positive words on food irradiation

[Linda Conner <lconner@ucsd.edu>]

Published: Thursday, May 18, 2000

                       EDITORIAL: Don't let 'irradiated'
                       scare you

                       OUR VIEW: The scientific consensus that declares
                       irradiated foods to be safe is persuasive.

                       If you drink city water, have ever undergone surgery 
and put your life
                       in the hands of Northwest Airlines on occasion, then 
you've got no
                       beef against irradiated meat.

                       Science is why.

                       Science showed humanity the health benefits of a 
clean water supply.
                       Science lies behind every procedure performed at 
Altru Hospital and
                       all other medical facilities. Science lifts 
hundred-ton jets heavenward
                       and lets them fly.

                       Today, science stands behind the decision of Cub 
Foods, Rainbow
                       Foods, Byerly's and several other Minnesota grocers, 
to be among
                       the first in the country to start selling irradiated 
hamburger. Here's
                       hoping the trend grows.

                       Food irradiation uses low-level doses of radiation 
to kill bacteria in
                       packaged meat. There are three key arguments in its 
favor.

                       First, the scientific and public-health communities 
endorse it with a
                       persuasive "yes." Every mainstream scientific or 
regulatory
                       organization has signed off on the process as being 
safe and effective.
                       No adverse health effects have surfaced in the many 
studies that have
                       been conducted over the decades.

                       Second, the critics' arguments fail to convince. As 
an Associated
                       Press story reported Wednesday, "critics say not 
enough is known
                       about the safety of irradiation, which causes some 
molecular changes
                       in food." In other words, their case doesn't rest on 
bad things that
                       have happened; it rests on bad things that might 
happen. And that's
                       not enough, in the face of the studies finding that 
bad things don't
                       happen.

                       Third, bad things are happening now, today, with 
nonirradiated meat.
                       People are dying from food poisoning, to be precise; 
5,000 of them a
                       year in America alone. And tens of millions more are 
getting sick.

                       True, these arguments rest on the integrity of the 
scientific process.
                       But so do almost all other components of modern 
life. Unless you
                       grow your own food and live like the Unabomber in a 
mountain
                       shack, there's no escaping the influence of science 
in the United
                       States.

                       We trust science and engineering every time we plug 
in a toaster --
                       so using proven science to fight a killer of a food 
problem doesn't
                       seem too much of a stretch.

                       -- Tom Dennis for the Herald







Linda V. Conner
University of California, San Diego
Radiation Safety Division
Environment, Health and Safety
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla, CA 92093-0920
858.822.2494 (Office)
858.534.7982 (FAX)

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