Did the Soviet Union really ban microwaves in the 70's?

Question

There are many claims throughout the internet that the USSR banned microwaves in 1976. I'd like to know what credible supporting sources there are to this claim. Thanks.

Answer 1

"Hertel has dropped out of public view. So has William Kopp, described only as a "U.S. researcher," who wrote an article in 1996 claiming that Cold War research in the Soviet Union had proven the dangers of microwave ovens.

" "People who ingested microwaved foods showed a statistically higher incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers, plus a general degeneration of peripheral cellular tissues and a gradual breakdown of the function of the digestive and excretory systems," Kopp wrote."

"The Soviet research was never published and the institute where it was conducted, in what is now the Republic of Belarus, no longer exists. (The former Soviet Union may have banned microwave ovens for a short period, but no countries ban them today.) Kopp himself reportedly changed his name and vanished, believing that the appliance industry was out to persecute him."

"While Hertel and Kopp are no longer around, their unsubstantiated charges are all over the Internet."

"Forget the charges floating around the Internet. The “evidence” that microwaved foods cause cancer boils down to Hans Hertel’s and William Kopp’s claims. “There is nothing solid,” says Lawrence Livermore’s Jim Felton, who is also associate director for cancer control at the Cancer Center at the University of California, Davis."

"That may explain why scientists haven’t spent time and money looking for a link. “I can honestly tell you that I
have never seen a valid scientific study—and I pay attention to most of the cooking research out there—that has given us
reason to test whether microwaving food could cause
cancer,” says Felton."

" “In fact, my research suggests just the opposite.”
Grilling or frying meat and poultry can create heterocyclic amines, which may cause cancer. When Felton and his colleagues briefly microwaved meats and drained off the juices before grilling, most of the precursors of those potential carcinogens were lost along with the juices."

" “I generally recommend that patientsmicrowave their meats for one to five minutes and discard the juices before
grilling,” says researcher Cyndi Thomson of the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona in Tucson."

"Fact vs. fiction", David Schardt, Nutrition Action Healthletter, April, 2005 : http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0813/is_3_32/ai_n13664949

http://www.cspinet.org/nah/04_05/microwavemyths.pdf

Answer 2

The soviets were anxious to protect the state-run popcorn popper industry.