Re: Food Irradiation article

[Ruth Weiner <rfweine@sandia.gov>]

     This is a very good article for a co-op magazine, and I congratulate 
     you! I have one very tiny bone to pick:  there is  almost as much 
     exaggeration about the dangers of pesticides and herbicides as about 
     irradiation.  Remember Alar?  As the penultimate issue of Consumer 
     Reports points out, washing fruit and vegetables thoroughly and 
     carefully leaves an essentially negligible residue.  It should also be 
     noted that agricultural use of pesticides and herbicides is regulated 
     but until recently, use of the term "organic" had no standards 
     associated with it at all.
     
     Clearly my own opinion and no one else's.
     
     Ruth F. Weiner, Ph. D.
     Transportation Systems Department
     Sandia National Laboratories
     Mail Stop 0718
     P. O. Box 5800
     Albuquerque, NM 87185-0718
     505-844-4791
     505-844-0244 (fax)
     rfweine@sandia.gov
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Food Irradiation article
Author:  Chasmig@aol.com at hubsmtp
Date:    2/2/98 8:53 AM


Well here is the article I'm going to submit to the food co-op to rebut 
their bogus one about food irradiation. Any comments? (this is pretty long) 
Thanks to everyone for your help.
Not a lot about radiation, but I tried to emphasize the 'food safety' aspect.
     
Charles Migliore
Chasmig@aol.com
     
     People shop at the food co-op for different reasons. The co-op is certainly
great place to buy wholesome, organic, locally grown,  food and earth-friendly 
household products. I for one like buying organically produced foods because 
they are certified to be free of pesticides, herbicides and other poisons, and 
generally contain no preservatives. There is something to be said for the 
peace of mind to be had when I know my food is free of added poisons. These 
added chemicals cannot be seen, felt, tasted, or smelled, but are only 
detected with sensitive laboratory equipment. Some are eliminated from the 
body in natural processes, but others build up in body tissues, to largely 
unknown effect over a lifetime of accumulation.  There are some benefits to 
adding these substances to food, or it wouldn't be done. These benefits 
include longer shelf life and freedom from pests like fruit flies, weevils and 
worms. No one wants to bite into an apple with a worm in it, or cook with 
moldy spices. We expect our vegetables to last at least a few days in the 
refrigerator or in the cupboard after we bring them home. But many of us agree 
that the benefits pesticides, presevatives, and herbicides bring may not be 
worth the risk to our health in the long run.
     
     At the food co-op we are able to take advantage of the best local farmers
have to offer. All food, until recently, was grow locally. It is only in the 
recent era of modern transportation that we are able to enjoy what were once 
seasonal fruits and vegetables year round. Today, we can buy fresh 
strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers year round. But unless these 
veggies and fruits are grown expensively in a local greenhouse, they are 
shipped from a long distance away where they are in season. It is just a fact 
of life in Minnesota- we cannot grow crops outdoors in the winter! Even the 
food co-op imports some produce from other regions of milder climate this time 
of year.
     
     Just as we have come to expect to have off-season produce available year
round, we expect to be able to make a trip to the grocery store and buy a 
pound or two of meat as we need it. While many of us who choose to eat meat, 
myself included, have a freezer stocked with good, locally grown organic beef, 
we still buy meat from the grocery store on occasion. This convenience is 
taken for granted. Not everyone can afford to stock up for a whole season's 
worth of meat or buy a freezer to keep it in.
     
     Food bought at the grocery store or food co-op is expected to be inexpensiv
and presumed to be safe. While the labels of packaged foods indicate the ones 
without preservatives, and chemical-free organic produce is labelled as such, 
there is no way of knowing for certain the safety of store-bought meat.
     
     The simple fact is that our meat supply is not as safe as we presume.  Food
borne 'pathogens', as they are called, cause between 8000 and 9000 deaths from 
food poisoning each year, and between 13 and 33 million people end up with 
diarhea. Many '24 hour bugs' are actually food poisoning caused by tainted 
meat. 4 deaths and 700 illnesses resulted from the well publicized  'Jack in 
the Box' incident alone.  The folks most affected are the ones with weakened 
immune systems, the elderly, and the poor.
     
     While this should obvoiusly cause every meat-eater concern, it is nothing
new. It has always been accepted that meat needs to be well cooked before it 
is eaten, and this eliminates most problems. Modern processes and knowledge 
and awareness of sanitation have improved the quality and safety of our meat 
over the years. But there is more that can be done, and should be done, to 
make our food safer. There is a well tested, proven effective, inexpensive, 
and safe method for improving the safety of the food we eat.
     
     This method is treating food with radiation. Many folks have a knee-jerk
reaction when they hear this word. Perhaps no other word is as loaded as the 
word 'radiation'. It is indeed ironic that something so associated in the minds 
of some people with death, destruction, and cancer is  proven to improve the 
safety of the food we eat. The fact of the matter is, in large enough amounts, 
RADIATION IS DEADLY.
     
