microwave ovens,is there any risk for causation of cancer?

Question

I was asked this question in an interview by a professor of radiology and I had no answer.My wife too asked me and ditto.
specifically,will the radiation penetrate the human directly or...will it cuse carcinogenic modifications in food being cooked?

Answer 1

The microwave radiation used in an oven is at a frequency of 2.45GHz. Radiation at this frequency in non-ionizing and is not going to do the sort of damage that will cause cancer.

Microwaves cause heating, which is how it cooks. Keep the oven clean, make sure that the door is not damaged or loose, ensure that there is no visible corrosion and there should be no large leak of energy. There will be some small leak of energy around the door and you can buy very cheap monitors in retail stores that will tell you if the level is too high. Even so, it is not advisable to put your eyes anywhere near the door while the thing is operation. The effect on eyes is a heating effect and the eyes have a poor blood supply so do not cool as well as the skin. Long term exposure to high levels of microwave radiation may cause cataracts. You do have to be really silly over a long period to do this sort of damage.

In general, provided that the oven is not really old and not damaged, you have nothing to worry about.

As far as doing any damage to the food and making it glow in the dark and become carcinogenic, this is just nonsense.

Answer 2

Yes it could but more likely you would cook first but only if you blocked the door safety open. A guy in a fast food store found a way to overcome the cutout when the door was opened as it meant he could pass food through it more quickly. He died of (cooked) kidney failure,
SO DON'T DO IT!
I did check the radiation from my microwave and my television. The television emits far more than is lost from th emicrowave.
RoyS

Answer 3

I have been cooking with microwave ovens for 26 years. Yes, it does change the toilet habits for the first week, but then, food cooked in less than one inch of water, retaining all the vitimins. Anyway, none of us have been ill, it does veg and rice to perfection and none of us have cancer yet....but we can always get it later. Live long enough and have wierd genes ya will get all of it later. Blame other things on ya own downfall in genetics and health. Microwaves are great. I am waiting for the last ten years for the Nucular Wave, Bomb the food. Micorowaves are too slow.

Answer 4

Cancer is probably the least of your worries from a dysfunctional microwave. They work by passing energy to water molecules at the required frequency to vibrate them, ie boil them. Boiling your food is good but boiling your body tissues is generally regarded as a bad thing. You will be cooked in minutes, years before you get the chance to develop a malignancy!

Answer 5

Ten Reasons to Throw out your Microwave Oven

>From the conclusions of the Swiss, Russian and German scientific clinical studies, we can no longer ignore the microwave oven sitting in our kitchens. Based on this research, we will conclude this article with the following:

1). Continually eating food processed from a microwave oven causes long term - permanent - brain damage by "shorting out" electrical impulses in the brain [de-polarizing or de-magnetizing the brain tissue].

2). The human body cannot metabolize [break down] the unknown by-products created in microwaved food.

3). Male and female hormone production is shut down and/or altered by continually eating microwaved foods.

4). The effects of microwaved food by-products are residual [long term, permanent] within the human body.

5). Minerals, vitamins, and nutrients of all microwaved food is reduced or altered so that the human body gets little or no benefit, or the human body absorbs altered compounds that cannot be broken down.

6). The minerals in vegetables are altered into cancerous free radicals when cooked in microwave ovens.

7). Microwaved foods cause stomach and intestinal cancerous growths [tumors]. This may explain the rapidly increased rate of colon cancer in America.

8). The prolonged eating of microwaved foods causes cancerous cells to increase in human blood.

9). Continual ingestion of microwaved food causes immune system deficiencies through lymph gland and blood serum alterations.

10). Eating microwaved food causes loss of memory, concentration, emotional instability, and a decrease of intelligence.

Have you tossed out your microwave oven yet? After you throw out your microwave, you can use a toaster oven as a replacement. It works well for most and is nearly as quick. The use of artificial microwave transmissions for subliminal psychological control, a.k.a. "brainwashing", has also been proven. We're attempting to obtain copies of the 1970's Russian research documents and results written by Drs. Luria and Perov specifying their clinical experiments in this area.

Answer 6

They used to be Dangerous if you had a Pacemaker,even in Hospitals they had notices on Ward Kitchen Doors saying Patients with Pacemakers NOT allowed in Kitchen.

New Models are OK and can be used by everybody.

Why not contact Manufacturers and speak to someone who knows all about them now before being Scared off by some of these Answers on here.

Answer 7

I may be completely out of my depth here as I have not looked it up but as far I as I remember in the scale of waves Light waves long waves working towrds gamma and xrays microwaves are the wrong end of the scale to be of concern.

Unless that is you leave limb in the oven and turn it on, then you may find your blood turns to soup and your limbs on the menu

Answer 8

i remember reading an article in the New Scientist saying just about anytihing that we eat be it hot, cold , microwaved, refrigerated etc is likely to cause cancer... it was a very detailed article but unfortunately i cant remember all of it...... so i u wanna know whether microwave ovens cause cancer or not, i'd say they do

Answer 9

microwaved food, the only effect of cooking with microwaves is hot food. There is no "radiation damage" or "radioactivity,"

this quote was found on ''HOW THINGS WORK''

click on to the site below

Answer 10

Not if its working properly.

The grill at the front (on the door) is a metal screen which prevent the waves from leaving the oven and harming you. (Termed a Faraday cage)

Id worry about your mobile phone more..