chip and flake. "Exposure
to Teflon resins at temperatures above 393ºF may produce a condition
termed polymer fume fever characterized by flu like symptoms such as chills,
fever, body aches, nausea and occasional vomiting." - Federal
Aviation Agency Occupational Health & Safety Bulletin.
"A chemical, C-8, used to make non-stick coated
pans has been linked to birth defects in humans to cancer in laboratory
animals. The chemical is also present in the blood for up to 4 years and
can show up in breast milk." — EWG
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"19 MAY 2005 | DuPont was served Thursday with a subpoena from the Justice Department's environmental crimes unit requesting documents on a key Teflon chemical. DuPont has already agreed to pay up to $340 million in a civil settlement for Teflon pollution and is the subject of an EPA investigation into its coverup of studies of the chemical's health effects." — EWG |
"This
development gives some hope that DuPont will be held accountable for its
contamination of virtually every American's bloodstream with this toxic
Teflon chemical. A federal criminal probe should not be required to find
out what a company knew and when it knew it regarding a product's contamination
of people and the environment. It's a dramatic example of why we need a
complete overhaul of the regulatory system for this industry."—
EWG President Ken Cook
Learn More about Teflon Dangers at EWG (click
above)
Dangers of Teflon
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DuPont, Now in the Frying Pan
Now DuPont has to worry that Teflon and the materials
used to make it have perhaps become a bit too ubiquitous. Teflon constituents
have found their way into rivers, soil, wild animals and humans, the company,
government environmental officials and others say. Evidence suggests that
some of the materials, known to cause cancer and other problems in animals,
may be making people sick.
While it remains one of DuPonts most valuable
assets, Teflon has also become a potentially huge liability. The Environmental
Protection Agency filed a complaint last month charging the company with
withholding evidence of its own health and environmental concerns about
an important chemical used to manufacture Teflon. That would be a violation
of federal environmental law, compounded by the possibility that DuPont
covered up the evidence for two decades.
DuPont contends that it met its legal reporting
obligations, and said that it plans to file a formal response this week.
If an E.P.A. administrative judge does not agree,
the agency could fine the company up to $25, 000 a day from the time DuPont
learned of potential problems with the chemical two decades ago until Jan
30, 1997, when the agency's fines were raised, and $27,500 a day since
then. The total penalty could reach $300 million. The agency is also investigating
whether the suspect chemical, a detergent like substance called perfluorooctanoic
acid, is harmful to human health, and how it has become so pervasive in
the environment. The chemical which is more commonly known as PFOA or C-8,
for the number of carbon atoms in its molecular structure has turned up
in the blood of more than 90 percent of Americans, according to samples
taken from blood banks by the 3M Company beginning in the mid-90’s. Until
it got out of the business in 2000, 3M was the biggest supplier of PFOA.
DuPont promptly announced it would begin making the substance itself.
The E.P.A. is auditing 3M to determine if there
were any civil violations of environmental law involving its chemically
related products, Cynthia Bergman, a spokeswoman for the agency, said.
The E.P.A.’s action on July 8 prompted the Chinese government to begin
its own study on the safety of Teflon, and some stores there pulled Teflon
coated pans from their shelves, the government run China Daily newspaper
reported.
SOME people who live in or near Parkersburg,
W.Va., where DuPont has manufactured Teflon for 50 years, are not waiting
for some studies. Thousands of them have joined in a class action suit
filed in Wood County, W.Va., Circuit Court against the chemical maker,
which they charge knowingly contaminated the air, land and water around
the plant for decades without informing the community. The chemical has
been found in the public drinking water at levels exceeding a longtime
internal guideline considered safe by DuPont. The trial is scheduled to
begin next month.
Can Teflon make you sick?
To learn about the health problem, ABC News went to the kitchen with members of the Environmental Working Group.
They say that when a Teflon coated pan reaches 554 degrees, ultra fine particles start coming off the pan. The particles can imbed in the lungs and lead to "Teflon Flu."
The illness causes flu like symptoms, including headache, backache, and a temperature between 100 and 104 degrees.
The hotter a Teflon pan gets, the more chemicals are released and at 680 degrees, six toxic gases can begin to come off of heated Teflon.
The Teflon flu is something DuPont has known about for years and with normal cooking, pans don't get hot enough to present a problem.
In a test done by ABC News, a piece of bacon was just beginning to get crisp when a Teflon pan went past the initial danger point of 500 degrees -- the temperature DuPont says is never exceeded under normal cooking conditions at home.
