n105  2129  07 Oct 80
 
BC-MICROWAVE-SAFETY
(LIVING)
By RICHARD SEVERO
c. 1980 N.Y. Times News Service
    NEW YORK - Decades after microwave ovens were introduced, their
safety remains a matter of dispute. Industry and the government say
the ovens are safe. Consumer Reports, while rating them as it would
any other appliance, warns that the effects of low-level radiation
over a long time remain unclear. Dr. Milton M. Zaret, an outspoken
critic of the ovens, charges that they are so perilous he would never
have one in his home.
    Microwave ovens are by no means still caught up in the kind of
controversy that surrounded them as recently as 1978, when a study
done by the General Accounting Office complained that Federal
agencies had been lax in setting and enforcing standards to protect
the public from potential health hazards. But many consumers are
still worried about them. An enduring concern has been that
microwaves can damage the eyes to the extent of bringing on cataracts.
    Verle Blaha, vice president of technology for Litton Microwave
Cooking, which has sold around 3.5 million microwave ovens since
1963, thinks the lingering doubts are due to semantics and
nomenclature, not engineering and science.
    ''One of the biggest problems we have had in the microwave
industry,'' Blaha said, ''is the public's not distinguishing between
nuclear radiation and X-rays, and microwave radiation. There is
absolutely no relationship between the energy that we use and nuclear
or X-ray radiation.''
    Nuclear radiation (in the form of gamma rays) plus X-rays and
microwaves are all manifestations of electromagnetism, the basic
differences being in the lengths of the waves. X-rays and nuclear
radiation such as gamma rays are much shorter in wavelength than
microwaves. The wavelengths give the rays differing properties; some
waves, such as ordinary light, are generally harmless; others can
profoundly damage the human body.
    Blaha said he knew of no lawsuits pending against Litton because of
malfunction of a microwave oven. A public relations spokesman for
Litton in Beverly Hills, Calif., added that although there had been
lawsuits in the past, none of the allegations had ever been proven in
court. The company's contention is that there ''has never been an
accident'' with a microwave oven that reflects on the efficacy of the
product.
    Zaret, a Scarsdale, N. Y., ophthalmologist and a consistent critic
of microwave ovens since their introduction, takes strong exception
to Litton's view. He points out that cases have been settled out of
court.
    Zaret emphasizes that he is not irrevocably opposed to microwave
ovens, because he thinks they could be made safe. But he contends
that the standards are lax. He is specifically concerned about the
standard set for microwave ovens by the United States Bureau of
Radiological Health, which forbids units to leak more than one
milliwatt per square centimeter at the factory and five milliwatts
per square centimeter after the oven is in the possession of the
consumer. He feels there should be no leakage at all.
    This sort of radiation may affect bone growth and cell growth and
may alter enzymes controlling nerve functions. In the scientific
literature, there are suggestions that it may contribute to
cataracts, heart disease, infant deaths, depression, loss of memory
and neurological disorders, and it may damage the immune system.
    As for Consumer Reports, which warned of possible health hazards
from the use of such ovens in the early 1970s, it now says that the
ovens have been improved since 1973 ''to lower the chance of exposing
a user to relatively high levels of microwave radiation.''
    ''In the absence of definitive research, however, we still don't
know whether any of the ovens can be judged entirely free of
radiation hazard,'' the magazine said. ''Does anyone?''
    A spokesman for the magazine said its researchers still have
questions about the effects of long-term exposure to low-level
microwave radiation, which as yet have not been adequately studied.
    
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