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Plastic Wrap in the Microwave

Please review this information about heating plastics in microwave ovens. In brief, its a bad idea! Read on for more details. Also, please keep any kitchenware made of plastic out of your dishwasher. The heat produced in the dishwasher causes outgassing of the plastics being cleaned. Plastic material then washes over all of your dishes and dries onto them in the heating cycle.

When you eat off of or put that kitchenware in your mouth, the plastic residue ends up in your body. Please wash all plastic kitchenware in the sink, not the dishwasher.

CARCINOGENS at 10,000,000 TIMES the FDA LIMITS:
Plastic Wrap in the Microwave

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 being in the microwave? 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 that involved plastic wrap in virgin olive oil heated in the microwave.

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.

On Channel 2 (Huntsville, AL), they had 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 simian 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.

It's 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 a paper towel instead.