Re: Editorial in Washington Post re:Food Irradiation

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Fri, 12 Sep 1997, Judd Sills wrote:
> BUT...I saw the below editorial in the Washington Post,
> and I feel that some of our more knowlegable folks should
> respond to it, if they want to prevent serious mis-information
> from going unchallenged...particularly in our nation's capital

	--I sent the following Letter to the Editor:

September 15, 1997
Letters to the Editor
The Washington Post       
1150 15th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20071

Dear Sir:
	I am writing in response to the piece on page A24 of your Sept. 12
edition objecting to food irradiation as a solution to contaminated meats.
	It is correct in stating that irradiation causes chemical changes,
but the same is true of every method of food processing -- cooking,
freezing, pickling, etc. After 40+ years of research, no information has
suggested that these chemical changes in irradiated foods are dangerous.
Highly irradiated foods have been put through a variety sensitive tests
and fed to mice, rats, dogs, monkeys, and other animals over several
generations, but no problems were found. Contrary to the statement in your
piece, no carcinogenic chemicals were found and there were no excess
cancers among the test animals. Note that many known carcinogenic
chemicals are produced by other food processing methods -- perhaps
charcoal broiling of steaks is the best known example.
	Based on a review of this research, food irradiation has been
endorsed as safe and useful by WHO (World Health Organization), FAO ( U.N.
Food and Agricultural Organization), a panel of international
microbiological societies, Institute of Food Technologists, AMA (American
Medical Association), Canadian Medical Association, Health Physics
Society, FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) which has the legal
responsibility of assuring the safety of our food, by national scientific
committees in Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, The Netherlands, and
Great Britain, National Food Processing Association, National Pork
Producers Council, and many others. No scientific organization has studied
the process and concluded that it is unsafe. Food irradiation is being
used in about 40 countries throughout the World, and millions of tons have
been safely consumed without incident.	
	With regard to the statement in your piece about environmental
risks, It should be pointed out that essentially identical irradiation
facilities have been widely used for a half century for sterilizing
medical supplies like band-aids and disposable needles for flu shots, baby
bottle nipples, disposable diapers, milk cartons, and cosmetics. There has
been no evidence of environmental damage from these activities.

					Sincerely Yours,



					Bernard L. Cohen
					Professor of Environmental
						and Occupational Health