Nuclear Lunch

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Nuclear Lunch

JoAnn Guest

Dec 20, 2003 15:27 PST

 

Nuclear Lunch-

The Dangers and Unknowns of Food Irradiation

 

The recent push for food irradiation fails to acknowledge the

technology's inherent dangers, its intricate connections to the

nuclear industry, and the FDA's failure to prove safety.

 

 

 

Beginning in 1986, the FDA has given the green light to expose

nearly our entire food supply to nuclear irradiation. Since then,

staunch citizen opposition has kept the technology out of use. But

the recent hamburger recall led both the food and nuclear industries

to push hard for beef irradiation's approval. Its use in the beef

industry would open the door to irradiation as the " solution " to

contamination crises in all food

groups, from meat and poulty to fruits and vegetables.

 

With beef irradiation's quick passage through the FDA approval

process, citizen opposition, not government regulation, remains the

critical

component in keeping irradiated food off store shelves. And from the

hazards inherent in the technology to the FDA's own admission that

the safety studies are flawed, the risks involved with food

irradiation far

outweigh the presumed " benefits. "

 

Irradiation Basics

 

Food is irradiated using radioactive gamma sources, usually cobalt

60 or cesium 137, or high energy electron beams.

 

The gamma rays break up the molecular structure of the food, forming

positively and negatively charged particles called free radicals.

 

The free radicals react with the food to create new chemical

substances called " radiolytic products. "

 

Those unique to the irradiation process are known as " unique

radiolytic products " (URPs).

 

Some radiolytic products, such as formaldehyde, benzene, formic

acid, and quinones are harmful to human health.

 

Benzene, for example, is a known carcinogen.

 

In one experiment, seven times more benzene was found

in cooked, irradiated beef than in cooked, non-irradiated beef.

 

Some URPs are completely new chemicals that have not even been

identified,

let alone tested for toxicity.

 

In addition, irradiation destroys essential vitamins and minerals,

including vitamin A, thiamine, B2, B3, B6, B12, folic acid, C, E,

and K;

amino acid and essential polyunsaturated fatty acid content may also

be affected. A 20 to 80 percent loss of any of these is not uncommon.

 

Safety Studies Flawed

 

The FDA reviewed 441 toxicity studies to determine the safety of

irradiated foods. Dr. Marcia van Gemert, the team leader in charge

of new food additives at the FDA and the chairperson of the

committee in

charge of investigating the studies, testified that all 441 studies

were flawed.

 

The government considers irradiation a food additive. In testing

food additives for toxicity, laboratory animals are fed high levels

(in comparison to a human diet) of potential toxins.

 

The results must then be applied to humans with theoretical models.

It is questionable whether

the studies the FDA used to approve food irradiation followed this

process. In fact, the FDA claimed only five of the 441

were " properly conducted, fully adequate by 1980 toxicological

standards, and able to stand alone in support of safety. " With the

shaky assurance of just five studies, the FDA approved irradiation

for the public food system.

 

With the shaky assurance of just five studies, the FDA *approved*

irradiation for the public food supply.

 

To make matters worse, the Department of Preventitive Medicine and

Community Health of the New Jersey Medical School found two of the

studies were methodologically *flawed*.

 

In a third study, animals eating a

diet of irradiated food experienced weight loss and miscarriage,

almost

certainly due to irradiation-induced vitamin E dietary deficiency.

 

The remaining two studies investigated the effects of diets of

foods irradiated at doses below the FDA-approved general level of

100,000 rads.

 

Thus, they cannot be used to justify food irradiation at the

levels approved by the FDA.

 

Other studies indicate serious health problems associated with

eating irradiated food.

 

A compilation of 12 studies carried out by Raltech Scientific

Services, Inc. under contract with the U.S. government

examined the effect of feeding irradiated chicken to several

different animal species.

 

The studies indicated the possibility of chromosome

damage, immunotoxicity, greater incidence of kidney disease, cardiac

thrombus, and fibroplasia.

 

In reviewing Raltech's findings in 1984, USDA researcher Donald

Thayer asserted, " A collective assessment of study

results argues against a definitive conclusion that the gamma-

irradiated test material was free of toxic properties. "

 

Studies of rats fed irradiated food also indicate possible kidney

and

testicular damage and a statistically significant increase in

testicular tumors. One landmark study in India found four out of

five children fed

irradiated wheat developed polyploidy, a chromosomal abnormality

that is a good indication of future cancer development.

 

Irradiation proponents often claim that decades of research

demonstrate the safety of food irradiation, but the studies they use

to prove it are questionable.

 

For instance, their " proof " includes studies completed by

Industry Bio-Test (IBT), a firm convicted in 1983 of conducting

fraudulent research for government and industry. As a result of

IBT's violations, the government lost about $4 million and six years

of animal feeding study data on food irradiation.

 

Some of this discredited work is still used as a part of

the " scientific " basis for assurances of the

safety of food irradiation.

 

http://www.wildmatters.org/primer/nukelunch.htm

 

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Melanoma.html