The federal government is now conducting an urgent review of the chemical involved in making Teflon for possible long term harm.
U.S. Urged to Put Warning Labels on Teflon Cookware
According to a study by the advocacy group, pots and pans coated with Teflon could reach 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 C) in 3-5 minutes, releasing 15 harmful gases and chemicals, including two carcinogens.
The advocacy group also said that internal documents from DuPont Co., which produces Teflon, indicated that toxic particles that can kill birds are produced at temperatures as low as 464 degrees (240 C).
"If Teflon fumes kill birds, what do they do to people?" said Jane Houlihan, a vice president with the Environmental Working Group who said consumers often exceed 500 degrees Fahrenheit (260 C) when they cook.
To this day there have been no studies conducted that investigate the long term impact on humans. Teflon and other nonstick chemicals can produce flu like symptoms such as fever or shortness of breath, a condition called polymer fume fever.
"We know of no adverse conditions or long term affects associated with polymer fume fever, and if that were the case, we would have known about it and would have reported it," said Cliff Web, a spokesman for DuPont.
DuPont has acknowledged that cookware heated below 500 degrees is harmful to birds. Also company officials have said that it is not safe to use cookware in temperatures above 500 degrees.
Killed: Wild birds
In August 1996 the Canadian Cooperative Wildlife Health Center (CCWHC) in Ontario, a collaboration of four university veterinarian colleges, investigated a report from the City of Scarborough Department of Public Health alleging an unusual number of wild bird deaths in an area bordering a cookware coating facility. Between July and October the CCWHC collected dead house sparrows, yellow bellied sapsuckers, starlings, and mourning doves. They found a consistent pattern of lung congestion, edema and occasional hemorrhage among the dead birds, consistent with death from inhalation of PTFE fumes. The Department of Public Health attributed the bird deaths to fumes the factory, and negotiated a plan for emission reductions [16].
Killed: 80 to 100 wild birds
Implicated in death:Fumes from non-stick manufacturing facility
In 1997 scientists in England reported that 80 to 100 wild birds were found dead in a four hour time span approximately 700 feet from an industrial plant in western England that coated sheet metal with non-stick paint containing PTFE. On the afternoon of the bird deaths, the plant had some problems that resulted in oven temperatures raised up to 880 0 F (470 degC) to improve the coating of the sheet metal with the PTFE-containing paint. Wind direction was consistent with fumes traveling from the plant to where the dead birds were found. The authors write, "Most of the birds were found dead, but some were alive, gasping for breath, and died shortly afterwards" [15].
Killed:14 pet birds
Implicated in death: Teflon coated stovetop burner drip pans
A Chicago area woman lost 14 birds within 15 minutes of preheating four burners on her electric stove while preparing Thanksgiving dinner. A local avian veterinarian found lung damage (necrotizing pneumonitis) in a post mortem investigation, and upon questioning the bird owner in detail, attributed the deaths to fumes from new, Teflon coated drip pans installed two weeks earlier [7][8]. Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Consumer Product Safety Commission has banned the use of PTFE coatings on drip pans, which DuPont studies show can approach 1000º F during routine use. [17,18]
Killed: 107 chicks
Implicated in death: Teflon cookie sheet under over broiler
Chicago area bird specialist Dr. Peter Sakas documented a case in which 107 chicks died after their owner put a Teflon cookie sheet under a broiler to catch drippings. [18].
Killed:All birds in a breeding operation
Implicated in death:Overheated Teflon pan
Dr. Robert Eckroade, director of the poultry pathology laboratory at New Bolton Center of the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, reported a case he oversaw in which all the birds in two rooms of a breeding operation died after a Teflon pan in a home was overheated [17].
Killed:$2,000 pet bird
Implicated in death:Self-cleaning oven
Bird specialist Dr. Richard Nye of the Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal Hospital in west suburban Westchester oversaw a case in which a $2,000 bird died when the bird owner used the self cleaning feature on a home oven.[17].
Killed:two pet birds
Implicated in death:non-stick pizza pan
Dr. Peter Sakas, a Chicago area veterinarian and bird expert, recounted a case in which an area woman lost a cockatoo and one other bird (species unnamed) while she heated pizza on a non-stick pan [17].
Killed:14 pet birds
Implicated in death:Teflon cookie sheet used
to bake bread
Dr. Sam Vaughn, an avian veterinarian specialist
in Louisville, Kentucky, investigated a case in which 14 birds died within
30 minutes of their owner cooking bread on a Teflon cookie sheet and barely
burning the bottom of the bread. The cookie sheets had been used before
without incident. Dr. Vaughn’s autopsy of two of the 14 birds confirmed
lung lesions that are a hallmark effect of PTFE toxicosis [19].
