Caution

[Linaewen]

This morning, I was standing by the toaster waiting for my bread to pop up, when my mother told me to move away from the toaster because it apparently 'emits dangerous radiation'. She watched a segment about it on A Current Affairs. I told her that I didn't really care; that if I was going to die from standing near a toaster; so be it, but she said 'Better to be safe than sorry'.

What I want to know is, is this kind of caution excessive? Stearing clear of appliances such as toasters or microwaves, not drinking water from the day before because it contains carcinogens...where do we draw the line? Sure, maybe we should be cautious, until these things are all proved or disproved, but what's being overly cautious?

[jerseydevil]

I think that if it isn't one thing that will kill you - it's another. Too much of anything is bad. it's just that a lot of times - the media picks up on something that has a billion in a one chance to die from or even get sick.

I bet there is more of a chance from getting cancer from being outside in the sun - then there is from the toaster. I'm not even sure how the toaster would actually produce radiation. Microwave of course works on radiation, but as long as there is nothign wrong with it and the door seals properly - there should be nothing dangerous with that.

[Artanis]

That an ordinary toaster should emit dangerous radiation sounds pretty impossible to me.

Anyway, driving your car is FAR more dangerous. And you do that often, don't you?

About being cautious in general, I think if we are overly concerned about all the possible dangers around us we forget to enjoy all the good things in life.

[Draken]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
I'm not even sure how the toaster would actually produce radiation.

Ditto - would love to hear more about that report.

[Fat middle]

Originally posted by Artanis
That an ordinary toaster should emit dangerous radiation sounds pretty impossible to me.

Perhaps it is a nuclear toaster

[Ruinel]

Of course a toaster emits radiation: infrared radiation ... i.e. heat. How do you think your bread becomes toast? By magic?

[Insidious Rex]

and thats bad for you?

[hectorberlioz]

wow. I practiaclly eat toasters.....Ok, I dont, but I use them a lot, and microwaves too.
of course as JD said, being out in the sun ism ore likely to giv you cancer than a toaster...
Yeah toasters emit radiatation, but not enough to kill you or make you sick. Besides, the radiation probably doesnt reach farther than the top of the toaster.

[brownjenkins]

you can't go around worrying about toasters

all the carbohydrates in that toast however

[hectorberlioz]

Originally posted by brownjenkins
you can't go around worrying about toasters

all the carbohydrates in that toast however

bwhaha yup, carbohydrates are more dangerous than toasters

[Tessar]

So the toast is more deadly than the toaster...

Sounds like some kind of Ancient Saying to me, only they didn't have toasters back then...

[Falagar]

"Burnt bread is more dangerous than fire"

[The Gaffer]

In my biochem class they told me that eating enough burnt toast is carcinogenic; it's a dodgy business eating toast.

Anything electrical emits radiation. Your hair dryer, telly, phone, etc. The point is that it's not harmful, but it's impossible to definitively prove that anything is not harmful.

Media types couldn't care less whether what they print is bollocks or not as long as it's a good story. I wish someone would sue them for the harm they cause with these stupid stories, like MMR etc.

[Linaewen]

Mum said that in that segment she watched; this lady was suffering from aches or something, and it was discovered that her kitchen had a dangerously high level of radiation. Once the radiation (I'm guessing from the appliances) was gotten rid of; her aches went away.

[Artanis]

Originally posted by The Gaffer
Media types couldn't care less whether what they print is bollocks or not as long as it's a good story. I wish someone would sue them for the harm they cause with these stupid stories, like MMR etc.

That MMR thing actually caused many parents to refuse vaccination of their child.
Blind hysteria.

[The Gaffer]

Not only that, but the vaccination rates are so low in some places that we're losing "herd immunity", kids are getting measles again and, by extension, will be getting brain damage and dying.

It's complex, of course, because when things go wrong (like autism), people always want to know what the cause is. Unfortunately, we just don't know, but that doesn't stop stuff like MMR getting fingered incorrectly.

These emotions can be exploited (consciously or unconsciously) by anyone who wants to sell a story/cure/screening test/etc.

[Ereinion]

Originally posted by Linaewen
This morning, I was standing by the toaster waiting for my bread to pop up, when my mother told me to move away from the toaster because it apparently 'emits dangerous radiation'. She watched a segment about it on A Current Affairs. I told her that I didn't really care; that if I was going to die from standing near a toaster; so be it, but she said 'Better to be safe than sorry'.

What I want to know is, is this kind of caution excessive?

When I majored in electroics I constructed a magnetic-field meassuring device that measured in 3D. A fellow studen contructed a device for meassuring electric fields).
Our tutor used these devices a lot running around pretty much everywere measuring.
He found two things emitting much radiation. An electric train and an alarm clock. Those with an electric motor inside. Btw. Most of the seats in a train has low radiation.

Anyway. I wouldn't worry much about toasters. The way most of them are constructed I don't think they would emit much. If I should worry about electric or magnetic radiation, the toaster would come far down the list.

So toast away!

Ereinion.

[Ereinion]

Originally posted by Ereinion

Another good point. You don't use the toaster more than a minute or so. Since there are 1440 minutes a day, the total exposure would be low, wouldn't it?

Ereinion.

[Ruinel]

What I'd like to know is what type of radiation was claimed to be emitted from the toaster. The EMR spectrum is quite large, ranging from the lowest frequency (and highest wavelength) to the highest frequency (and lowest wavelength)

• radio waves (with microwaves at the higher frequency end of radio waves)
• IR (infrared, also known as heat)
• visible light, which is a very small section of the EMR spectrum)
• UV (ultra violet, which can stimulate cancer to grow in your skin, as well as vitamin-D production)
• X-rays
• gamma rays (capable of killing living cells; these are the product of radioactive atoms; and what turned Bruce Banner into the Hulk ... joking)

Electricity alone causes heat, you can feel it in the wire if you were to place your hand near any wire in which electricity flows through. This is because of resistance to the flow of electrons. In many electrical devices, we want to lower the resistance to that flow of electrons, so that the energy is not lost in heat. But in a few things, we want a lot more resistance. Some of those items are toasters and incandescent light bulbs. What we get from using a tungstun filament in a light bulb is light energy (within the visible light spectrum). And what we get from purposefully increasing the resistance in a toaster, is heat (and a little light).

[Radagast The Brown]

well... I don't think toasters would make a strong magnetic radiation, that would do any damage. But in my town, in some building, the persentage of the poeple that have cancer is very high - can't rmemeber how much. The writer (it's from a paper) says the cancer in a result of a high-power electric wire, that was located too close to the building. Scary.