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is operating measures more than 2,000,000
µW/m²
at 6 feet from the oven, then the seal
is considered to be
‘
leaking
’ microwave radiation,
or in other words the oven is defective.
The radiation levels from microwave ovens will usually drop to 100,000
µW/m²
anywhere
from 10 to 20 feet distance away from the oven; this exposure level is the microwave
industry standard for safety, which is the established level to prevent overheating (dare we
say cooking?) of human tissue.
Microwave signals at this high a level are far too high for the HF35C meter to
measure, and even if we could detect and measure them, the average home does not usually
provide enough distance for a ‘biological safety boundary’ to put between ourselves and our
dinner cooking in the microwave oven, that would enable us to reduce our exposure levels
low enough to meet biologically safe guidelines, which is our goal.
The dilemma for those wanting to use their microwave ovens and still achieve
biological safety levels is that the field strengths of microwave ovens are just too high to be
considered biological safe to use at any kind of useful proximity.
Considering that even an industry-safe 100,000
µW/m²
power density at 10
–
20
feet distance, is 1,000,000 times
–
one million times! -- stronger than is recommended by
the Building Biology safety guidelines aiming for 0.
1
µW/m²
, or
biologically of “no
concern”.
This difference between typical microwave oven exposure levels and precautionary
biological safety exposure levels are simply too great! So, we find it is safest, and simpler,
not to use the microwave oven in our home at all. We would remove it if we could, but since
it is built-in we unplug it completely to avoid even the small fields from its electronics.
If you do elect to use your microwave, at the very least you will want to use your
meter to confirm that its door seal is intact and not leaking massive radiation. And you will
also want to determine
what your microwave oven’s radio/microwave “
footprint
”
is when it
is heating/cooking, so you can take whatever protective measures you can to avoid that area
of high readings, and safeguard your family from its biological risk.
Consider this ‘footprint’ as
your oven’s danger
-zone, one that you need to instruct
your children to stay out of when the microwave is on. Studies have shown that children are
far more vulnerable to the biological effects of radio/microwave exposure than adults, and
to add insult to injury most microwave ovens are located on counters emitting radiation
directly at the level of a child
’s head/brain
.