ALUMINUM
"All Vegetables cooked in Aluminum produce
hydroxide poison which neutralizes digestive juices, producing stomach
and gastrointestinal trouble, such as stomach ulcers and colitis." Dr.
A. McGuigan's Report on Findings for the Federal Trade Comm. In Docket Case
No. 540 Washington, D.C.
Scientists have found abnormally high amounts of aluminum, zinc, and other metals in brain tissue of people having Alzheimer's. Many of the symptoms of aluminum toxicity mimic those of Alzheimer's disease and osteoporosis. Colic, rickets, gastrointestinal problems, interference with the metabolism of calcium, extreme nervousness, anemia, headaches, decreased liver and kidney function, memory loss, speech problems, softening of the bones, and aching muscles can all be caused by aluminum toxicity.
Good advice:
1. Do not cook or store food in
aluminum containers.
2. Do not use aluminum foil in the process
of cooking or storing food.
3. Don't use anti-antiperspirants because it almost
always contains some form a aluminum (aluminum chlorohydrate, Aluminum
Zirconium Tetrachlorohydrex, etc.). Use a natural deodorant instead. Remember,
odor is caused primarily by bacteria. If you kill the bacteria, you eliminate
the odor. I use a Tea Tree oil -based deodorant and it works great.
4. Don't cook with food containing Aluminum.
Check the ingredient list. Many grain based foods have aluminum added.
Check cookies and cookie mixes, breads and bread mixes, baking power/soda,
etc. I have even found aluminum in certain brands of coffee creamers (usually
the dry powdered type).
5. Several medications contain high amounts
of aluminum. Check "milk of magnesia" and other stomach/digestive related
medications such as Tums & Rolaids.
Warning – REPORT OF FINDINGS OF DR. H.A.MCGUIGAN
FOR THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION IN DOCKET CASE NO. 540, WASHINGTON, D.C.
• Boiling water in aluminum produces hydroxide
poison.
• Boiling an egg in aluminum produces phosphate.
• Boiling meat in aluminum produces chloride.
• Frying bacon in aluminum produces a powerful
narcotic acid, which in large doses causes comas, or in excessive doses
causes death.
• All vegetables cooked in aluminum produce
hydroxide poison, which neutralizes the digestive juices, robbing them
of their value to digest food, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble,
such as stomach ulcers, and colitis.
• Aluminum poison will produce acidosis, which
destroys the red cells producing a condition similar to anemia.
• The sale of aluminum cooking utensils is
prohibited in Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, Switzerland, Hungary
and Brazil.
Q: I HAVE HEARD THAT ALUMINUM COULD BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH. Why do they make cookware that permits food to come in contact with aluminum?
A: THERE IS A LOT OF SPECULATION THAT ALUMINUM
CAUSES VARIOUS HEALTH AILMENTS. The jury is still out on this one.
The FDA also forbids the use of aluminum utensils
to store dairy products.
Aluminum is quite porous an the chemical reactions that take place while cooking make it more pitted with age. In addition, all vegetables cooked in aluminum produce hydroxide poison, which neutralizes the digestive juices, robbing them of their value to digest food, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble, such as stomach ulcers and colitis. Foods cooked in Anodized aluminum (hardened aluminum) have the same result.
Source experts are now stating that the way
you cook your food and what you cook your food on CAN and is just as important
as what you eat.
More than half (52 percent) of all cookware
sold today is made of Aluminum, according to Cookware Manufacturers Association
executive vice President Paul Uetzmann. But most of these aluminum pots
and pans are coated with nonstick finishes or treated using a process that
alters and hardens the structure of the metal. In the 1970s, Canadian researchers
reported that the brains of Alzheimer?s disease victims contained abnormally
high levels of aluminum. The studies stirred a controversy about whether
aluminum is the cause or result of the disease. At the same time, many
concerned consumers discarded their natural aluminum cookware. Stephen
Levick, M.D., from Yale University School of Medicine in Newhaven, Conn.,
wrote in a letter to the editor of the New England Journal of Medicine,
out with my corroded aluminum pots. Dr. Levick has thrown away his pots
and pans. Researchers still are investigating the connection between aluminum
and Alzheimer's disease. But according to Creighton Phelps, Ph.D., director
of medical and scientific affairs at the Alzheimer's Association, much
recent data support the theory that brains already damaged by Alzheimer?s
disease may permit entry of abnormally high levels of aluminum.
