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Food Irradiation: Treating The Symptoms, Ignoring The Causes
Healthy Children

Food Irradiation: Treating The Symptoms, Ignoring The Causes

The Department of Energy (DOE) had a problem. Under Federal law it was their responsibility to dispose of all high-level radioactive waste and they were looking for a way to "recycle" the nuclear waste from weapons manufacturing. Therefore, in the 1970's the DOE created the Byproduct Utilization Program to transfer the burden of nuclear waste from the government to consumers. One-way to accomplish this was through a post-harvest food "cleaning" technology called: ionizing radiation or irradiation. In 1986, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved irradiation for meat, poultry, spices, fruits, and vegetables. The next hurdle was making consumers believe that irradiated food was actually good for them and produced similar effects to cooking food. Given our toxic food system, this crazy idea almost seemed to have merit.

What Is Food Irradiation?

Food is irradiated using nuclear waste like cobalt 60 and cesium 137 or a high-energy electron beam. Zapped with 100-300,000 rads of radioactive gamma sources (the equivalent of 10 to 30 million medical x-rays) , the illness causing bacteria are believed to be killed off and their shelf life extended. (According to the consumer activist group, Mothers & Others, "This amount is over 20,000 times the allowed annual exposure level for workers at a nuclear power plant.) Unlike a microwave oven, which causes food particles to vibrate, irradiating food breaks up the molecular structure of food and new chemicals are formed, like free radicals. Free radicals react with food to create new chemicals called radiolytic products (RP's) and unique radiolytic products (URP's), like carcinogenic benzene in irradiated beef. RP's and URP's have never undergone toxicological testing. In one experiment, cooked irradiated beef had seven times more benzene than cooked non-irradiated beef. Based on five questionable studies, the FDA has taken the position that these new chemicals in irradiated food are too small to be harmful. A hauntingly familiar claim.

I am not a big fan of using x-rays or their equivalent for "prevention". I rarely even submit to dental x-rays much to my dentist's chagrin. Apparently the majority of the public, when asked, does not want their food irradiated either. The Food & Water Journal reported that in a 1997 CBS News consumer poll they found that 73 percent of people nationwide oppose irradiation, and 77 percent say they wouldn't eat irradiated food.

Does Irradiation Work?

While irradiation does kill most bacteria, including the good bacteria that warn us of spoilage and naturally control the harmful bacteria, it does not destroy the toxins created in the early stages of contamination. And once irradiated, food can still become recontaminated before it reaches our tables. Irradiated food is intentionally designed to remove the normal warning signals indicating that the food is spoiled despite its fresh appearance. A longer shelf life means loss of nutritional value. In fact, a 20-80% loss of vitamins A, several B's, C, E, and K are not uncommon. Also, essential polyunsaturated fatty acid and amino acid content may be affected. Potentially spoiled food containing questionable new chemicals that looks fresh while it sits on the shelf forever and delivers a reduced amount of nutritional value, why would anyone want it?

Is Irradiated Food Safe?

The FDA, to determine the safety of irradiated foods, reviewed 441 toxicity studies. Surprisingly, the chairperson of the committee in charge of investigating, Dr. Marcia van Gemert, later testified that all 441 studies were flawed. The FDA itself claimed that only five of the 441 studies were properly conducted and adequate by 1980 toxicological standards. Of the five remaining studies, 2 were found to be methodologically flawed by the Department of Preventative Medicine and Community Health of the New Jersey Medical School. In a third study, the animals fed irradiated food lost weight and miscarried due to a dietary deficiency of vitamin E. The last two studies should not be used to prove the safety of a diet of irradiated foods because the experiment used doses of irradiation below the 100,000 rads that the FDA approved as a general level.

Not surprisingly, 12 other studies performed by Raltech Scientific Services, Inc. under contract with the U.S. government indicated serious health problems for animals fed irradiated chicken. Some of the health effects were: the possibility of chromosome damage, immunotoxicity, greater incidence of kidney disease, cardiac thrombus, and fibroplasia. No studies have been done to show that a long-term diet of irradiated food is safe. Other studies indicated the possibility of kidney and testicular damage, a statistically significant increase in testicular tumors, and a chromosomal abnormality indicating future cancer development. "It's clear that irradiation increases the levels of mutagens and carcinogens in food…The inevitable consequence of this is that in two to five decades in the future, the incidence of cancer will increase from what we see now, in direct proportion to the amounts of irradiated food consumed." Explains Dr. George Tritsch, a cancer researcher at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York.

What Are The Environmental Effects?

If irradiation supporters have their way, hundreds or thousands of new irradiation facilities will need to be built, often in high-population urban areas. Environmental and transportation hazards (human error and accidents) are inevitable. For example, "New Jersey is home to the highest concentration of irradiation facilities, and virtually every New Jersey plant has a record of environmental contamination, worker overexposure, or regulatory failures", according to Food & Water. We've seen how nuclear technology has presented grave dangers to human health and our environment. Do we want to repeat the mistakes of the past? And what about the possibility of radiation -resistant mutant bacteria in the environment? After the experiences of September 11th, irradiation plants would serve as yet another American vulnerability (potential terrorist target) that we can't afford.

Because irradiation is a post-harvest treatment there will be NO reduction in pesticide use. In fact, "irradiation of fruits and vegetables may well increase, rather than decrease, the requirement for post harvest application of fungicides because irradiated products are more susceptible to infection by molds and fungi", says Dr. Richard Picconi, Senior Staff Scientist for Accord Research & Educational Associates.

Initially, the FDA required whole foods that were irradiated to be "prominently and conspicuously labeled with the 'radura' emblem and the words 'treated with radiation' or 'treated by irradiation' ". Now with the passage of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 that was signed into law by President Clinton, the radura will NOT be required at all and the irradiation disclosure information will appear in tiny print "no more prominent than required for the declaration for ingredients".

Call me an optimist, or call me naïve, but I believe that once people are informed about the toxins hiding in everyday household products, including food, that they will begin to make different choices. I don't expect everyone to change, nor do I believe that the majority of us will initially. All we need is for a "critical mass" of people to see things differently.

Amy Todisco is the President and Owner of greenlivingnow.com organic and natural product webstore. She was the founder and executive director of the nonprofit, the Consumer's Healthy Home Center (CHHC). CHHC was created to hire independent toxicologists to test a variety of household products for their potential inhalation health effects, and then recommend the safest products to consumers. Amy closed down CHHC to create the greenlivingnow.com webstore. She felt that she could inspire and positively impact more people through the webstore. Contact her at: amy@greenlivingnow.com

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