I will NEVER use a microwave again!!

Couldn't read it because a subscription box popped up, had no way of closing, and wouldn't move out of the way. But just the title sounds like a load of crap. You're lying when you say you'll never use a microwave again.

Yeah, I didn't read it either because the box popped up and I didn't want to subscribe. Oh well

Just something else to add to the list of things people say might be harmful. The list is getting so long I don't know how any of us are even walking around anymore! I should say I did not read the article. From the pop up I gathered it was trying to sell me something. No Thanks!

and p.s. for the people who couldn't read cuz of pop up, I just scrolled around it, reading above the box as the window was still active behind it. tricky tricky .

just remember not to use a pot with teflon!

Um.

"In 1991, there was a lawsuit in Oklahoma concerning the hospital use of a microwave oven to warm blood needed in a transfusion. The case involved a hip surgery patient, Norma Levitt, who died from a simple blood transfusion. It seems the nurse had warmed the blood in a microwave oven. This tragedy makes it very apparent that there's much 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."

This just about killed me, because part of my job is to provide blood products to hospital wards for transfusion.

NOTICE that it mentions that blood for transfusions is *NOT ROUTINELY WARMED IN A MICROWAVE*. Microwaving red blood cells would likely cause their membranes to break open (similar to what might happen if someone microwaved any other thing with cells), which would release a host of clot-forming substances and if you transfused the whole bag the cell membranes would clog up the kidneys and cause renal failure. So, yes, microwaving the blood altered it, but when you do something as mindblowingly stupid as this, *kitten* like this happens.

Also:

"According to Dr. Lee, changes are observed in the blood chemistries and the rates of certain diseases among consumers of microwaved foods." Let's not forget that a lot of microwaved foods are full of processed junk anyways, so maybe we shouldn't be so quick to panic about how we cook them.

THIS is why I hold such disdain for junk science--it's based on facts that aren't necessarily 100% true, then skews it to sound more sensationalist than it really is. I'm sorry to come off as such a jerk, but honestly, I feel like we're all being taken for a ride by people who sit and review one or two books or studies and then write a fearmongering article for the fun of it. I don't mean to crab at you, sld21--sorry--but please understand that if you look hard enough, everything is out to get you.

Couldn't read it because a subscription box popped up, had no way of closing, and wouldn't move out of the way. But just the title sounds like a load of crap. You're lying when you say you'll never use a microwave again.

Why does she have to be lying? I threw out the microwave about 7 months ago (when we moved and relocated) and don't miss it.

I bought these gel heat packs for my DH and my lunch stuff and when we heat leftovers we heat on the stove or in the oven.

I agree, I don't think it's fair to say that a person who you know nothing about is lying about a choice they've made. While I have no intention of getting rid of my microwave, I lived as an adult without one for a number of years and did just fine.

To offer something different I am going to give a little spiel from the perspective of someone who has gotten rid of her microwave!

Okay, well my family has known about some of the potential harm of microwaves for awhile, but we haven't had one in our house since Aug 2001. Honestly, at first it sounds like a huge inconvenience, but you quickly discover that a toaster oven is really quick and usually produces a more desirable effect on the food (for me...). Other things are quickly heated up on the stove

Personally, I really can't say I ever miss having a microwave. In restaurants there are certain items normally cooked by microwave, that I ask the server about, if it is cooked by microwave, I get something different. No biggie. In college if I was at a friends house and they wanted to "nuke" something I rarely ever had to speak up for myself, since my friends all enjoyed informing those not in the know that I don't use microwaves.

The main thing, health wise, is that there have been a number of studies done indicating possible harm. Not to be a complete conspiracy theorist, but I just truly believe that the industry that is microwaves, and microwavable food (at the grocery store and in restaurants) is too big for the FDA or whoever else to ever be willing to ban it now, unless something drastic starts happening. Money talks!

Do I know that using a microwave gives you cancer or whatever else?

No!

I do have reasonable doubt though. So given a possible threat from something which over the last decade has proven to be virtually useless to me I can't say I regret the decision or that I will ever change.

I mean, yes there is a long long list of potentially harmful things, and it is impossible to eliminate them all, but I think that anyone who has joined this website is taking on a duty to ourselves to try and get rid of those things we can. If you feel you can't, fine, but not using it is really not something that needs to be looked down upon.

So there it is, my parents, brother and sister and I don't own microwaves!

if you microwave gummy worms they melt, and starbursts get like playdough for a little while (super fun), and peeps get HUGE..microwaves are such fun....