SIGN ONS NEEDED AGAINST FOOD IRRADIATIONDate: Tue, 21 Mar 2000 10:44:47 -0500
From: "Wenonah Hauter" WHAUTER@citizen.orgPlease endorse the following statement about food irradiation, which is an issue that crosses many lines (health, environment, nuclear, and right-to-know). E-mail your sign-on to Public Citizen: npetrie@citizen.org.
Statement on Food Irradiation
The food industry and its allies in the federal government are promoting the use of high levels of radiation to "sterilize" the filth that contaminates our food. Rather than ensuring clean, wholesome, high-quality food by cleaning up the food industry, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have legalized the irradiation of food, a technological fix that hides the real cause of food-borne illness: filthy food produced by factory farms and processed at slaughterhouses.
The emergence of new bacteria like deadly strains of deadly E. coli are a direct result of industrialized farming practices. Food irradiation is a short-term, unproven fix for a long-term problem.
Many kinds of food can now be irradiated, including fruits, vegetables, beef, poultry, lamb, pork, and spices. The government legalized food irradiation based on studies conducted before 1980*modern toxicological studies on the safety of irradiated food have not been performed.
Irradiation creates new chemicals in food, called unique radiolytic products (URPs), many of which have not been identified, much less tested for safety. Enough scientific evidence exists to cause concern, including evidence of chromosomal damage. Irradiation also destroys vitamins, enzymes, and beneficial bacteria.
According to FDA and USDA regulations, irradiated food has to be labeled if sold in retail stores such as supermarkets. However, labeling is not required in restaurants, schools, hospitals, or by food caterers or food service providers. Under pressure from the food industry, the FDA is considering eliminating labeling altogether. Since no one knows the effects of feeding growing youngsters irradiated food, parents should be especially concerned. Processed foods, such as baby food, do not have to be labeled if irradiated. Schools are not required to tell parents that they are serving irradiated food. The government has shown no concern for the health impacts on children (or the elderly, or low-income people) that may end up eating food made less nutritious from exposure to radiation.
Most irradiation facilities use the radioactive isotopes Cobalt 60 or Cesium 137. If food irradiation becomes economically feasible, hundreds of new irradiation facilities will be built across the North American continent, creating additional radioactive waste disposal and transport problems.
Actions:
The FDA should continue requiring the labeling of irradiated food. People have a right to know whether their food has been exposed to an amount of radiation equal to between 10 million and 70 million chest x-rays.
Congress should strengthen food-labeling laws so consumers know in all circumstances whether their food has been irradiated.
Corporations that plan to sell irradiated food products should honor a consumer's right-to-know by voluntarily providing easy-to-read labels for all processed foods.
Those corporations that plan to sell irradiated foods should inform customers that the food product could still contain fecal matter and that irradiation destroys vitamins and creates untested chemicals, this is especially true when selling irradiated meat and other products at a premium.
Restaurants, schools, airlines, hospitals and food service providers should voluntarily label food as irradiated so that people know what they are eating.
Congress should fund new and unbiased research on the toxicological effects of food irradiation. These studies should determine the health impacts from eating unique radiolytic products (URPs), which are created by exposing food to radiation. Studies should also look at the safety impacts caused by the irradiation of various food additives and contaminant s, such as pesticides, chlorine, dyes, bacteria, and viruses.
Federal and state agencies that allow food irradiation should be required to perform an environmental impact statement regarding the environmental danger associated with the increased use, handling, transporting, and disposal of radioactive materials.
Congress should require the FDA and the USDA to address the root causes of food borne disease:
factory farms and filthy slaughterhouses.
Wenonah Hauter
Director Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project
202-454-5150 Visit our Web Site: http://www.citizen.org/cmep
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