     This is good! Nobody wants those 'pathogen' bacteria living in their food!
Sometimes fear is both our best friend and our worst enemy. We SHOULD be 
afraid of  the proven, invisible dangers in the food we eat. This is self- 
preservation. It is self- defeating, however, to fear something simply because 
of  lack of information. The fact that actual lives can be saved far outweighs 
any superstitious, erroneous fears caused by not understanding the technology. 
Iradiation has been extensively studied for over 50 years all over the world, 
and its safety and usefulness are NOT in question by the scientific community. 
There is a long laundry list of organizations that have declared irradiation 
safe. These include The World Health Organizarion, FDA, USDA, AMA, and scores 
of others. Europe irradiates over 38 billion pounds of food each year. The 
process does not seem so mysterious and scary once explained.
     
     When food is treated, it is exposed to a powerful source of radiation for a
carefully calculated period of time. The radiation passes through the food, 
and none remains afterwards. Think of a light bulb. When you turn off the 
light source in a room, does the light stay? It is the same with the radiation 
used to treat food.
     
     The amount of radiation given the food is calculated to eliminate
contaminating bacteria, but have a minimum effect on the food itself. To grasp 
this concept better, realize that radiation affects rapidly dividing cells the 
most. The meat is not growing, but the microorganisms living on it are growing 
and dividing rapidly. Living cells are very complex, much like a biological 
'computer'. The DNA could be called the software that runs the cellular 
machine. It is the most sensitive part of the cell to radiation. The radiation 
changes a small part of the DNA software so it wont work. The rest of the 
'computer' is unchanged.  This means the bacterial cell either dies or is 
unable to reproduce, but all of the basic components of the food are still 
there.  Our bodies digest the food, breaking it down into basic components, 
which is then used to build our own cells.
     
     Some very small chemical changes do happen during irradiation. Some are
concerned of the possible effects of these 'radio-lytic byproducts'. The word 
'radiolytic' sounds mysterious and dangerous, but it is not. When food is heat 
processed, or cooked, 'thermo-lytic byproducts' are produced. In fact, while 
the thermolytic byproducts are readily seen, smelled, and tasted, it takes a 
chemist with extremely sensitive state of the art equipment to detect the 
radiolytic byproducts in food. There are many other commonly accepted food 
preservation techniques, like freezing, canning, pickling, and drying that 
change the food much, much more than radiation does. In fact, no substance has 
ever been found in irradiated food that doesnt also exist naturally. The main 
effect of exposing food to radiation is on the living microorganisms that 
infest it.
     
     It is true that the nutritional value of food can be affected by radiation.
Up to 10% of the vitamins can be lost during a treatment. This is comparable 
to vegetables sitting in a cool cellar or refrigerator truck for a week. 
Obviously fresh food is the best, but this is not aways possible during 
Minnesota winters, where our food often must travel to us over long distances. 
Fruits and vegetables treated with radiation stay fresh longer, because the 
bacteria that promote rotting are destroyed. Strawberries last weeks instead 
of days. Potatoes and onions sprouting is delayed, because the cellular 
'software', the DNA, of the eyes' cells are short circuited. These potatoes 
and onions will sprout, it is just delayed. Fuits and vegetables treated with 
radiation stay fresher longer, making the benefits of eating fresh vegetables 
and fruit in the wintertime less expensive, because less will be thrown away. 
Also, tomatoes, for instance, can be picked ripe on the vine, instead of 
ripening in a truck en route. This alone may offset any loss of vitamins.
     
     Irradiation also reduces the need for pesticides on produce and grains. Thi
is something all of us who 'shop co-op' are concerned about. These pesticides 
can leave as residue on the food that we eat. One widely used chemical, Methyl 
Bromide, is used to fumigate grains, nuts, and fresh fruits and vegetables. It 
is toxic, an EPA Category 1 acute toxin, the worst kind. It is also 50 times 
more destructive to the ozone layer than CFC's. Radiation also works better 
than another chemical, Ethyl Oxide, at killing bacteria and insect pests. 
Radiation does not require the use of water or other solvents that may damage 
or change the food.   Radiation is a good alternative, especially for those 
concerned about toxic residue left on their food..
     
     Irradiated food should be more widely avalailable. Many shoppers, when give
the choice, have chosen irradiated foods over  their non-treated counterparts 
when they were told that the radiation sterilized the food of bacteria. The 
important word here is choice. Right now there is no choice for folks that 
care about the safety of their food. We dont live in a perfect world where 
every packing-plant worker washes hands, or every case of E. Coli 
contamination is found. I would gladly welcome the chance to choose between 
potentially contaminated chicken and chicken that has been sterilized. 
Obviously the best choice is buying food straight from the farmer, so you know 
where it came from. But barring that, the added peace of mind that comes from 
knowing the food is free of bacterial contamination would be welcome. Not only 
should we not fear our food being treated with radiation, we should demand it!