Microwave Cooking is Killing You!
At this link you'll find a long essay ranting about the evils of microwave ovens. It claims that food cooked in a microwave, no matter what kind of food it is: "increases cholesterol, increases white blood cell numbers, decreases red blood cell numbers, and causes production of radiolytic compounds (compounds unknown in nature)". All sounds a bit dubious, but I'm actually more interested in one specific story told at the beginning of the article:
There was a lawsuit in 1991 in Oklahoma. A woman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, but was killed by a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a microwave oven!"
This seemed a bit unlikely to me, but a quick google search revealed that this same story, with almost the exact same wording, appears on many sites. So obviously this is a tale that the anti-microwave people have been spreading around. However, a little more searching reveals that the story isn't true. The incident did happen, but a jury found that Norma Levitt was killed by a blood clot, not by blood heated in a microwave.
There was a lawsuit in 1991 in Oklahoma. A woman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, but was killed by a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a microwave oven!"
This seemed a bit unlikely to me, but a quick google search revealed that this same story, with almost the exact same wording, appears on many sites. So obviously this is a tale that the anti-microwave people have been spreading around. However, a little more searching reveals that the story isn't true. The incident did happen, but a jury found that Norma Levitt was killed by a blood clot, not by blood heated in a microwave.
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Categories: Food Posted by Alex on Wed May 11, 2005 |
Comments (42) |
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I read the court summary in the link above. 1) the original case was NOT concluded before a jury, it was settled out of court, so we don't know what killed the lady (or who "won" the case). 2) this case was the appeal by those defendants excluded by the settlement but still implicated by the original case, effectively in limbo. They won.
The essential question was did microwaving effect the blood. Of course it did, in the same way that cooking it in a conventional oven would. Yes, it is likely that the blood was cooked, not just heated. If you can heat a meal from 10
Posted by Kiwi-Ian on Tue Mar 02, 2010 at 06:25 PM
The essential question was did microwaving effect the blood. Of course it did, in the same way that cooking it in a conventional oven would. Yes, it is likely that the blood was cooked, not just heated. If you can heat a meal from 10
Yeah i remember hearing this before. It's not true but does anyone know where it originated from?
Posted by Microwaves on Mon Jun 07, 2010 at 09:30 AM
Microwave cannot cook the food in a very even way, what you usually get from microwave oven is a mixture of frozen and overheated stuff.
So how can such equipment be used for warming blood, the nurses must have used microwave to heat IV fluids too often and their commen sense is it is no harm, but blood is no ordinary fluid. No wonder hemolysis happened and killed the patient.
Microwave can cook the food in a much faster way, therefore I think to the contrary of the assay, microwave can help retain more nutrient substances in the food.
Posted by Kyle on Mon Jul 12, 2010 at 03:46 AM
So how can such equipment be used for warming blood, the nurses must have used microwave to heat IV fluids too often and their commen sense is it is no harm, but blood is no ordinary fluid. No wonder hemolysis happened and killed the patient.
Microwave can cook the food in a much faster way, therefore I think to the contrary of the assay, microwave can help retain more nutrient substances in the food.
I suggest you actually read the legal transcript that this post links to. From the footnotes of the transcipt:
"Heating blood in this manner destroys the red blood cells, resulting in "gross hemolysis" of the blood, releasing large amounts of potassium. Excessive potassium, when introduced into the body, is often fatal. The practice of warming Intravenous (IV) fluids, other than blood, in the microwave was an accepted practice at Hillcrest Medical Center, as reflected in its written procedures."
Posted by jay on Thu Aug 26, 2010 at 09:29 AM
"Heating blood in this manner destroys the red blood cells, resulting in "gross hemolysis" of the blood, releasing large amounts of potassium. Excessive potassium, when introduced into the body, is often fatal. The practice of warming Intravenous (IV) fluids, other than blood, in the microwave was an accepted practice at Hillcrest Medical Center, as reflected in its written procedures."
More pseudo science and conspircay theories from people who only listened to half of what the teacher said and made up the other half.
I wonder if these people get contacted by aliens through their microwaves.
Posted by Benr on Sat Dec 11, 2010 at 05:32 AM
I wonder if these people get contacted by aliens through their microwaves.
I believe it is true. You will burn yourself if you touch a fire but you will be in trouble if you start a fire by rubbing your hand. Don't get it? When you heat meat or vegetables with a heat source, stove or oven the molecules of the meat or vegetables will not be destroyed. But if you heat the meat or vegetables by rotating, rubbing or vibrating their molecules millions of times per second, a by product that is not good for our body to induce will possibly be produce.
Posted by remy on Thu Aug 04, 2011 at 07:14 AM
correction: But if you heat the meat or vegetables by rotating, rubbing or vibrating their molecules millions of times per second, a by product that is not good for our body to digest will possibly be produced.
Posted by remy on Thu Aug 04, 2011 at 07:26 AM
*Facepalm*
Remy what exactly do you think heating food DOES? It transfers the heat energy to the food molecules causing them to rotate, rub, and vibrate faster. THAT is how things get hot, that is how heat is produced.
Seems the only byproduct microwave ovens really are causing is conspiracy theorists with tinfoil hats.
Posted by Truth on Mon May 21, 2012 at 02:58 PM
Remy what exactly do you think heating food DOES? It transfers the heat energy to the food molecules causing them to rotate, rub, and vibrate faster. THAT is how things get hot, that is how heat is produced.
Seems the only byproduct microwave ovens really are causing is conspiracy theorists with tinfoil hats.
This article makes no sense. Since when is a Jury capable of performing the medical research necessary to determine the cause of death? Where are your links to scientific studies proving that microwaves aren't harmful to your health? I want the last two minutes of my life back.
Posted by John K on Mon Jul 23, 2012 at 06:42 AM
@remy
I'd like to know if you know this to be chemically possible. Or if you are just hypothesizing.
By rubbing your hand, you are heating (and possibly ripping) skin, yes. But nothing new chemically gets formed by doing so. Your ripped and heated skin is still the same molecular structure.
So no..., I don't get it.
Posted by Kurt on Thu Dec 13, 2012 at 01:49 PM
I'd like to know if you know this to be chemically possible. Or if you are just hypothesizing.
By rubbing your hand, you are heating (and possibly ripping) skin, yes. But nothing new chemically gets formed by doing so. Your ripped and heated skin is still the same molecular structure.
So no..., I don't get it.
I've been killed by microwave ovens six or seven times now. And each time, my wife simply put a microwave oven next to me to undo the harmful radiation effects, and I've come back to life again. They're life savers!
Posted by Diamond Tredspane on Fri Dec 14, 2012 at 09:29 PM
Microwaves aren't dangerous if you keep the door shut, but heating blood in a microwave is extremely dangerous. Anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of bio/chem/phys will know that the blood will be destroyed; at least the parts closest to the container holding it. It will bubble and clot. So some of the stories don't surprise me. However, microwaves on their own are completely safe if one makes sure the door is closed.
Posted by Nim on Fri Apr 19, 2013 at 02:44 PM
{stupid336x280}
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