Justice:

Food Irradiation

Numerous studies have shown that irradiated food is deficient in certain vitamins, has caused health problems in animals, and contains carcinogens and mysterious chemical compounds. Irradiation also kills beneficial microorganisms and spawns mutant forms of bacteria. In addition to the well-accepted health effects of vitamin deficiency, some studies have shown other health effects of irradiated food, but these effects are not universally acknowledged.

The irradiation process itself is replete with dangers. Radioactive waste is generated by some irradiation facilities, people working in and living near these facilities are exposed to radiation hazards, and smog-forming ozone is a byproduct of their operation. From 1974-89, 45 mishaps were reported at U.S. irradiation facilities.

Irradiation does nothing to remove the sources of many harmful bacteria -- the feces, urine, pus and vomit left on beef, chicken and lamb as a result of filthy slaughterhouse conditions, the result of deregulation and weak food safety enforcement, corporate consolidation and sped-up lines, and lax corporate sanitation controls.

We don't know enough about the potential economic, health, and social costs of irradiation to permit its widespread use.

We need an immediate moratorium on expanded irradiation and a recision of irradiation permits for meat and poultry. The cure for dirty food is not radiation; it is to eliminate dirty food by cleaning up food processing facilities. Cleaning up our food supply will require: reinvigorating the USDA inspection and regulatory capacity; strongly enforcing the law against those who put filthy products on the market; and, ultimately, reversing the growing corporate consolidation of the food industry and the homogenization of the food product marketplace.