Both the Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization have declared irradiation, or the bombardment of food with gamma rays, as a safe preservation process. A food irradiation plant opened in Florida in 1991.

      There are two major areas of concern, however: (1) the creation of new chemicals at trace levels and (2) loss of nutrients in the foodstuffs.
      Gamma ray bombardment breaks up some of the food molecules during the process, creating radiolytic by-products such as benzene, a known carcinogen. The FDA's stance is that the amounts of toxins formed are too small to be significant. However, since any dose of the chemicals can cause cellular changes that can develop into cancer, the level doesn't eliminate the risk.

      Dr. Donald B. Louria, chairman of the dept. of preventive medicine and community health at the U. of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark noted in a 08/92 interview that:
      "The F.D.A. based its approval of irradiation on five or six animal studies, although it had 400 to choose; it said the rest were all flawed. Taken together, the studies they chose could not possibly establish the safety of irradiation. Indeed, two of the studies suggest the technology is not safe."

      The Sept. 1990 issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:
      "...the proponents of irradiation have not produced any projections of the actual economic, or other, benefits of longer shelf life, especially in a developed country that has an abundant food supply."

      The May 1992 issue of the Berkeley Wellness letter (published by the U. of California at Berkeley) declared that:
      "Though it's also been claimed that irradiation will make insecticides and fungicides obsolete, there's some evidence that certain foods may be more vulnerable to the ravages of fungi and insects AFTER irradiation."

      Moreover, the dose of radiation used does not kill botulin bacteria, but the bacteria responsible for off-odors and flavors. Thus, irradiation virtually eliminates warning alarms for very dangerous types of food poisoning.

      The April 1992 issue of Nutrition Action (published by the Center for Science in the Public Interest) reported that in one study, the vitamin C content of potatoes was reduced by 50 percent after the potatoes received a standard dose of radiation. In another study, one-third the level of radiation permitted by the FDA reduced thiamin levels in pork by 17%, and a normal dose reduced thiamin levels in chicken breasts by 9%. Vitamin E content was also affected, and cooking reduces vitamin levels even further.

      Irradiation introduces complex and dangerous vectors into an already compromised environment: waste disposal, transport engineering safety, production and handling by poorly trained personnel.

      Margaret A. Peckham, program associate, Public Interest Research Group, New York:
      "The industry and the Food and Drug Administration have not presented a strong enough case for the safety of eating irradiated foods. Moreover, there is no guarantee that irradiation will alleviate food spoilage. Food that has been irradiated can possibly be recontaminated.
      "The safety of eating irradiated foods is not the only concern. Irradiation plants have a bad record for both safety and honesty. Executives have been convicted on Federal charges of fraud and safety violations, and there have been incidents involving radiation leaks and spills. An incident in Georgia three years ago is costing taxpayers there tens of millions of dollars to clean up...a moratorium of the sale of irradiated food products is judicious."

      J.J. Steinberg, M.D., Associate Professor of Pathology; Radiation Biology and Oncology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine:
      "Food irradiation affects the cells that make up the food. Cells are composed of proteins, fats and nucleic acids --- the building blocks of DNA and genes. All radiation scientists would acknowledge that irradiating food's proteins, fats and nucleic acids alter their chemistry.
      "Most of these products are benign, some are worrisome. The new molecules formed after food irradiation are called 'biologically unknown radiolytic products'. Some of these new molecules formed from nucleic acids have similar activity to the therapies physicians use in tumor treatment, for example, chemotherapy. Many of these new molecules act as mutagens --- chemicals that can injure or change the DNA of the person exposed to them. Excess exposure to mutagens may cause cancer.
      "The risk of cancer from food irradiation is likely miniscule, but we should accept that this food treatment may cause additional real, but as yet unquantifiable risk. These food risks may be similar to the risks we take when we eat pickled or charcoal-broiled foods, which offer a large menu of mutagens to the gourmet. Clearly, these risks are far smaller than smoking cigarettes, but they should not be minimized.