- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Schools
will be allowed to serve children meat that has been sterilized through
irradiation, the Agriculture Department has decided. Irradiation sterilizes
food by using low levels of gamma rays or electrons to kill bacteria and
parasites, like E. coli and salmonella. In 1999, the government approved
the sale of irradiated meat to the public, but irradiated meat was prohibited
in the school lunch program. The farm bill approved in May changed that,
said Alisa Harrison, spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department.
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- Under the new policy, announced on Friday, schools will
be allowed to buy irradiated meat by the end of the year, Ms. Harrison
said, emphasizing that doing so was optional.
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- The meat industry has been urging the agency to approve
such a policy, saying it will make products safer. Companies want the department
to start a pilot program for buying irradiated ground beef for school lunches.
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- "It's time for U.S.D.A. to acknowledge the food
safety benefits of this technology and begin purchasing irradiated ground
beef products for the nation's schoolchildren," J. Patrick Boyle,
chief executive of the American Meat Institute, said in a statement.
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- Some advocacy groups say irradiated food is unhealthy,
though the World Health Organization and the American Medical Association
have said it is safe. The consumer group Public Citizen has strongly opposed
irradiation, saying the process destroys vitamins and nutrients and can
cause chemicals linked to cancer and birth defects to develop.
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- Carol Tucker Foreman, director of the Consumer Federation
of America's Food Policy Institute, said she accepted that irradiated food
was safe to eat but warned that it was "not a silver bullet"
for food-borne illnesses.
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- Food poisoning in American schools has been increasing
10 percent a year, the General Accounting Office, the auditing agency of
Congress, reported this year. Fifty school-related outbreaks of food poisoning
were reported nationwide in 1999, with 2,900 illnesses.
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- Organic Consumers Association 6101 Cliff Estate Rd, Little
Marais, MN 55614 E-mail:Staff Activist or Media Inquiries: 218-226-4164
· Fax: 218-353-7652
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- http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/school102902.cfm
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- From Gayle Eversole
Leaflady.org
5-31-3
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- With today's news I thought I would send you some information
I originally posted on my site in 1998 and before. Gayle
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- GLOWING BURGERS - originally reported on Leaflady.org
in 1998.
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- More on the Problems with Food Irradiation
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- Food irradiation exposes food to the equivalent of 30
million chest X-rays.
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- Irradiation creates new chemicals in foods called radiolytic
products. Some of these products are known cancer-causing substances (like
benzene in irradiated beef). Others are unique to the irradiation process
and no one knows what effects these have on human health.
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- Irradiation destroys essential vitamins and nutrients
that are naturally present in food. No studies have been done to show that
a long-term diet of irradiated foods is safe. Safer, well-tested alternatives
to irradiation exist.
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- Irradiation plants pose environmental threats to workers
and surrounding communities. The transportation of nuclear materials to
irradiation facilities also poses severe public health risks.
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- For information about Food & Water, or for hard copies
of this Action Alert, call 1-800-EAT-SAFE. http://www.leaflady.org/fyi.htm
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- What's Wrong With Food Irradiation?
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- Purefood.org Irradiation damages the quality of food.
Foods that have been exposed to ionizing radiation have second-rate nutrition
and "counterfeit freshness." Irradiated fats tend to become rancid.
Even at low doses, some irradiated foods lose 20% of vitamins such as C,
E, K, and B complex. Because irradiation breaks down the food's cell walls,
accelerated vitamin losses occur during storage--up to 80%. Ironically,
irradiation both creates harmful free radicals and destroys the antioxidant
vitamins necessary to fight them! When electron beams are used, trace amounts
of radioactivity may be created. In Europe, food irradiation has been used
to camouflage spoiled seafood. Consumers should ask, "Why is the food
suddenly so dirty that it has to be irradiated?"
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- Irradiation produces toxic byproducts in the food. Ionizing
radiation knocks electrons out of atoms and creates free radicals. These
free radicals react with food components, creating new radiolytic products,
some of which are toxic (benzene, formaldehyde, lipid peroxides) and some
of which may be unique to irradiated foods. No one knows the long term
impact of eating unknown quantities of these damaged foods. Studies on
animals fed irradiated foods have shown increased tumors, reproductive
failures and kidney damage. Chromosomal abnormalities occurred in children
from India who were fed freshly irradiated wheat.
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- Irradiation using radioactive materials is an environmental
hazard. In Georgia, radioactive water escaped from an irradiation facility;
the taxpayers were stuck with $47 million in cleanup costs. In New Jersey,
radioactive water was poured into drains that emptied into the public sewer
system. Few communities want the increased risks of hosting irradiation
facilities and the periodic transport of radioactive materials to and from
irradiators. Numerous worker exposures have occurred worldwide.
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- Irradiation is a quick fix with long-term consequences.
Irradiation doesn't kill all bacteria; those that survive are radiation-resistant.
Eventually these bacteria will require higher doses of radiation. Irradiation
doesn't kill the bacterium that causes botulism, or viruses. It can't be
used on dairy products, a major source of food poisoning. If the labels
are removed, irradiation will be used very widely because producers will
'follow the leader' and irradiate to prevent themselves from liability
for food poisoning, no matter how remote the possibility. The costs, as
always, will be passed on to the consumer.
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- Irradiation doesn't solve the problem, it just covers
it up. In a 1997 CBS nationwide poll, 77% of US consumers did not want
irradiated food. This public resistance is why food trade associations
have been plotting to eliminate all requirements for labeling irradiated
food. Irradiation is not the only option for providing clean and sustainable
food. Cleaning up filthy slaughter houses, slowing down processing lines,
increasing the number of federal meat inspectors, and encouraging local
and organic agriculture instead of factory farming are just a few proposals
that can lead to long-term food safety solutions without the risks of irradiation.
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- from: BioDemocracy and Organic Consumers Association,
Main office: 6114 Hwy 61, Little Marais, MN 55614; Inquiries: (218) 226-4164.
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- Irradiation Coordinator: Danila Oder danila@purefood.org,
http://www.purefood.org
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- http://www.leaflady.org/food_irradiation.htm
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