posted 05-02-2002 09:56 AM         

Toxic Dioxin
Heating Food In The Microwave

On Channel 2 in Austin 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 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.
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.

posted 05-02-2002 08:47 PM         

This "health alert" began appearing in people's inboxes in February 2002; the "Channel 2" reference indicates it was someone's summarization of a a short morning news health segment aired on KHON TV in Hawaii on 23 January 2002, which was then forwarded all over the Internet as "important health information."

One- or two-minute health spots on local news programs are not ideal sources of medical information, however. While important basic information can be imparted in such a format, trying to explicate complex medical topics in a minute or two can easily mislead or confuse viewers, many of whom come away believing absolutely whatever they've heard (or think they've heard) because "a doctor on TV said it was true" -- in this case an unshakeable belief that using plastic containers in microwave ovens causes cancer.

That a doctor (or, more accurately, someone bearing the title "Dr.") appears on TV does not mean he's a leading practitioner in his field; it generally means only that he has something to say that a news director considers newsworthy, accurate or not. (We point out here that the "Dr. Edward Fujimoto" identified in this piece is not a staff physician from "Castle Hospital" or a medical doctor; he's a PhD serving as director of the Center for Health Promotion at Castle Medical Center in Kailua, Hawaii.) What TV news covers is dictated by ratings, not importance, and sensational claims get better ratings than straightforward, mundane information, even if the latter is more valuable to the viewing audience. It's a pretty good assumption that if using plastic containers in microwaves -- as millions of people have been doing for decades -- posed a significant risk of cancer, you'd be hearing about it somewhere other than an e-mail forward of an anonymous summary of a morning news spot on a Hawaiian television station.

Is there really something to the central claim of this e-mail, that heating plastic in microwaves releases a cancer-causing agent into the food? It's within the realm of possibility, but it must be stressed the FDA does impose stringent regulations on plastics meant for microwaving. Also, if there are dioxins lurking in the plastic containers we heat food in and the process of warming those receptacles looses those nasties into our ingestibles, we've yet to locate the studies that prove this. However, because most dioxins are dangerous compounds we want to have as little to do with as possible, many people are cautious about using anything associated with them. So, if you're one of the concerned, be sure that when you cover a dish you intend to microwave with ordinary plastic wrap you do not let the covering touch the food, because some of the plasticizer in the wrap -- which may contain toxic chemicals, as opposed to does contain toxic chemicals -- could migrate to what you're cooking, especially foods high in fat. Alternatively, use waxed paper for this purpose. Those who are very, very cautious about the potential for dioxin contamination might choose to adopt the central point of the e-mail's advice, which is to decant all items into glass or ceramic containers before microwaving.