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From: spp@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU (Stephen P Pope)
Newsgroups: net.med,net.physics,net.cooks
Subject: Re: sterilizing food with radiation
Message-ID: <11084@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Mon, 25-Nov-85 19:04:06 EST
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Posted: Mon Nov 25 19:04:06 1985
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    About a year ago a local liberal muckraking weekly
(the Bay Guardian) did a feature on food irradiation.
Their arguments against make sense to me:

(1) The massive doses of radiation involved cause chemical
changes in molecules in the food, thus, may be creating
toxins / carcinogens.

(2) The only controlled study on the health effects of
irradiated food (on children in India) did in fact find
that health problems resulted.

(3) Plans are to not label food so treated.

(4) Plans involve transporting highly radioactive material --
lots of it -- into food processing plants.  Contamination
of the food, and leaks into the environment, are certain
to occur, given the lousy safety record of the nuclear
industry (please, no flames from you nuclear types out there).

(5) The whole motivation is to justify the creation of lots
of nuclear waste by utilizing it in this fashion.  

(6) The Feds claim that the procedure is safe and no
studies to prove this are needed before unleashing this
on the public.  The Feds have been wrong before.

(7) Very little economic benefit to the public results.

    I haven't heard any arguments in favor that weigh
very strongly at all.
    The procedure is already used in some cases for garlic
and potatoes, among others.  (I suspect the oversized baking
spuds you can mail-order from Idaho.)  Again, marketers
don't have to mention that your food has been irradiated.
(If the potatoes sprout on you they're probably O.K.)
    I am unaware as to how close the food irradiators are
to implementing their idiot scheme.
    I welcome hearing further arguments / opinions.

steve pope