1) The Hidden Hazards of Microwave Cooking
http://www.nexusmagazine.com/microwave.html

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@nexusmagazin e.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° 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?

2) Follow-up on Hertel excerpted from:

Cooked
http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/Willthomas/invest/investcooked.htm

by William Thomas

Published in Alive magazine

... [Hertel] stuck by his findings. In an ironically confirming
commentary on his findings, Hertel was forbidden by a Swiss court from
publicly "declaring that food prepared in microwave ovens 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 unrepentant Hertel continued giving seminars in Germany, where he
says his study results "have been well-received. " In August, 1998, the
court decision was reversed when the European Court of Human Rights at
Strasbourg ruled that the earlier Swiss "gag order" forbidding the
Bernese scientist from declaring that microwave ovens pose human health
risks contravened Hertel's right to freedom of expression. The Euro court
ordered Switzerland [to pay] F-40,000 in compensation for Hertel's legal
costs in a decision hailed by Nexus magazine as "an end to judicial censorship of persons drawing attention to the health hazards of certain
products."