-Caveat Lector- On 29 Mar 2002 at 10:02, thew wrote:
> Can you show some evidence that this dip is bad for you - or is it just a > reaction to the word "radiate" ? FAQs About Food Irradiation http://www.irradiation.com/food.htm The food safety issue is a guise. The real issues are the multi-national corporations making billions more by extending shelf life of food, the millions the processors would save by not having to "clean up their acts", and our government wanting to "dump" radioactive waste. In the 1960s, the FDA rescinded its original approval of food irradiation because of the carcinogens created in the process. A New Jersey Medical School report says that animals fed irradiated food lost weight and had miscarriages, and that irradiation damages vitamins in food. In MEAT AND POULTRY, an industry periodical, the editors said that "irradiation is the wrong hope" and "that the industry needed to clean up its act and get the inspectors back on the side of consumers" >From Poultry Times XXKVm(6), p. 22, March 25, 1991 "Food irradiation cannot, nor is it intended to, replace proper food sanitation, packaging, storage and preparation". Steven Bjerklie, former editor of Meat & Poultry, thinks irradiation will reduce pressure on the meatpacking industry to clean up its act. "I don't want to be served irradiated feces along with my meat," he says. Q. What is food irradiation? A. A process where food is exposed to high levels of radiation in order disrupt the DNA of the bacteria so that it cannot reproduce, thus extending shelf life. Q. How is food irradiated? A. Pallets of food move into an irradiation chamber. Once inside the chamber, a rack of radioactive byproduct is elevated from a pool of water, bombarding the food with irradiation. Afterward, the irradiated food is moved to a storage area. Q. Where do they irradiate food? A. Food irradiation plants are small nuclear facilities usually with walls of concrete six feet thick. Q. Are these radioactive facilities safe? A. That depends on who you ask. There are the issues of security (the nuclear waste is very dangerous), waste disposal, engineering safety, transport of radioactive material, production of new isotopes, and handling. A big concern is the introduction of highly complex electromagnetic and nuclear technology into processing plants and slaughterhouses with a largely illiterate, non-English-speaking workforce. Q. How much radiation does the food receive? A. For most meat, the intention is 300,000 RADS which is the equivalent of 3 million chest X-rays. Q. Is food irradiation necessary? A. According to an article in THE BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS, proponents of irradiation "have not produced any projections of the actual economic, or other, benefits of longer shelf life, especially in a developed country that has an abundant food supply". Regarding meat infected with e-coli or salmonella, if the meat processors would place health above dollars, there would be no contamination issues. Q. Does food irradiation make food radioactive? A. Not when it is done correctly. Q. If food is not made radioactive, then why is it not safe? A. When food is irradiated the radiation breaks up the molecular structure of the food and creates a whole new set of chemicals known as "unique radiolytic products" (URPs). These URPs include benzene, formaldehyde and a host of known mutagens and carcinogens. Irradiation kills vitamins, friendly bacteria and enzymes, effectively rendering the food "dead" and therefore useless to your body. In addition, some of the friendly bacteria that is killed produces odors indicating spoilage and some friendly bacteria naturally control the growth of harmful bacteria. Q. Is there a way to test to see if food has been irradiated? A. Yes. Because the damage done to the food is detectable. Q. Have there been studies of the health consequences of food irradiation? A. Yes, hundreds. However the FDA only sites 5 of those studies in their push to irradiate, and some of those studies have since been proven flawed. Short term studies were done on children in India, and blood tests showed chromosomal damage to the children after 6 weeks. Short term tests were done on dogs using irradiated beef; the dogs ended up with enlarged spleens and swollen lymph nodes. Other studies, including those done under contract for the U.S. Government indicate the possibility of immunotoxicity, kidney disease, cardiac thrombus, testicular damage and fibroplasia. Q. Why does the FDA allow irradiation? This is a very complicated issue. In the beginning, food irradiation was part of the "ATOMS FOR PEACE" program which looked for ways to get rid of nuclear waste. The main push was made by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Atomic Energy Commission. In addition, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) which wants to get rid of the radioactive waste Cesium 137, paid companies to take this waste. Those companies then lobbied congress so they could irradiate food. Cobalt 60 is currently the radioactive source for food irradiation, but the DOE hopes that with the proposed expansion of food irradiation, the Cobalt 60, which is in limited supply will run out, and Cesium 137 will again be used. Next you have some of the large meat processors (three corporations control 80% of the market) which instead of cleaning up their production system, would rather irradiate, as it is cheaper. The irradiation companies lobby the processors, the processors lobby congress and the FDA (which has on its board former and future executive employees of the food processing and nuclear companies). The FDA then also lobbies congress. In addition, with all of the news about E. coli and salmonella, our uninformed congressmen think they are "protecting" the food supply. In addition, the multi-national food processing companies stand to make billions by extending the shelf life of some foods. Q. Why can’t government food inspectors force the meat processors to produce disease free meat? A. During the last 12 years, the Dept. of Agriculture has cut over 12,000 meat inspector jobs, and at the same time, the speed at which meat passes by the inspectors has become incredible. In some processing plants, inspectors are supposed to inspect beef carcasses that are being processed at 5 per minute or chicken carcasses that pass by them at a rate of 90 per minute! It is an impossible task. The only answer is for the producers to slow down the production lines so the food can be processed in a safe manner. Q. I have heard that people in other countries can’t get enough of irradiated foods? A. The irradiation industry likes to say that, however the people of Europe are being told that Americans are in love with food irradiation and that we can’t get enough. It is pure dis-information!. China, some of the ex-USSR countries and South Africa are the big users of food irradiation. Do we want to follow in their foot steps? Q. Is the entire food industry for irradiation? A. No. As a matter of fact, in an article in MEAT AND POULTRY MAGAZINE, an industry periodical, the editors said that "irradiation is the wrong hope" and "that the industry needed to clean up its act and get the inspectors back on the side of consumers". Q. Are there alternatives? A. Yes. The primary goal would be to have a clean area where the meat would be processed, however, as a back-up there are different methods of sterilization, including ozone. Oh, by the way, you can order the following bumper sticker from the American Nuclear Society (a group of scientists who work for corporations, universities and various governments) who for the most part say they are pro- food irradiation (at least in public they say so, how else would they keep their jobs?) "I'M NATURALLY RADIOACTIVE...YOU ARE TOO!" pure-food.com & irradiation.com ------------------------ "In little more than a year we have gone from enjoying peace and the most prosperous economy in our history, to a nation plunged into war, recession and fear. This is a nation being transformed before our very eyes." http://www.truthout.com Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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