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FDA Allows Irradiation of Produce

spinach, lettuceThe U.S. government will allow food producers to irradiate fresh spinach and iceberg lettuce in order to kill organisms like E. coli and salmonella. It is the first time that the FDA has allowed any produce to be irradiated at these levels.

Advocates for food safety condemned the agency’s decision, and asserted that irradiation lowers nutritional value, creates unsafe chemicals and ruins flavor.

The government already allows food processors to irradiate beef, eggs, poultry, oysters and spices, but the market for irradiated foods is small because the government also requires that these foods be labeled as irradiated, and these labels scare away most consumers. The FDA is considering a proposal to weaken or change the labeling requirement.

Sources:

Dr. Mercola''s Comments Dr. Mercola's Comments:

Irradiating fresh produce is a last-ditch attempt by the FDA to make their supervision and certification of the crumbling food system appear safe. This way, agribusiness can continue to grow and process spinach and lettuce in the filthiest conditions imaginable, and it will still be perfectly safe for you to eat it, thanks to the varying doses of radiation.

What Exactly is Irradiation? 

According to the Organic Consumers Association (OCA):

“Bombardment of a food by ionizing radiation: “gamma rays” from nuclear material, x-rays or high-speed electrons from electronic guns. They are used to kill bacteria in the food. Electrons are knocked off molecules and ricochet around in the food.

They break up cell walls, slice and dice chromosomes, kill enzymes, and create free radicals (oxygen atoms missing an electron).

These free radicals recombine to form stable compounds, or continue their destructive path.

Some of the compounds created are known to be cancer-causing (formaldehyde, benzene, lipid peroxides). Others have never been seen or studied before.”

Still, the FDA maintains that irradiated foods are no different from non-irradiated foods (which is not surprising considering they also consider meat from cloned animals the same as non-cloned meat). Yet, right on their own Web site, they say, “Irradiation can produce changes in food, similar to changes caused by cooking, but in smaller amounts.”

Well, there are vast differences between a cooked food and a raw one, and the FDA seems to be oblivious to these. They have also done an excellent job of ignoring the alarming data on food irradiation that has spanned over four decades.

The following is a sampling of research -- appearing in scientific journals and other publications -- that raise questions about the FDA's assertions that people who eat irradiated food have nothing to worry about.

• An FDA report from1968 found significant adverse effects produced in animals fed irradiated food, including:

o A decrease of 20.7 percent in surviving weaned rats
o A 32.3 percent decrease in surviving progeny of dogs
o Dogs weighing 11.3 percent less than animals on the control diets
o Carcinomas of the pituitary gland, a particularly disturbing finding since this is an extremely rare type of malignant tumor

• A 1959 study in the Journal of Nutrition found that “a significant number of rats consuming irradiated beef died from internal hemorrhage within 46 days.”

• In 1981, a study in Mutation Research found that “freshly irradiated diets produced elevated levels of early deaths in [mice fetuses]... The increase in early deaths would suggest that the diet when irradiated has some mutagenic potential."

• In 1969, a study in Radiation Research found “considerable amounts of radioactivity were present in the liver, kidney, stomach, gastrointestinal tract, and blood serum of rats fed irradiated sucrose solutions. Radioactivity was present in urine and feces samples.”

• In 2000, a study in Food Irradiation concluded that "an increase in concentration of a mutagen in food by irradiation will increase the incidence of cancer. It will take four to six decades to demonstrate a statistically significant increase in cancer due to mutagens introduced into food by irradiation. When food irradiation is finally prohibited, several decades worth of people with increased cancer incidence will be in the pipeline."

Not to mention that irradiation also destroys vitamins, disrupts the chemical composition of food, and, as I said earlier, masks and encourages filthy conditions in food-processing plants.

Do You Want Your Produce “Pasteurized”?

Even if you ignore the reproductive dysfunction, chromosomal abnormalities, liver damage, and strange gene-damaging chemicals linked to irradiation, it still acts as a type of pasteurization.

And pasteurization is the primary reason why pasteurized milk is not good for the majority of people. Raw, unpasteurized milk, meanwhile, is an entirely different, typically health-promoting food. So the idea of pasteurizing fresh vegetables, on top of the beef, eggs, chicken, spices and other foods that are currently irradiated, is absurd.

The solution to creating healthier, safer foods lies in cleaning up the growing conditions and processing plants, and most certainly in returning farming to a small-scale basis. The critics in the New York Times article were so right in speaking out.

“The agency is choosing to have a high-tech expensive solution to a problem that needs a more thorough approach and one that really starts on the farm,” said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

And according to Patty Lovera, assistant director of Food and Water Watch, irradiation is “a total cop-out.”

“They [The FDA] don’t have the resources, the authority or the political will to really protect consumers from unsafe food,” she said.