ANODIZED
ALUMINUM
The sale of aluminum cookware is prohibited
in Germany, France, Belguim, Gr. Britain Switzerland, Hungary and Brazil.
the chemical reactions that take place while cooking make it more pitted
with age. In addition, all vegetables cooked in aluminum produce hydroxide
poison, which neutralizes the digestive juices, robbing them of their value
to digest food, producing stomach and gastrointestinal trouble, such as
stomach ulcers and colitis. Foods cooked in Anodized aluminum (hardened
aluminum) have the same result.
ENAMEL
COOKWARE
Health concern about using enamelware comes
from components used in making, 
such as lead, or cadmium. Enamel
is fused Glass which contains cadmium.. Boron and lead are used in making
glass, enamel, and porcelain cookware. Studies have shown lead, a heavy
metal, if consumed can cause neurological damage, especially in young children
Q: IS CAST IRON COOKWARE
SUPERIOR TO OTHER TYPES OF COOKWARE?
CAST IRON
Most porous of all metals. Grease can turn
rancid in pores. Some people believe that they can get iron from a cast
iron pot. The reality is that iron comes in a ferrous and a ferric form.
Your body cannot assimilate the iron (ferric) from a cast iron pan.
A: Cast Iron is the most Porous of all
cookware full of carcinogenic heated oils. Also there is some concern about
the excess of iron leaching into the food.
Some iron is essential
for carrying oxygen in the blood to organs and tissues, but too much is
toxic. Excess iron accumulates in organs such as the heart, liver,
joints, pancreas, and pituitary gland. If untreated, this accumulation
can cause organ damage, and diseases such as heart attack, diabetes, cirrhosis
of the liver, liver cancer, arthritis, and depression, and can even lead
to premature death. People with iron overloads are misdiagnosed 67% of
the time as having other disorders, including arthritis, diabetes, heart
problems, liver/gallbladder disease, or various stomach disorders. Iron
can not be excreted and, overtime, the metal accumulates to toxic levels
in vital organs such as the liver, heart, brain and joints. Persons with
high iron levels are at risk. Iron overload symptoms include the
following:
* Chronic fatigue (the most
common symptom)
* Joint pain/arthritis
* Loss of sex drive
* Impotence or early menopause
* Irregular heartbeat or heart
problems
* Abdominal pain
* Weight loss
* Depression
* Change in skin color (i.e.,
jaundice, reddish, or gray olive)
* Elevated blood sugar
In Africa, the Bantus use iron pots and because
the excess iron, it gets into their food and as a consequence it overloads
the liver.
This overload leads to death from cirrohsis of
the liver, which is the same pathology as the alcoholic builds, but without
the alcohol.
This iron creates poisoning of the body just
as too much of the everyday foods that overload and poison the body can
poison the body.
The red blood cell constitutes 5% iron in the
blood. Some folks believe that cast iron pots are a reliable and safe
source of iron, but this is misinformation. Our red blood cell is renewed
and built from the elements of the earth through the roots of the plant
kingdom and salt water, among reliable ones.
Excessive iron is toxic to humans, because excess
ferrous iron reacts with peroxides in the body, producing free radicals.
Iron becomes toxic when it exceeds the amount of transferrin needed to
bind free iron. In excess, uncontrollable quantities of free radicals are
produced.
Iron uptake is tightly regulated by the human
body, which has no physiologic means of excreting iron and regulates iron
solely by regulating uptake. However, too much ingested iron can damage
the cells of the gastrointestinal tract directly, and may enter the bloodstream
by damaging the cells that would otherwise regulate its entry. Once there,
it causes damage to cells in the heart, liver and elsewhere. This can cause
serious problems, including the potential of death from overdose, and long-term
organ damage in survivors.
Humans experience iron toxicity above 20 milligrams
of iron for every kilogram of weight, and 60 milligrams per kilogram is
a lethal dose. If iron intake is excessive iron overload disorders can
sometimes result, such as hemochromatosis. Iron overload disorders require
a genetic inability to regulate iron uptake; however, many people have
a genetic susceptibility to iron overload without realizing it and without
knowing a family history of the problem. For this reason, people should
not take iron supplements unless they suffer from iron deficiency and have
consulted a doctor. Blood donors are at special risk of low iron levels
and are often recommended to supplement their iron intake.
