Most people are eager to develop a smart home, but they don’t realize how toxic modern home appliances are. For example, a slow cooker (or a crockpot) is one of the most used appliances in every contemporary kitchen and of vital concern to you and your family’s health. The biggest question is, do slow cookers give off EMFs? Let’s find out.
Sometimes we find ourselves with a busy schedule of work-life tasks and parenting. Having a busy day means busy nights, and preparing a crockpot meal for a ready-made dinner for your family is appealing.
The slow cooker simplifies your cooking, making it more convenient for busy days. And thanks to its sealed chamber, your food cooks evenly and retains its nutrients. However, is it safe to use slow cookers in your home?
Let’s explore more on slow cookers, what health concerns you should be aware of and how you can avoid electromagnetic fields emitted by them. Firstly, let’s talk about some of the benefits slow cookers provide. You may be surprised at the number of toxins the slow cooker removes.
What is a slow cooker?
A slow cooker is an electrical kitchen appliance that simmers your food at lower temperatures. All you need is a tiny amount of liquid that prevents the bottom of the crockpot from burning. Then, you can leave your pot unattended for many hours, which is ideal for meal prepping.
You have to plan your cooking, set the temperature, and leave it to cook. The slow and steady cooking pace, similar to using an oven, ensures your food retains its color and flavor.
Slow cookers can make a wide range of dishes like chicken soup, roast beef, beef stew, simmered vegetables, etc. Most slow cookers allow you to adjust high and low-temperature settings. The high temperature is usually at 2120F and low temperatures at 2000F. Some of the slow cookers have warm settings at 1650F, higher than the recommended food safety standards of 1450F.
Compared to other cooking methods, slow cookers are energy-efficient. They use less electricity even though they cook for long hours.
They are also suitable for storing leftovers and are easy to clean. However, the liners that make it easy to clean up contain harmful plastic dangerous to your health. Most liners are made of heat-resistant nylon resin, containing chemicals such as cyclopentanone, heptadecane, and octadecane.
Do slow cookers emit EMF?
Slow cookers emit EMF radiation harmful to your health. When you switch on the device, the heating coils emit electric and magnetic fields. As AC passes into the coil beneath the surface, it generates magnetic fields. Conversely, electric fields are emitted when electrons pass through the connection wires.
Electric fields are emitted while you turn the slow cooker is plugged in, while magnetic fields are emitted only when the slow cooker is on.
From a study done by the National Library of Medicine, the electromagnetic fields emitted exceed the maximum recommended exposure level when you stand next to your slow cooker.
Since you have to spend a couple of hours in your kitchen preparing food, it is essential to know your level of exposure to EMF radiation, especially magnetic fields. Slow cookers emit AC magnetic fields and leach lead that is harmful to your health.
One of the main problems with slow cooker liners is how they react to heat. Heating increases the likelihood of your body absorbing more toxins through food. If you put the cooker at high temperatures, it will emit more toxins within a brief period.
If you’re sensitive to electromagnetic fields, you should keep a safe distance from the cooker while in use.
Do all slow cookers leach lead?
Some slow cookers do leach lead into your food. Though some of them leach small levels below the FDA recommended standards, even the accumulation of these small amounts can cause damage to your health.
Slow cookers made from toxic heavy metal material can leach more lead or cadmium, which can interfere with your body’s normal functioning. Other toxins include aluminum, arsenic, and mercury.
These heavy metals can be used for non-stick coating, glaze coating ceramic, or paint. When the crockpot is at high temperatures, it can burn out the toxins, and the lead from the ceramic coating absorbs into your food.
Toxins might not immediately affect your body, but the build-up of these toxic chemicals can negatively impact you in the long run. For example, the lead absorbed into your food can affect your blood and the functioning of your internal organs.
Additionally, removing lead from your body is not easy once you ingest it. Although you can detox the heavy metals and balance your body, the best way to avoid any health risk is to prevent lead exposure.
It is also not easy to know whether you have lead poisoning since there are no symptoms for several months or years. Once lead toxins build up in your body, they contaminate your blood. Higher levels of lead poisoning are fatal.
Adults, kids, and newborns experience different symptoms of lead poisoning. Lead poisoning in adults can lead to memory loss, reduced sperm count, miscarriage, and stillbirths. Children born prematurely may end up having low birth weights. Other symptoms include headaches, tiredness, and abdominal pains.
Children may experience learning issues, delays in development, seizures, hearing problems, loss of appetite, constipation, and vomiting.
How to protect yourself from slow cooker EMFs
If you’re electromagnetic hypersensitive, you need to take precautions to protect yourself. The best way to protect yourself is to understand the EMF protection principle of distance, time, and shielding material.
1. Distance
Just like heat from fire reduces when you move further away, radiation exposure reduces as you increase the distance from the EMF source. A standard slow cooker can give off high magnetic field levels when operating. You should keep a distance of at least half a meter away from the cooker. Prepare your uncooked food early in advance and keep your distance when cooking. Pregnant women should not stand close to it for a long time.
2. Time
Reducing the time spent near the EMF source reduces your radiation dose. The more hours you spend near the slow cooker, the more radiation is absorbed into your body. Accumulation of this radiation for several days may start to harm your health.
3. Shielding
Barriers made from lead, aluminum, or concrete block EMF signals. Wearing anti-radiation material, especially for pregnant women, can help you lower radiation exposure. For example, my detailed article on the best EMF clothes for pregnant women helps protect your unborn child from the harmful effects of radiation. Check out this article for other EMF protective clothes you can buy today.
Conclusion
Slow cookers are convenient and easy to use home appliances that require little involvement that saves energy compared to conventional light bulbs. However, when it is operating, it emits certain levels of EMF radiation harmful to your health.
Additionally, when the ceramic coating is heating, it releases a lead toxin absorbed into your food. There are also other chemicals released into the food that affect your blood and the proper functioning of your organs.
Therefore, if you want to get rid of lead poisoning and lower electromagnetic exposure, you should consider other alternative cooking methods.
All of this may get overwhelming, but I am here to help. If you want to know the best low EMF appliance for your home, look at my article on radiation from other domestic appliances.
