I just saw Phil Donahue's show on T.V., on which you appeared as guest. Of course it is shown taped in our locality and I could not call in with a question which sticks in my mind.
I have a 9 yr. old boy who is diagnosed as emotionally disturbed. They feel he has normal mental potential, but due to his short attention span learning is a big problem.
My question stems
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from the fact that before I knew I was pregnant I worked in a restaurant and operated a micro-wave oven several times a day and usually ate a baked potato every day which was prepared in it. So I was using this oven immediately after conception and for about 2 months thereafter.
I wonder what effects on a fetus, these micro wave ovens might have. The Dept. of H.E.W. tells me they are safe unless they are loosing a certain amount of radiation due to a faulty seal around the door. I have no way of knowing now if this is the
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case or not on the one I used. But I feel this is an important area to be looked into. And how can they be sure that the food prepared in such an oven does not have traces of radioactivity left in it, since it was such a ray that passed thru the food to cook it? These same forces killed thousands of people on Hiroshima, how can the scientists be so sure the food remains safe after such exposure, and what can it do to a developing fetus? I strongly feel this is an area that must be in-
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vestigated.
They feel that my boy was somehow affected in his chromosomes or during prenatal development to cause his problem of emotional disturbance, but they do not know what caused it. And so I have this feeling of great doubt as to the safety of micro-wave ovens and to the food prepared in them.
Thank you for any consideration you might give to this letter.
Letter from Virginia Apgar to Joan Dunkelberger (June 14, 1973)