Extracted from NEXUS Magazine, Volume 2, #25 (April-May '95).
Originally printed from the April 1994 edition of Acres, USA.
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 LAW SUIT
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
- the same milk conventionally cooked
- pasteurized milk from Intermilk Berne
- the same raw milk cooked in a microwave oven
- raw vegetables from an organic farm
- the same vegetables cooked conventionally
- the same vegetables frozen and defrosted in the microwave oven
- and the same vegetables cooked in the microwave oven
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
hemoglobin 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 neutralizing 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 ml of blood was used for the chemistry and five
millimetres for the hematology and the luminescence. The hematological
examinations took place immediately after drawing the samples.
Erythrocytes, hemoglobin, mean hemoglobin concentration, mean
hemoglobin content, leukocytes and lymphocytes were measured. The
chemical analysis consisted of iron, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol
and LDL cholesterol. The results of erythrocyte, hemoglobin, hematocrit
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 (an increase in white blood cells)," 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 organization, 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, 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.
he 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°C to 98°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°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°ree;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?
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