GLASS
COOKWARE
Glass Cookware Health concern about using glassware
or enamelware comes from components used in making, such as lead,
or cadmium. Health Professionals are also concerned about the use of lead
in these pans. Boron and lead are used in making glass, enamel, and porcelain
cookware. Studies have shown lead, a heavy metal, if consumed can cause
neurological damage, especially in young children.
Regarding the metal, most cookware sold in stores is an 18/10 grade of steel at best. Because of the softness of this grade of metal, when heated, it expands and the food sticks to the pan. You are then forced to cook with oil and the pan becomes difficult to clean.
“The kind of steel used in most stainless steel
cookware is not the best metal in which to prepare foods. Most stainless
steel cookware sold in stores is of such a nature as to allow chrome and
nickel to bleed out into foods as water and food chemicals react with the
walls of the vessels as they are heated. The chrome and nickel salts are
retained when ingested. They cannot be eliminated. They build up and in
time can create troublesome conditions”.
– Dr. Shelton’s Hygienic Review
Division of Science,
Engineering and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University at Erie,
The Behrend College, 16563 Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Stainless steels are widely used materials in
food preparation and in home and commercial cookware. Stainless is readily
attacked by organic acids, particularly at cooking temperatures; hence
iron, chromium, and nickel should be released from the material into the
food. Nickel is implicated in numerous health problems, notably allergic
contact dermatitis. Conversely, chromium and iron are essential nutrients
for which stainless could be a useful source. Home cookware was examined
by atomic absorption spectroscopy: seven different stainless utensils as
well as cast iron, mild steel, aluminum and enameled steel. The materials
were exposed to mildly acidic conditions at boiling temperature. Nickel
was a major corrosion product from stainless steel utensils; chromium and
iron were also detected. It is recommended that nickel sensitive patients
switch to a material other than stainless, and that the stainless steel
cookware industry seriously consider switching to a non-nickel formulation.
Do You Microwave Your Food?
You're Zapping Away Nutrients
and Risking Your Health.
In the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, Cristina Garcia-Viguera reports on a study that measured antioxidant levels in broccoli after it was cooked in various ways. Microwaved broccoli had the lowest levels of antioxidants (less than 5% of the original antioxidants found in fresh broccoli remained), probably because of the high internal temperatures generated by this cooking method. Boiling wasn’t a good way to retain antioxidants either, with only about 20% of them preserved in the food (about 35% if the cooking water was used as well). Pressure-cooking was slightly better, with about 46% being retained in the food (about 91% if the cooking water was used as well). Steaming retained about 89% of the antioxidants. Of course, you could just eat your broccoli raw and get the full dose.
Jean Nick is a Senior Information Analyst with the Rodale Library & Information Services Department.
* "Cancer Causing Effects — Creation of a ‘binding effect’ to radioactivity in the atmosphere, creation of cancer-causing agents within protein hydrolysate compounds, malfunctions within the lymphatic systems, higher percentage of cancerous cells within the blood serum, cancer-causing free radicals, stomach and intestinal cancerous growths, with a gradual breakdown of the function of the digestive and excretive systems.
* Decrease In Food Value — Microwave exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritive value of all foods researched. There was a decrease in bioavailability of B-complex vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics in all foods, a loss of 60 to 90% of the vital energy field of all tested foods, and a marked acceleration of structural disintegration in all foods.
* Biological Effects of
Exposure — Breakdown of the human “life-energy field,” degeneration and
circuit breakdowns within the front portion of the brain where thought
and higher functions reside, loss of balance, long term cumulative loss
of vital energy and long-lasting residual effects.
In America, neither universities nor the federal
government have conducted any tests concerning the effects on our bodies
from eating microwaved foods. Isn’t that odd?"
reference: http://www.buergerwelle.de/pdf/microwave_cooking.pdf
Ten reasons to throw out your Microwave oven
(taken from research):
The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking
by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell
http://campaignfortruth.com/Eclub/210703/CTM%20-%20microwave.htm
1. Continually eating food processed from a
microwave oven causes long term, permanent, brain damage by ‘shorting out”
electrical impulses in the brain (de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain
tissue).
2. The human body cannot metabolize (breakdown)
the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.
3. Male and female hormone production is shut
down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.
4. The effects of microwaved food by-products
are residual (long term, permanent) within the human body.
5. Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all
microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little
or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot
be broken down.
6. The minerals in vegetables are altered
into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.
7. Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal
cancerous growths (tumors). This may explain the rapid increased rate of
colon cancer in America.
