Are Microwaves are Harmful? Yes.

Ok, I know this may sound hokie, but I read the entire article and then this summary made sense as being a viable condensed version. So be careful not to microwave too much, and if you do, please at least microwave on a lower power (on mine, I press "time cook" and enter a time, then push "power level" and type in something between 1 and 10--10 being the worst. (I generally use 3 or 4) Keep in mind, your food will take longer to cook the lower the levels; but will be safer) Or, just use a toaster oven instead! (see this article for why)

Here's picture of an experiment involving microwaved vs stove-boiled water that were heated and cooled to the same temperatures and then given to  the plants in the same amounts. They started the same, but ended with the one using microwaved water looking quite dead, versus the non-microwaved one looking very healthy.

*my first reaction was "this is stupid. How do they know?" But then I read their studies. Here are their results...

1. Microwaved Foods Cause Tumors
The following effects have been observed when foods are subject to microwave emissions.

• Effects on the foods themselves
  Meats: Heating prepared meats sufficiently to ensure sanitary ingestion creates d-nitrosodiethanolamine, a well know cancer-causing agent.
  Proteins: Active-protein, biomolecular compounds are destabilised.
  Increase in radioactivity: A "binding effect" between the microwaved food and any atmospheric radioactivity is created, causing a marked increase in the amount of alpha and beta particle saturation in the food.
  Milk and cereals: Cancer-causing agents are created in the protein-hydrolysate compounds in milk and cereal grains.
  Frozen foods: Microwaves used to thaw frozen foods alter the catabolism (breakdown) of the glucoside and galactoside elements.

• Resulting effects on the human body
  Digestive system: The unstable catabolism of microwaved food alters their elemental food substances, causing disorders in the digestive system.
  Lymphatic system: Due to chemical alterations within food substances, malfunctions occur in the lymphatic system, causing a degeneration of the body's ability to protect itself against certain forms of neoplastics (cancerous growths).
  Free radicals: Certain trace-mineral molecular formations in plant substances - in particular, raw root vegetables - form cancer-causing free radicals.
  Increased incidence of stomach and intestinal cancers: A statistically higher percentage of cancerous growths result in these organs, plus a generalised breakdown of the peripheral cellular tissues and a gradual degeneration of digestive and excretory functions.

2. Microwaves Reduce Food Value
Microwaves exposure caused significant decreases in the nutritive value of all foods studied. The following are the most important findings to date.

• Vitamins and minerals made useless: In every food tested, the bioavailability of the following vital nutrients decreased: vitamin B complex, vitamins C and E, essential minerals and lipotropics.
• Vital energy fields devastated: The vital energy field content of all tested foods dropped 60-90%. Digestibility of fruits and vegetables reduced: Microwaving lowers the metabolic behaviour and integration-process capability of alkaloids, glucosides, alactosides and nitrilosides.
• Meat proteins worthless: It destroys the nutritive value of nucleoproteins in meats. All foods damaged: It greatly accelerates the structural disintegration of all foods tested.

3. Biological Effects of Microwaves
Exposure to microwave emissions also has a negative effect upon the general biological welfare of humans. This was not discovered until the Russians experimented with highly sophisticated equipment and discovered that humans can be adversely affected without even ingesting the food that have been subjected to microwave emissions. Merely entering the energy field of the food causes harmful side-effects that the Soviets outlawed all such microwave apparatus in 1976.
Here are the effects observed in humans having "direct" exposure to microwaves, that is, without their having consumed the irradiated food substances:

• Life-energy field breakdown: Persons near microwave ovens in operation experience a breakdown of their life-energy fields which increases relative to the length of exposure.
• Cellular energy decreases: The cellular-voltage parallels of individuals using the apparatus degenerate - especially in their blood and lymphatic serums.
• Destabilized metabolism: The external-energy activated potentials of food utilisation are both destabilised and degenerated.
• Cell damage: Internal cellular-membrane potentials during catabolic processes into the blood serum from the digestive process degenerate and destabilise.
• Brain circuitry destruction: Electrical impulses in the junction potentials of the cerebrum degenerate and break down.
• Nervous system: Nerve/electrical circuits degenerate and break down while energy-field symmetry is lost in the neuro-plexuses (nerve centres) in both the front and rear of the central and autonomic nervous systems.
• Loss of bioelectric strength: The bioelectric strengths within the ascending reticular activating system (the system which controls the function of waking consciousness) go out of balance and lose their proper circuiting.
• Loss of vital energies: Humans, animals and plants located within a 500-metre radius of the equipment in operation suffer a long-term, cumulative loss of vital energies.
• Nervous and lymphatic systems damage: Long-lasting residual magnetic "deposits" become located throughout the nervous system and lymphatic system.
• Hormone imbalances: The production of hormones and the maintenance of hormonal balance in both males and females becomes destabilised and interrupted.
• Brainwave disruptions: Levels of disturbance in alpha-, delta- and theta-wave signal patterns are markedly higher than normal.
• Psychological disorders: Because of the disarranged brain waves, negative psychological effects also result. These include loss of memory and ability to concentrate, suppressed emotional threshold, deceleration of intellective processes and interruptive sleep episodes in a statistically higher percentage of individuals subjected to continual range-emission field effects of microwave apparatus, from either cooking apparatus or transmission stations.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Are_microwaves_harmful#ixzz1IDYLMAz8

*side note....cell phones also use the same waves as microwaves (so there may be similar worries with long-term use). There hasn't been enough research done on this to really know exact effects. Just remember not to be fanatical. We all use them and have been for awhile. Just keep in mind moderation, and maybe try other approaches if you can.