From
http://www.organicconsumers.org/Irrad/irradfact.cfm
WHAT’S WRONG WITH FOOD IRRADIATION
revised February 2001
Irradiation damages the quality of food.
· Irradiation damages food by breaking up molecules and creating free radicals. The free radicals kill some bacteria, but they also bounce around in the food, damage vitamins and enzymes, and combine with existing chemicals (like pesticides) in the food to form new chemicals, called unique radiolytic products (URPs).
· Some of these URPs are known toxins (benzene, formaldehyde, lipid peroxides) and some are unique to irradiated foods. Scientists have not studied the long-term effect of these new chemicals in our diet. Therefore, we cannot assume they are safe.
· Irradiated foods can lose 5%-80% of many vitamins (A, C, E, K and B complex). The amount of loss depends on the dose of irradiation and the length of storage time.
· Most of the food in the American diet is already approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for irradiation: beef, pork, lamb, poultry, wheat, wheat flour, vegetables, fruits, shell eggs, seeds for sprouting, spices, herb teas. (Dairy is already pasteurized). A food industry petition currently before the FDA asks for approval for luncheon meats, salad bar items, sprouts, fresh juices and frozen foods. Another petition before the USDA asks for approval for imported fruits and vegetables.
· Irradiation damages the natural digestive enzymes found in raw foods. This means the body has to work harder to digest them.
· If unlabeled, raw foods that have been irradiated look like fresh foods, but nutritionally they are like cooked foods, with decreased vitamins and enzymes. The FDA allows these foods to be labeled “fresh.”
· Irradiated fats tend to become rancid.
· When high-energy electron beams are used, trace amounts of radioactivity may be created in the food.
Science has not proved that a long-term diet of irradiated foods is safe for human health.
· The longest human feeding study was 15 weeks. No one knows the long-term effects of a life-long diet that includes foods which will be frequently irradiated, such as meat, chicken, vegetables, fruits, salads, sprouts and juices.
· There are no studies on the effects of feeding babies or children diets containing irradiated foods, except a very small and controversial study from India that showed health effects.
· Studies on animals fed irradiated foods have shown increased tumors, reproductive failures and kidney damage. Some possible causes are: irradiation-induced vitamin deficiencies, the inactivity of enzymes in the food, DNA damage, and toxic radiolytic products in the food.
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From
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/05/why-are-your-spices–seasonings-exposed-to-half-a-billion-chest-xrays-worth-of-radiation.aspx
Irradiated herbs, seasonings and spices are exposed to HALF A BILLION chest X-ray’s worth of gamma radiation. This information is clearly publicized by the USDA and FDA.
The FDA presently supports the use of Cobalt-60 culled from nuclear reactors on all domestically produced conventional food.
The level of gamma-radiation used starts at 1 KiloGray — equivalent to 16,700,000 chest x-rays — and goes all the way up to 30KiloGray (500,000,000 chest x-rays or 10,000 times a human lethal dose).
According to Green Med Info:
“Despite the irresponsible promotion of this process as safe, food irradiation destroys much of the vitamin content of food, produces a number of toxic byproducts: formaldehyde, benzene, and formic acid, as well as unique radiolytic products, e.g. 2-alklycyclobutanoes, that have been demonstrated to be cytotoxic (damages cells), genotoxic (damages DNA), and carcinogenic (causes cancer) in test tube and animal studies.”
By Dr. Mercola
You’re probably well aware that certain foods, like milk and juices, at your grocery store are pasteurized — a process that uses heat to kill off bacteria from your food, and in the process destroys nutrients and denatures the food.
But you may not know that foods may also be irradiated — a process that exposes your food to radiant energy, including gamma rays, electron beams and X-rays.
Irradiation was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1963, and today is used on more than 40 food products dispersed throughout 37 countries. If this sounds a bit alarming to you, you are not alone.
After nuclear disasters like the Fukushima meltdown in Japan, radiation poisoning to food is one of the primary health concerns. So how is it that food processors can expose your food to radiation on purpose, in the name of food safety?
Are There Health Risks to Eating Irradiated Food?
The FDA claims, “Irradiation is an important food safety tool in fighting foodborne illness,” noting that the sources and amounts of radiation applied to foods are not strong enough to cause the food to become radioactive. They also state that “food irradiation does not significantly change the nutrient content, flavor, or texture of food.” However, as Sayer Ji, found of GreenMedInfo.com, states:
“The FDA presently supports and actively promotes the use of Cobalt-60 culled from Nuclear Reactors as a form of “electronic pasteurization” on all domestically produced conventional food.
The use of euphemisms like “food additive” and “pasteurization” to describe the process of blasting food with high levels of gamma-radiation cannot obviate the fact that the very same death-rays generated by thermonuclear warfare to destroy life are now being applied to food to “make it safer” …
This is not a hypochondriac’s rantings, as we aren’t talking here about small amounts of radiation. The level of gamma-radiation used starts at 1KiloGray (equivalent to 16,700,000 chest x-rays or 333 times a human lethal dose) and goes all the way up to 30KiloGray (500,000,000 chest x-rays or 10,000 times a human lethal dose).”
As you might suspect, exposing food to the equivalent of hundreds of millions of x-rays does not appear to be an innocuous act. Alternatively, evidence to date suggests it may be having a detrimental effect on the health of those who consume it.
A New Class of Food Contaminants
2-alkylcyclobutanones (2-ACBs) are radiolytic derivatives of triglycerides found exclusively in irradiated food. The compounds are generated proportionally to fat content of the food and the dose of absorbed radiation.
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From
http://www.sustainabletable.org/728/food-irradiation
Food Irradiation
Irradiation is a process in which food is exposed to high doses of radiation in the form of gamma rays, X-rays or electron beams. Irradiation can kill bacteria in food, both good and bad, but has no effect on the infectious agent that causes mad cow disease, or on viruses, Fsuch as those that cause hepatitis.
Effects of food irradiation
The long-term health consequences of eating irradiated food are still unknown. Irradiation creates a complex series of reactions that alter the molecular structure of food and create known carcinogens, Fincluding benzene, and other toxic chemicals, including toluene. FIn addition, byproducts of irradiation, called 2-ACBs, which do not occur naturally in any food, have been linked to tumor growth in rats Fand genetic damage in human cells. FAnimals fed irradiated foods have died prematurely and suffered mutations, stillbirths, organ damage and nutritional deficiencies. F
Irradiation can also change the flavor, odor, texture, color and nutritional content of food. FFor example, yolks of irradiated eggs are more watery and have less color and brightness than non-irradiated eggs. FIrradiation also destroys the niacin and vitamins in eggs, including up to 24 percent of vitamin A, at just one-third the radiation level approved by the FDA. F
Irradiation is used to create a false sense of security about food safety. It is promoted as a solution to the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions on factory farms G that make animals susceptible to disease, and to the filthy conditions in slaughterhouses that contaminate meat with bacteria. However, since irradiation may not eliminate all bacteria from foods, and since foods can be contaminated or re-contaminated after having been irradiated, the process does not totally eliminate the possibility of foodborne illness. That is why the USDA recommends the same food-handling practices for irradiated foods as for non-irradiated foods.
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