From the October 2004 Idaho Observer:

Do this at home: Test your microwave

By Larry Cook

If you have ever wondered whether or not microwaved food is safe, here’s an experiment you can do at home: Plant seeds in two pots. Water one pot with water that has been microwaved, the other with regular tap water.

The seeds that received microwaved water won’t sprout. If microwaved water can stop plants from growing, think of what microwaved food can do to your health!

In 1989, Swiss biologist and food scientist Dr. Hans Hertel studied the effects of microwaved food. Eight people participated in the study. For eight weeks, they lived in a controlled environment and intermittently ate raw foods, conventionally cooked foods and microwaved foods. Blood samples were tested after each meal. They discovered that eating microwaved food, over time, causes significant changes in blood chemistry:

1. A decrease in hemoglobin and cholesterol values, in the HDL (good cholesterol) versus LDL (bad cholesterol) ratio and in white blood cells, weakening the immune system, and an increase in leukocyte levels, which tends to indicate poisoning and cell damage—conditions ripening the body for degenerative diseases and/or cancer.

2. "The measurable effects on man through the ingestion of microwaved food, unlike untreated food, are blood alterations, that can also be found at the beginning of a pathological condition, also indicative of a beginning cancerous process," wrote Dr. Bernard Blanc, who assisted in the study.

3. Microwave ovens "cook" food by forcing the atoms, molecules and cells within the food to reverse polarity billions of times per second, causing friction—the more the friction, the more the heat. This oscillation tears and deforms the molecular structure of food. New compounds, called radiolytic compounds, which are not found in nature, are formed.

Interestingly, microwaves are actually used in gene-altering technology to deliberately break cells and neutralize their "life-force" so they can be manipulated. Microwaves destroy the life force that gives food its vitality and nourishment. When this life force dissipates, microorganisms start breaking food down and it begins to rot.

In early 1991, a lawsuit was filed against an Oklahoma hospital because a patient died from receiving a microwaved blood transfusion. Hospitals routinely heat blood for transfusion, but not in a microwave.

The effects of microwaving breast milk have also been researched. John Kerner, M.D. and Richard Quin, M.D. from Stanford University said, "Microwaving human milk, even at a low setting, can destroy some of its important disease-fighting capabilities."

4. After more research, Kerner wrote in the April, 1992 edition of Pediatrics that "Microwaving itself may in fact cause some injury to the milk above and beyond the heating."

In addition, a radio announcement at the University of Minnesota said, "Microwaves are not recommended for heating a baby’s bottle 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 milk, some protective properties may be destroyed."

5. Another study in Vienna warned that microwaving breast milk "can lead to structural, functional and immunological changes," and that microwaves transform the amino acid L-proline into D-proline, a proven toxin to the nervous system, liver and kidneys.

6. In Russia, microwave ovens were banned in 1976 because of their negative health consequences and many studies were conducted on their use. Here are some of their findings on microwaving food:

* Microwaved foods lose 60 to 90 percent of the vital-energy field and microwaving accelerates the structural disintegration of foods.

* Microwaving creates cancer-causing agents within milk and cereals.

* Microwaving alters elemental food-substances, causing digestive disorders.

* Microwaving alters food chemistry, which can lead to malfunctions in the lymphatic system and degeneration of the body’s ability to protect itself against cancerous growths.

* Microwaved foods lead to a higher percentage of cancerous cells in the bloodstream.

* Microwaving altered the breakdown of elemental substances when raw, cooked, or frozen vegetables were exposed for even a very short time and free radicals were formed.

* Microwaved foods caused stomach and intestinal cancerous growths, a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues, and a gradual breakdown of the digestive and excretive systems in a statistically high percentage of people.

* Microwaved foods lowered the body’s ability to utilize B-complex vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, essential minerals and lipotropics.

* The microwave field next to a microwave oven caused a slew of health problems as well.

Aside form these studies, many people find that microwaving their food doesn’t help them feel good. Stephanie Relfe, Kinesiologist, found herself feeling "gray and rather low" one day and discovered that she had inadvertently eaten microwaved food at a restaurant.

In her practice, Relfe found that all of her patients gave body signals of having allergic reactions to microwaved foods.

Another Kinesiologist, David Bridgeman, said, "Of all the people I test for allergies, 99.9% so far show severe sensitivity to any microwaved food."

Note: The London Telegraph reported Sept. 19, 2004, that microwave weapons will be fitted to U.S. military vehicles already in Iraq in an effort to disperse angry crowds. The weapons, which may be operable as early as this spring, are an attempt by the U.S. to calm growing concern regarding increasing numbers of innocent civilians being killed in Iraq.

The U.S. Department of Defense claims microwave weapons, which cause unbearable pain to the target until he moves out of the beam, cause no long-term damage. "The skin gets extremely hot, and people can’t stand the pain, so they have to move - and move in the way we want them to," said Col Wade Hall of the Office of Force Transformation.