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55 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
3.5 KiB
Plaintext
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GLOWING OUTLOOK FOR FOOD IRRADIATION BUSINESS
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The food industry is going high-tech with a seemingly innocent
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procedure called irradiation -- a process that delays ripening by
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exposing food to radioactive materials that kill insects, mold, and
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bacteria.
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Critics point out that irradiation may produce food products that
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at best have lower nutritional value; at worst are carcinogenic.
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Irradition also poses significant health threats to workers and the
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public in transportation, storage, and disposal of radioactive waste.
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And there is real concern over the safety of radioactive devices used
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in food, beverage, cosmetic, and drug industries.
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While spices are the first irradiated edibles marketed in the
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U.S., the Food and Drug Admnstration (FDA) also has approved
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irradiation for use on produce and some meats. Interestingly, the FDA
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regulates irradiation not as a process but as an additive.
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The question, of course, is exactly what is "added" to irradiated
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food? Irradiated food looks and smells better for an extended time,
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but little is known about the chemical changes induced by the process.
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One science writer posed the complex issues when he asked "What
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do you get when you irradiate an apple with 100,000 rads of gamma
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rays. Is that irradiation a process or an additive? Who should
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control it? Does it pose a carcinogenic threat to humans? Since it
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reduces food spoilage and replaces dangerous pesticides, is it a
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blessing for the world's hungry?" And then he asked, "Why are there
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no answers to these questions?"
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Meanwhile, the track record in irradiation facilities is anything
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but reassuring. The Radiation Technology plant in Far Rockaway, New
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Jersey, was closed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for
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willfully supplying false information about repeated safety
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violations; the NRC also shut down International Nutronics in Dover,
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New Jersey, after workers reported a coverup of a radioative spill of
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a tank of water containing cobalt-60 rods; and workers in Isomedix
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Co., Parsippany, New Jersey, were told to clean up leaks by pouring
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radioactive water down bathroom toilets and sinks.
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Earlier this year, the NRC suspended the use of an industrial
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air-purifying device that leaked tiny particles of radioactive
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polonium at plants around the nation. The NRC also order 3M to recall
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for inspection all 45,000 of the ionizing air guns used to control
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static electricty and remove dust from product containers. Of 828
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plants inspected so far, contamination was found at 118 sites; of
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those, the radiation exceeded the reportable limit of .005 microcuries
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in 39 plants. Subsequently, the NRC recalled 2,500 3M units used in
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the food, beverage, costmetic and drug industries.
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Given the potential problems, one would expect to find the
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irradiation issue on the national media agenda; but it isn't.
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Meanwhile, as serious questions go unanswered, the government has
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proposed federal regulations that would allow more irradiation.
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SOURCES: UTNE READER, May/June 1987, "Irradiation Business Gears
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Up," by Karin Winegar, pp 29-30; SAN FRANCISCO EXAMINER SPECTRA,
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2/25/88, "Food Irradiation," by Rick Weiss, pp E1-E2, reprinted from
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SCIENCE NEWS; S. F. EXAMINER (AP), 2/19/88, "Ionizing guns recalled
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over radiation fear," p A5.
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