Microwaves were feared in the USSR: why did everyone think they were dangerous

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Today, most people cannot imagine a comfortable life without household appliances, for example, without a vacuum cleaner or a microwave oven. However, in the USSR, the attitude towards some devices was completely different.

The first Soviet data about devices similar to modern microwaves appeared on June 13, 1941 in the newspaper Pratsia. It described an installation that used ultra-high frequency currents to process meat products. However, it was never launched into mass production, because the Second World War began.

Later, in the late 70s and 80s, the Soviet Union still began to produce microwave ovens. At that time, they cost about 300 rubles.

The myth of the ban on microwaves

On the Internet, you can come across information that microwaves were banned in the USSR in 1976. Apparently, this happened because Soviet scientists found out that microwave irradiation leads to the breakdown of the molecular structure of products and forms carcinogenic substances. And this, as a result, causes irreparable damage to a person and all his offspring.

All this caused fears in society, but in reality, such accusations against household appliances were not justified. And this myth appeared only because of a lack of information and as a result of the fact that there were incredibly few such electrical appliances in the Union and they were very expensive.

For example, in 1989, the Elektronika SP-18 stove cost 350 rubles, and the average salary was 263 rubles. After all, due to scarcity, poverty and ignorance, the myth of “dangerous microwaves that had to be banned” appeared.