You may have heard that the radiation a microwave depends on damages your food or has a negative effect upon it. This is not true. Despite the fact that the words sound similar, "radiation" and "radioactive" are not the same thing. Microwave radiation is much more similar to heat wave radiation than it is to nuclear radiation; it can't "kill" your food or make it dangerous or radioactive. In fact, the only effects that a microwave can have on food are those that stem from heating -- just as conventional cooking can affect food through heating it.