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Alexis Lindsay Professor Judith Daniel Writing 262 29 December 2010 I probably never go a day without using my microwave. I use it to heat things up; I use it to melt ice. I used it to steam my vegetables; I use it to defrost my meat. I use it to pop my popcorn and my banana splits would be nothing without its gentile non-ionizing radiation. In my house, the microwave is like the mighty monarch of melting mozzarella and the most dependable dictator of delivering deliciousness expeditiously. I love my microwave; but does it love me? There are many myths about the dangers of microwave cooking. There are those critics who believe that microwaves create harmful radiation in food. There are also those critics who believe that over time dangerous radiation may leak from your microwave oven, harming your person. I have read that cooking meat in the microwave may create carcinogenic agents and also that the plastic containers that microwave dinners come in may poison the food cooked in it. It seems as though the fact of what microwaves due and how they do it is a topic often subject to scientific conjecture and shrouded in myth and misconception; but heres what we do know for sure Percy Spencer, the inventor of the microwave oven was a self taught engineer with a fondness for peanut chocolate bars, from Howland, Maine. During the 1920s he

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joined Raytheon, a manufacturer of tubes and magnetrons (one of the components of radar equipment). He quickly rose to be the companies leading tube design engineer. One afternoon in 1946 in the Raytheon laboratory, while working on a magnetron, Spencer felt a tingling sensation and noticed that the chocolate peanut bar in his pocket had began to melt. Intrigued, he decided to try and experiment with popping corn and an egg. While the egg promptly exploded in his curious colleagues face, the popping corn popped and flew throughout his laboratory. In the spring of 1946 Percy Spencer and his colleague P.R. Hanson began working on a project they titled The Speedy Weenie. He fashioned a crude device composed of a metal box into which he fed microwave power. When food was placed within the box while microwave energy was being fed in, Mr. Spencer observed that the temperature of the food rose very quickly. Lo and behold, the first microwave oven was born! Other company engineers at Raytheon went to work developing and refining Spencers discovery and by the end of 1946 Raytheon Company filed a patent for the worlds first microwave oven. (Gallawa) Intended for use in restaurants and or large kitchens, the first units available commercially in 1947 were large and bulky and retailed for about 5000 dollars! These units stood about 5 feet tall, weighed over 750 pounds and required plumbing installations to cool the magnetron tube. Needless to say the original microwave oven had poor sales figures and a lukewarm reception. (Gallawa)

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As time passed and the invention was refined and improved to be less bulky and more lightweight. Many new uses for the invention were found and the microwave oven found success being used in various commercial applications such as heating food, drying cork or even roasting coffee beans! (Gallawa) In 1967 the first countertop domestic model, the RadarRange, was developed and retailed for about 495 dollars. By 1975 sales of the microwave oven had even exceeded sales of the conventional oven and by 1976, 60% of American homes contained a Microwave. (Gallawa) While today about 90 percent of all American homes contain a microwave, there is still some debate over how exactly microwave ovens work. (Howard) Microwaves cook food through a form of non-ionizing radiation. According to journalist Brian Howard, Microwave radiation is a form of non-ionizing radiation (meaning it can't directly break up atoms or molecules) that lies between common radio and infrared frequencies. It is believed that this form of radiation does not damage the DNA of living things the way that other forms of radiation do. (Howard) This form of radiation does however cause heating effects which is why microwave ovens on the market must operate within strict limits set by the government. (Howard) Generally microwave ovens cook food through using microwaves at a frequency of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz) (a wavelength of 12.24 centimeters (4.82 in)). The prevailing belief is that molecules in the food, particularly water, absorb energy from the waves through dielectric heating. That is, since water molecules are polar, having a positive end and negative end, they begin to rotate rapidly as the alternating electric field passes through. That rotation is thought to add heat to the food.

