From the archives (by Don) part 1

[Guest guest]

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@...

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 ,

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". Quan, M.D. from Dallas, Texas, was the lead name

of the study team. 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 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

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."

Suzi

List Owner

health

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.