| Description | Only use cookware that is specially manufactured for use in the microwave oven. Glass, ceramic containers, and all plastics should be labeled for microwave oven use.
Plastic storage containers such as margarine tubs, take-out containers, whipped topping bowls, and other one-time use containers should not be used in microwave ovens. These containers can warp or melt, possibly causing harmful chemicals to migrate into the food.
Microwave plastic wraps, wax paper, cooking bags, parchment paper, and white microwave-safe paper towels should be safe to use. Do not let plastic wrap touch foods during microwaving.
Never use thin plastic storage bags, brown paper or plastic grocery bags, newspapers, or aluminum foil in the microwave oven.
A very good review of this warning is available on the urbanlegends.com website.
Plastic Wrap Toxins. Author/s: Jule Klotter Issue: Jan, 2001
As a seventh grade student, Claire Nelson learned that
di(ethylhexyl)adepate (DEHA), considered a carcinogen, is found in
plastic wrap. She also learned that the FDA had never studied the
effect of microwave cooking on plastic-wrapped food. Claire began to
wonder: "Can cancer-causing particles seep into food covered with
household plastic wrap while it is being microwaved?"
Three years later, with encouragement from her high school science
teacher, Claire set out to test what the FDA had not. Although she had
an idea for studying the effect of microwave radiation on
plastic-wrapped food, she did not have the equipment. Eventually, Jon
Wilkes at the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson,
Arkansas, agreed to help her. The research center, which is affiliated
with the FDA, let her use its facilities to perform her experiments,
which involved microwaving plastic wrap in virgin olive oil. Claire
tested four different plastic wraps and "found not just the carcinogens
but also xenoestrogen was migrating [into the oil]...." Xenoestrogens
are linked to low sperm counts in men and to breast cancer in women.
Throughout her junior and senior years, Claire made a couple of trips
each week to the research center, which was 25 miles from her home, to
work on her experiment. An article in Options reported that "her
analysis found that DEHA was migrating into the oil at between 200 parts
and 500 parts per million. The FDA standard is 0.05 parts per billion."
Her summarized results have been published in science journals. Claire
Nelson received the American Chemical Society's top science prize for
students during her junior year and fourth place at the International
Science and Engineering Fair (Fort Worth, Texas) as a senior.
"Carcinogens -- At 10,000,000 Times FDA Limits" Options
May 2000. Published by People Against Cancer, 515-972-4444
On Channel 2 (Huntsville, AL) this morning they had a Dr. Edward
Fujimoto from Castle Hospital on the program. He is the manager of the
Wellness Program at the hospital. He was talking about dioxins and how
bad they are for us. He said that we should not be heating our food in
the microwave using plastic containers. This applies to foods that
contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat and plastics
releases dioxins into the food and ultimately into the cells of the
body. Dioxins are carcinogens and highly toxic to the cells of our
bodies. Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware, or ceramic
containers for heating food. You get the same results without the
dioxins. So such things as TV dinners, instant saimin and soups, etc.,
should be removed from the container and heated in something else.
Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. Just safer to
use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He said we might remember when
some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to
paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Pass this on to your friends....
To add to this: Saran wrap placed over foods as they are nuked, with the
high heat, actually drips poisonous toxins into the food. Use paper
towel instead.
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