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On the other side of this issue is belief that there may be such a thing as a microwave effect, that does things to food that more traditional methods do not. (Adams) The common hypothesis is that some frequencies of micro-waves or nonionizing radiation may resonate with food, body tissues, and whatnot. Just as a lowpower radio wave reaching a tuned-in boom box can rattle windows, a seemingly innocuous beam of microwave energy striking a harmonically attuned target may have disruptive effects. A study at Stanford University showed that microwaving frozen breast milk sharply reduced the potency of the natural infection-fighting agents it contained. The adverse effects are difficult to explain on the basis of hyperthermia [high heat] alone," they wrote. (Adams) Another study at done by Dr. Fumio Watanabe of Japans Kochi Womens University found that ...heating samples for six minutes degenerated 30 to 40% of the milk's vitamin B12. This kind of breakdown took about 25 minutes of boiling with conventional heat. Recently more research has been conducted into the validity of these theories. Most microwave chemistry research has been focused on how to improve microwave hardware but recently there has been a driving push to understand more about how they work. Scientists have been observing that microwaves ...greatly accelerate useful chemical reactions, sometimes by a factor of a thousand. Processes that once took hours, days, or months could be completed in minutes, often without the toxic solvents previously required.(Adams) This led scientists to realize that often give unpredictable results. One idea among some chemists is ...that this is some form of 'ponderomotive' driving force that arises when high frequency electric fields modulate ionic currents near

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interfaces with abrupt differences in ion mobility." . Still, scientists are not exactly sure about the facts and the matter is still hotly debated. What one might find more troubling are the indirect negative effects of microwave meals. For instance most if not all frozen dinners come in plastic containers. Research has found that plastics heated in the microwave were found to have ..."toxic doses" of Bisphenol A when heated in a microwave. The amounts detected were at levels that scientists have found cause neurological and developmental damage in laboratory animals, (Howard) Bisphenal-A is a toxic chemical found in plastics with recycling labels 3, 6, and 7. It has been found to negatively affect brain and fetus development in laboratory animals. (Walsh) There is some concern that Bisphenol-A may even cause some forms of prostate cancer. Another alarming product for any consumer of microwave goods comes from popcorn. Diacetyl, the chemical responsible for the buttery smell associated with most microwave popcorn has been found to cause lung cancer. (Muzaurieta) The chemical, diacetyl, can cause a condition known as lymphocytic bronchiolitis, which can lead to obliterative bronchiolitis or "popcorn lung," a rare and debilitating disease found in workers at microwave popcorn packaging plants... (Muzaurieta) According to the National Institutes of Health, in tests Laboratory mice made to inhale diacetyl vapors for three months developed lymphocytic bronchiolitis. (Reuters)

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While I cannot conclusively say that my microwave is a 100% safe and loves me as much as I love it; I can say that I, and the scientific community in general, dont know for sure that it is unsafe. While the jury I still out about microwave safety, what I am sure about is the fact that one must be ever vigilant about what they put in their microwaves. Recent research clearly shows that what you put in the microwave (plastic, buttery smelling popcorn for instance) may be more dangerous than any harmless healthy broccoli that comes out of it.

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Works Cited Adams, Cecil. "The Straight Dope: Does microwaving kill nutrients in food? Is microwaving safe?"Web. 11/29/2010 <http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2595/does-microwaving-kill-nutrientsin-food-is-microwaving-safe>. Gallawa, J. C. "The History of the Microwave Oven." http://www.gallawa.com/microtech/history.html ed. 2010 Vol. , 1996-2010. Web. 11/29/2010. Howard, Brian C. "Microwave Radiation Safety Microwave Danger Microwave Ovens - The Daily Green."Web. 11/29/2010 <http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/microwave-radiationovens-460709>. Muzaurieta, Annie B. "Butter Flavor Chemical in Popcorn Causes Lung Cancer Diacetyl - The Daily Green."Web. 11/29/2010 <http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/popcorn-lung-damage44031408>. "Popcorn ingredient causes lung disease: U.S. study | Reuters "Web. 11/30/2010 <http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1330524220080313>. Walsh, Bryan. "The Perils of Plastic." Time 175.14 (2010): 44-54. Print.

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