Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
It often strikes me that the operative word for many people is the dreaded 'RADIATION'. It scares the s**t out of people and particlularly those of an age to remember the horrors which emerged from the 'casual' use of Radium products in the early 20thC. Also obviously those who were a bit chronologically closer to the whole Hiroshima/Nagasaki thing and the post WWII arms race.
So, I have known people who believed that Microwave ovens somehow made food 'radioactive'. which is of course rubbish.
If we get over the idea that microwave radiation has any sort of lasting presence once the source (the magnetron) is switched off.. we then have those who fear 'leakage'. It clearly can happen, hence the admonitions by manufacturers not to dismantle microwave equipment, use kit with faulty doors etc., etc. But, the only effect of microwaves from ovens on human anatomy would be to cause burns, and ISTM that this is far more likely to happen with any form of 'conventional' oven heated by gas, electricity or solid fuel.
From Wiki:
Much of the fear of microwaves seems to me to derive from either 'guilt by association' ( by erroneous association with ionising radiation) or a simple failure to understand the physics.
The most extreme example of the 'Guilt by Association' approach I've seen was some ultra vegan bloke on the telly who said he would never consider eating tomatoes, because they were from the 'same family' as Deadly Nightshade. (Solanum) This of course is true, but then so are potatoes and aubergines among others, not to mention the whole Capsicum family of peppers and chillies, also part of the Solanaceae. This whole approach is analagous to refusing to eat onions because daffodils are poisonous.
Mull
So, I have known people who believed that Microwave ovens somehow made food 'radioactive'. which is of course rubbish.
If we get over the idea that microwave radiation has any sort of lasting presence once the source (the magnetron) is switched off.. we then have those who fear 'leakage'. It clearly can happen, hence the admonitions by manufacturers not to dismantle microwave equipment, use kit with faulty doors etc., etc. But, the only effect of microwaves from ovens on human anatomy would be to cause burns, and ISTM that this is far more likely to happen with any form of 'conventional' oven heated by gas, electricity or solid fuel.
From Wiki:
Much of the fear of microwaves seems to me to derive from either 'guilt by association' ( by erroneous association with ionising radiation) or a simple failure to understand the physics.
The most extreme example of the 'Guilt by Association' approach I've seen was some ultra vegan bloke on the telly who said he would never consider eating tomatoes, because they were from the 'same family' as Deadly Nightshade. (Solanum) This of course is true, but then so are potatoes and aubergines among others, not to mention the whole Capsicum family of peppers and chillies, also part of the Solanaceae. This whole approach is analagous to refusing to eat onions because daffodils are poisonous.
Mull