And I think she really hit the nail on the head with that one. You simply cannot trust the FDA to keep your food safe or nutritious.

Would you believe that the FDA based its approval of irradiation to treat meat products on only seven animal studies out of the 441 submitted? Well, it’s true. And according to OCA, those seven either showed some health effects, or had obvious scientific flaws like using a dose of radiation much lower than the FDA’s permitted maximum.

And as for their approval of irradiation of produce, that wasn’t based on any studies at all!

“Irradiation for fruits and vegetables was based on a theoretical calculation of the danger of the new chemicals that were created, not on animal studies,” OCA says.

Eating Healthy in an Unhealthy World

Our food is currently under assault from a wide variety of enemies. Pesticides, pollution, irradiation, pasteurization, and genetic modification all come to mind. But there are still some ways to minimize these risks and get your food as healthy, and as natural, as possible in today’s modern world:

• The FDA currently requires that irradiated foods include labeling with either the statement "treated with radiation" or "treated by irradiation" and the international symbol for irradiation, the radura. That might change in the future, but for now avoid all foods that contain these labels.

• Choose organic foods. Certified organic foods may not be irradiated (and they also may not contain genetically modified ingredients or synthetic pesticides or fertilizers).

Buy foods locally. Get to know a farmer near you (or join a food coop with access to one). This way, you’ll know how your food is grown and whether or not it’s irradiated.

• Grow your own food. If you have the space, a small garden can produce plenty of produce for your family.


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Comment on This Article Community Comments (54)
 
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
"No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up."
- Lily Tomlin

If I were paranoid, I'd think the FDA engineered the Salmonella outbreak in order to initiate irradiation. Anybody else here see it coming?

The real kicker is that, except for fresh produce, nothing needs  to be labeled, according to the FDA. If the carrots and cabbage were irradiated for your coleslaw, no label is required once ingredients are combined. In fact, they are even begging now to use the word "pasteurized" - another Orwellian touch.

And black is white, and war is peace. Prey for piece.

 
Islander
Moderator User Moderator User, Joined On 3/2007
Islander  
Replied

stoic
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 3/2007
stoic  
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008

"CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic's eyes to improve his vision.” ~ Ambrose Bierce



KelleyEidem
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 11/2007
KelleyEidem  
 
Posted On Sep 13, 2008

Dr. Emanuel Revici, who is the subject of the book "The Doctor Who Cures Cancer," isolated why radiation harms and then kills animals and people. He found that radiation exposure rotates a single hydrogen atom on a FATTY ACID by a mere 90 degrees.

Picture the notches on your house key. Now picture all the notches on the key, EXCEPT for one, remaining in the same place...only one notch gets bent. The key will stop working.

The moved hydrogen atom is the same as the key with the bent notch.

The fatty acid has the job of locking onto oxygen and then transporting the oxygen into our cells. But the 'bent key notch' makes that vital transport impossible.

So the oxygen doesn't get in. At first, it could be just ONE fatty acid knocked out of whack. But then the cell that it is attached to goes rancid.

A piece of old meat can go rancid just a little bit at first, but the rancidity always gets worse. The same is true when a fatty acid in meat or vegetables get's 'struck' by the radiation.

This problem is why fatty meats that get irradiated often go rancid so quickly...and why the radiation folks want the irradiate veggies...there are fewer fatty acids in veggies.

But they still have some fatty acids.

If you were to eat a veggie that has been radiated it's likely that there could be some undetected rancidity in the food.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to to realize that eating food with undetected rancidity is a bad, bad idea...the rancidity is going to get transferred to our tissues!

Lets say you eat ten irradiated veggies, but only the first nine are free of rancidity. That tenth one can start a real problem start a problem. It'll be real slow, so you won't even know it was the irradiated veggie that got ya.

Here's the take away from all this. The food doesn't need to be radioactive to be rancid. So when the radiation lovers tell you there's no radiation in the food, they are DEAD right. Or you could become dead to rights.

The best to you.

Kelley Eidem



Rachael777
Novice User Novice User Joined On 2/2008
Rachael777  
 
Posted On Sep 14, 2008

That is exactly what I thought as soon as I read this!  



m5th
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2007
m5th  
 
Posted On Sep 16, 2008

Ha!  When the tomato scare came out this last summer, I told dh that this was so they could start irradating the veggies.  Then they decided that it wasn't the tomatoes, it was the peppers!  What a scare!  We can't be sure of anything, huh?  Lets just irradate it and then everything will be safe.  When it was approved, I wasn't surprised.



Hathorhetep
Novice User Novice User Joined On 10/2006
Hathorhetep  
 
Posted On Oct 04, 2008

Godzilla doesn't mind irradiated food, as long as it's not him.

