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Nuclear Power Hi, it's us again! How are you all? Did you find the last few letters interesting? I sincerely hope so!!!! Mike Benton has written today's subject. "Do you want to live next door to a nuclear power plant? A stupid question, right?. Today virtually every home has it's own little boxes of radiation sitting right in the kitchen. They're called microwave ovens. Now comparing a microwave oven to a nuclear plant may seem silly. After all, a microwave oven doesn't even give off the same type of radiation as an atomic energy source or a x-ray machine. The radiation from a microwave oven is about like what you get from radar or what is called low-energy no ionizing radiation. That microwave oven is used day in and day out. It's a constant source of low level radiation that penetrated through the house. Is the microwave oven dangerous? Yes! A microwave oven is like a fallout shelter in reverse. It's a tight little box that is designed to keep the radiation in. If you have a perfect, tight box, then the radiation won't get out. But a microwave oven is not a perfect, tight box. Radiation does leak out, especially around the door and the seals of the oven. There are government standards for "acceptable" leakage rates for microwave ovens. In other words, microwave ovens can leak a certain amount of radiation and still be considered safe. There is no such thing as a safe dose of radiation. Dr Karl Morgan, a researcher on the effects of radiation on human health, stated: " From 1960 to the present, an overwhelming amount of data have been accumulated that show there is no safe level of exposure and there is no dose of radiation so low that the risk of malignancy is zero" Microwave ovens do not make the food cooked in them radioactive. Food cooked in a microwave is no more or less harmful than any cooked food. Anytime heat is applied to food, destruction of nutrients and alteration of food chemistry occurs. Consequently, microwaved food is not better for us because it is cooked in a shorter time. Microwaves destroy food faster than conventional cooking methods, but they do not destroy food less. The main reasons for concern about microwave ovens are: 1- Microwaves can interfere with the normal operation of certain heart pacemakers, as well as other electrical and electronic items. 2- The thermal effect of exposure to these waves may harm sensitive body cell tissue or organ function. 3- Microwave radiation can cause eye damage and cataracts and is suspected of causing other ailments, including nervous exhaustion. 4- Low-energy, no ionizing radiation may also be capable of causing detrimental health effects not fully understood or recognized as such. What is not generally known is that the Soviet Union, which has done more research on microwave radiation than any other country, has an acceptable radiation level for the public that is 1000 times stricter than U.S. levels. Dr A.H. Frey, has discovered that the human nervous system reacts to microwave exposure that is 300 times below the U.S. government standards for microwave ovens." S C A R Y stuff !!!!!! Until next week....... The Crazy Nut Team.