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Recent research shows that •mIcrowave oven- cooked food suffers severe molecular damage. When eaten, it causes abnormal changes in human blood and immune systems. Not surprisingly, the public has been denied details on these significant health dangers. Back in May of 1989, after Tom Valentine first moved to St Paul, Minnesota, he heard on the car radio a, short announcement that boited him upright in the dri ver's seat. The announcement waS' sponsored by Young families, the Minnesota Extension Service of thc University of Minnes.ota: "Although microwaves heat food qukkly, they are not recommended for heating a baby's bottle," the announcement said. The bottle may seem cool to the touch, but the liq uid inside may bccome extremely hot and c.ould bum the baby's mouth and throat. Also, the Ibui'ldup of steam in a closed container such as a baby's bottle could cause it to explode. "Heating the bottle in a microwave can cause slight changes in the milk. In infant formulas, there may be a loss of some vjtamins. In expressed breast milk, some protective properties may be destroyed." The rcpnrt went on. "Warming a bottle by hold ing it under tap water or by setting it in a bowl of warm water, thCDI testing it on your wrist before feeding, may take a few minutes longer, 'but it is much safer." Valentine asked himself: If an established institution like the University of Minnesota caDi warn about the loss of p'aliticular nutrient qualities in microwaved baby formula or mother's milk, then somebody must know something about microwaving they are not teUing everybody. A LAWSUIT In early 1991, word leaked out about a lawsuit in Oklahoma. A wOman named Norma Levitt had hip surgery, only to be kifled by a simple blood transfusion when a nurse "warmed the blood for the transfusion in a microwave oven"! Logic suggests that,if heating or cooking is al1 thcre is to it, then it doesn't matter what mode of heating technology one uses. However, it is quite apparent that there is more to 'heating' with microwaves than we've Ibeen led to believe. Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed-but not in microwave ovens! In the case of Mrs Levitt, the microwavinfaltered the blood aRd it killed! her. Does it not therefore follow that this form of heating does, indeed, do 'something differ ent' to Ithe substances being heated? Is it not prudent to determine what that 'something different' might do? A funny thing happened on the way to the bank with all that microwave oven revenue: nobody thought about the obvious. Only 'health nuts' who are constantly aware of the value of quality nutrition discerned a problem with Ithe widespread 'denaturing' of our food. Enter Hans Hertel. HANS HERTEl In the t~ny town of Wattenwil, near Basel in Switzerland, there lives a scientist who is alarmed at the lack of purity and naturalness in the many pursuits of modem mankind. He worked as a food scientist for several years with one of the many major Swiss food com panies Vhat do business on a global scale. A few years ago, he was ,fired from his job for questioning procedures in processing food because they denatured it. "The world needs our help," Hans Hertel told Tom Valentine as they sfuared a fine meal at a resort hotel in Todtmoss, Germany. "We, the seicntists, carry the main responsibility for the present unacceptable condi tions. It is therefore our job to correct the situation and bring the remedy to the world. I am striving to bring man and techniques back into harmony with nature. We can have wonderful technologies without violating nature." Hans is an intense man, driven by personal knowledge of violations of nature by corpo- APRIL -MAY 1995 NEXUS • 25