No McNukes!

Does irradiating meat and other food make it safer -- or create new health risks, especially to children?

By Ros Davison

Dec 17, 1997 | Just over two weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration approved the irradiation of red meat to destroy deadly bacteria such as e-coli. Proponents of the move say that for a few cents more, a pound of hamburger or sausage can be zapped with radiation that kills harmful bacteria by altering their genetic makeup. Some critics say that it should only be used as a last resort, when food cannot be cleaned up any other way, because consumers don't want to eat "sterilized filth."

One of the nation's leading critics of food irradiation, Michael Colby, director of the advocacy group Food & Water in Walden, Vt., believes that it should not be used in any case. Salon spoke with Colby about whether irradiation makes food safer -- or creates new health risks, especially to children.

What is your concern about irradiated red meat?

Food & Water is opposed to the irradiation of all food products on the basis of the health concerns, environmental impact and nuclear proliferation surrounding this technology. The health issue is potentially quite serious. When you expose food to the equivalent of 10 million to 70 million chest X-rays ...

Seventy million? Did I hear you correctly?

Yes, I'm giving you an equivalency in terms of radiation: 70 million. Irradiating food is not like exposing it to the volume of radiation in an airport luggage scanner or a regular X-ray. It is equivalent to 10 million to 70 million chest X-rays. Ten million -- which is 100,000 "rads," the unit that radiation is measured in -- is what's approved for fruit and vegetables, and up to 70 million range is the approved dose for frozen meat products, which is 700,000 rads. And a chest X-ray is .01 rad.

The irradiation is on foodstuffs though, not our bodies. And hasn't irradiation been approved for chicken since 1990 and on fruits, vegetables and spices since 1986? (The government requires that irradiated foods be clearly labeled.)

First of all, food irradiation has never been proven safe. There are no long-term, multi-generational studies. So the meat industry and the government have completely neglected their responsibility of proving its safety.

I gather you're concerned, especially for children, about irradiated foods containing radiolytic compounds. What are they?

When you expose food to radiation, you create radiolytic products, which are products that result from the process of irradiation. For example, when you expose red meat to irradiation at the approved doses, you create benzene in the meat. Benzene is a very, very potent carcinogen. The government is spending tens of millions of dollars to try to get it out of the vapors of gasoline, and now we're putting it in the red meat supply. If there's one molecule of benzene created in the red meat and that molecule gets into the human body, that's enough to cause cancer. It's not enough to argue that it's only a small amount, so don't worry about it. I say look at the cancer rate in this country -- I think we've had enough of the public policy that says, "It's only a small carcinogenic insult so don't worry about it."

So what about the impact on children?

In fact, one of the only studies on human beings that exists was done on children in India who were fed irradiated wheat. The researchers found that children who were fed stored and freshly irradiated wheat developed chromosomal abnormalities in their blood known as "polyploidy." Many scientists believe that polyploidy is a precursor to leukemia and other forms of cancer. The study was done in 1976 and published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

But isn't it being accepted as the only way to make food safer?

It's an unnecessary technology -- we know how to decrease levels of e-coli without taking on the risks of added carcinogens and a reduced vitamin and mineral content. Let's address the causes of what allows these microorganisms to flourish. Exposing dirty food to nuclear waste is not somehow going to make it safe.

Next Page: Nuking the vitamins out

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