Soon we will be like him, Mothra, and Ghidorah.  May the radiation

mutate us more kindly than it does in the Marvel Universe.  

Lends a new meaning to "Grow Your Own", doesn't it?



Hathorhetep
Novice User Novice User Joined On 10/2006
Hathorhetep  
 
Posted On Oct 04, 2008

Maybe this is a 'silent' form of population control.

A little here, something else over there, um,; excuse me, i have to answer my cell phone...



flyingeagle0
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
flyingeagle0  
 
Posted On May 31, 2009

Islander is 100 and ten percent correct.  The corrupt FDA more than likely did indeed engineer the Salmonella outbreak.  Heaven only knows what's next ......... then came the Swine Flu, most likely another lovely bio weapon unleashed on the unsuspecting public.      Prey indeed!  


 
 
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2008
Didn't find any serious nutritional or saftey changes huh! Well maybe if they would actually start looking at the food instead looking under the table at the white envelope with the green stuff in it, they might actually find something.

I would much rather take my chances on the e-coli and salmonella rather than Fascists Doing America.

 
Rogway
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 6/2006
Rogway  
Replied

All Under Heaven
Apprentice User Apprentice User Joined On 2/2008
All Under Heaven  
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
With all these food poisoning cases here and there, food safety inspection quality and regulation is poor and unacceptable. Which is the FDA's responsibility. Now they really are a total failure. I also blame industry, special interests, and politicas.

Irradiation takes away the foods' nutritional value. And I don't like having anything 'radiation' or sounding like radiation on what I eat.  

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 22, 2008
I heard this on the news this morning.  It is already extremely hard to find quality food that is not sprayed with pesticides, toxic water, etc.  How can we, the consumer, protect ourselves from this constant eroding of the quality of out food supply.

 
PepperR23
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 6/2006
PepperR23  
Replied

EarthWindFire
Novice User Novice User Joined On 6/2006
EarthWindFire  
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
Buy from local growers, most don't carry the organic label but you can make sure they aren't using gmo seeds, pesticides, chemical fertilizers and for any meat, that they are using organic feeds or preferably grass feeding them. 
For things you can't buy local, look into organic coops. And of course, grow as much as you can yourself.
I don't trust anything in the grocery stores anymore, not even when it has the usda organic stamp. I'm not saying I don't occasionally shop there, but I try to do so sparingly.
peace  PS I'm not sure there is any way to completely eliminate toxins from our food, air, water, etc right now, I just try to do as much as I can to minimize our exposure.

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2008
i'm not surprised after the almond tragedy.
 for one the american factory farms are getting so big  that they can't control the the incidence of bacteria, etc in thier produce.
that said even if they go along with this irridation process how are we assured that the produce will not be contaminated along the way to market?

how do we know if workers washed their hands, etc.  e-coli is all around us and most people have an immune system to fight it.  those who don"t should not eat anything that poses a health risk.

my  2 1/2yr.old grand-daughter was struck with childhood leukemia and was not allowed to eat fresh produce, or off the salad bar during the times she was low on white cells in her blood from chemo...when she came off we washed everything for her before it was cut.
common sense should rule the day here.

i know people who never wash anything and will eat things dropped off the floor and have a dirty kitchen.
are we the many to suffer for the stupid acts of a few?

did i read it right that 200 people were stricken and maybe 2-3 died?
there are over 300 million people in the U.S.

 
moo_203
Savvy User Savvy User, Joined On 11/2006
moo_203  
Replied

JWRM42
Savvy User Savvy User Joined On 2/2007
JWRM42  
 
Posted On Aug 23, 2008
I am still very upset about the almonds.... [even my dog doesn't like the nuked ones [not that I feed him them] he will turn them down, as I do]

Anyways, it's a shame they poisen us with the food. Irradiating the produce will kill off germs, but it also ruins the nutrients, and the kicker is that we could still get E-coli from the contamination thru the field to the store, as you say.

The best bet is to just continue [or start] to buy local and organic from the farms, and wash your produce before cooking. I'll just take my 300,000,000 to 1 chance of dying from my food.

I'm sorry to hear that about your grand-daughter. I hope she is doing great!

42

 
 
 
Posted On Aug 25, 2008
We need to put a lid on the factory farms that are causing the e coli and salmonella outbreaks.  They are the cause of bacteria in our produce and in typical FDA fashion, their  solution is to treat only the outward symptom just like chemotherapy treats a cancerous tumor..  and just like in chemotherapy we will find the cure successful but the patient dead - ie there will be no salmonella or  coli on the produce but the life sustaining properties of the plants will be gone.


 
Cheryl Rounds
Apprentice User Apprentice User, Joined On 10/2006
Cheryl Rounds  
 
 
 
 
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