8. The prolonged eating of microwaved foods
causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.
9. Continual ingestion of microwaved food
causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and serum alterations.
10. Eating microwaved food causes loss of
memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.
{Health Freedom Resources, Public Awareness Announcement #1, June 2000, Radiation Ovens, The Proven Dangers of Microwaves.” Also information from the Forensic Research Document, prepared by William P. Kopp, A.R.E.C. Research Operations. TO61-7R10/10-77F05. Written by Anthony Wayne and Lawrence Newell. healthfree.com, Apr. 2003} Editor's comment: The use of artificial microwave transmissions for subliminal psychological control, ‘brainwashing,’ has also been proven. Clinical experiments have been written up by Drs. Luria and Perov.
Over 90% of American homes have microwave ovens used for meal preparation. Very few homes or restaurants and Fast food Chains are without them. In general, people believe that whatever a microwave oven does to foods cooked in it doesn't have any negative effect on either the food or them.
Why did the Soviet Union ban the use of microwave
ovens in 1976? RUSSIANS BAN MICROWAVE OVENS
After the World War II, the Russians also
experimented with microwave ovens. From 1957 up to recently, their research
has been carried out mainly at the Institute of Radio Technology at Klinsk,
Byelorussia. According to US researcher William Kopp, who gathered much
of the results of Russian and German research - and was apparently prosecuted
for doing so (J. Nat. Sci, 1998; 1:42-3) - the following effects were observed
by Russian forensic teams:
1. Heating prepared meats in a microwave sufficiently
for human consumption created:
2. d-Nitrosodiethanolamine (a well known cancer
causing agent)
o Destabilization of active protein bimolecular
compounds
o Creation of a binding effect to radioactivity
in the atmosphere
o Creation of cancer causing agents within
protein-hydrosylate compounds in milk and cereal grains;
3. Microwave emissions also caused alteration
in the catabolic (breakdown) behavior of glucoside - and galactoside -
elements within frozen fruits when thawed in this way;
4. Microwaves altered catabolic behavior of
plant alkaloids when raw, cooked or frozen vegetables were exposed for
even very short periods;
5. Cancer causing free radicals were formed
within certain trace mineral molecular formations in plant substances,
especially in raw root vegetables;
6. Ingestion of micro waved foods caused a
higher percentage of cancerous cells in blood;
7. Due to chemical alterations within food
substances, malfunctions occurred in the lymphatic system, causing degeneration
of the immune systems capacity to protect itself against cancerous growth;
8. The unstable catabolism of micro waved
foods altered their elemental food substances, leading to disorders in
the digestive system;
9. Those ingesting micro waved foods showed
a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus
a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues with a gradual breakdown
of digestive and excretory system function;
10. Microwave exposure caused significant
decreases in the nutritional value of all foods studied, particularly:
o A decrease in the bioavailability of B-complex
vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotrophics
o Destruction of the nutritional value of
nucleoproteins in meats
o Lowering of the metabolic activity of alkaloids,
glucosides, galactosides and nitrilosides (all basic plant substances in
fruits and vegetables)
o Marked acceleration of structural disintegration
in all foods.
As a result microwave ovens were banned in
Russia in 1976; the ban was lifted after Perestroika.
MICROWAVED BLOOD KILLS!
In 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"! (J. Nat. Sci, 1998; 1:2-7). 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 micro waving altered the blood and it killed her.
Perhaps the most concrete evidence of the
dangers of microwaves comes from Dr. Hans Hertel, a Swiss food scientist,
who carried out a small but high quality study on the effects of microwaved
food on humans. His conclusions were clear and alarming: microwave cooking
significantly altered the foods nutrients enough so that changes occurred
in the participants’ blood changes that suggested deterioration. The changes
included:
• Increased cholesterol levels
• More leukocytes, or white blood cells, which
can suggest poisoning
• Decreased numbers of red blood cells
• Production of radiolytic compounds (compounds
unknown in nature)
• Decreased hemoglobin levels, which could
indicate anemic tendencies
Dr. Hertel and his team published the results
in 1992, but a Swiss trade organization, the Swiss Association of Dealers
for Electro-apparatuses for Households and Industry, had a gag order issued,
which prohibited Dr. Hertel from declaring that microwaves were dangerous
to health. The gag order was later removed in 1998, after the Swiss court
ruled that the gag order violated the right to freedom of expression. Switzerland
was ordered to pay Dr. Hertel compensation as well.
Robert Young
Environmental Working Group
