keith@uiucme.uiucme (09/24/85)
Microwave ovens are basically safe. No dependable association of microwave oven use to sterility has been found. Microwave ovens have been known to cause pacemakers (heart rate controls) to speed up, slow down, or stop altogether. That's a function of interfering with the sensors in the pacemaker. Here's a simple test: Buy yourself a cheap little RF power meter - some places sell them especially for checking microwave ovens - and check the periphery of the door - where it seals - for higher levels than other areas. If the meter shows substantially different readings around the door, then it doesn't fit and seal properly and should be repaired. Make sure there is a bowl of water inside the oven while you run it. N.B. What causes sterility? Physical dysfunction and incorrect genetic behavior in the testes. Microwave energy works by exciting the water molecules, making them wiggle harder, warming what is around them. I don't see how that could cause either aspect of sterility. Although a good dose of microwaves - say from a radar unit - is perfectly capable of steaming your brain up. :r .signature Keith U of Ill Mech Eng uiucdcs!uiucme!keith lanoitnetninu ylerup si daed ro gnivil nosrep yna ot ecnalbmeseR "A little unforseen circumstance" - Florry Knox
ashby@uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU (09/24/85)
If you have a fairly recent oven, and treat it right (ie, don't bounce it off the floor), then your fears are baseless. There are strict standards regarding microwave leaks, and I have never heard of anyone becoming sterile as a result of a microwave oven. As for a microwave's treatment of food, it is actually better than a convection oven: there is much less (if any) nutrient loss with microwave cooking. All in all, these stories persist because there are people out there who are afraid of anything that is new or is said to be "radioactive." Just ignore them and enjoy your oven.
bjc@drutx.UUCP (CampbellBJ) (09/25/85)
Whew! I was so glad that someone wrote in to say that microwave ovens are better than conventional ovens in leaving the nutrients in my food. Now I can enjoy my TV dinners with complete peace of mind! Disclaimer here. becky
flaps@utcs.uucp (Alan J Rosenthal) (10/02/85)
In article <7300003@uiucdcsp> ashby@uiucdcsp.CS.UIUC.EDU writes: >... >As for a microwave's treatment of food, it is actually better than >a convection oven: there is much less (if any) nutrient loss with >microwave cooking... Microwave ovens tend to heat things very unevenly because things are cooked for such a short length of time. In a normal oven the heat is distributed within the food by the normal mechanism, but in a microwave oven when cooking something for short periods of time this equalization cannot take place. Therefore there is a tendency for the same piece of food to be both overdone and underdone in bits. (apologies if this is too far off the original topic...)
prbonneau@watrose.UUCP (prbonneau) (10/03/85)
[Out vile jelly!] > Microwave ovens tend to heat things very unevenly because things are cooked > for such a short length of time. In a normal oven the heat is distributed > within the food by the normal mechanism, but in a microwave oven when cooking > something for short periods of time this equalization cannot take place. > Therefore there is a tendency for the same piece of food to be both overdone > and underdone in bits. I only got into this discussion in the middle, but microwave cooking is MORE even than conventional ovens. In a normal oven, where heating of the food is due to low frequency irradiation (which does not penetrate the food) and hot air convection (which heats the outside of the food) the cooking proceeds from outside to inside. In a microwave oven, microwaves penetrate the food, and it is cooked everywhere at once. This produces a much more homogenous level of "cookedness" throughout whatever is being cooked. The only reason that the food is cooked for a short time is that it's a lot faster to cook your food all at once, instead of from the outside-in. ----- I'm a man! I'm not a horse! ..!watmath!watrose!prbonneau Paul Bonneau.