even doh im guilty, u make a very good point.

You, educated Mexican are out of line for calling people dummys. People are entitled to vote for whoeer they want. If you are so educated, then there’s no need to be crass.

“There would be no need for the irradiation if the USDA and Government stopped allowing the use of RAW SEWAGE as fertilizer for conventional produce. The USDA and FDA CREATED have CREATED the Ecoli and Salmonella problems themselves and are trying to fix it by “sterilizing” the food industry, which will have massive health implications. If you think the health of America is bad NOW, it would get incredibly worse if this is done.

Of course, the FDA says the irradiated food isn’t altered by the radiation. This statement is an insult to the intelligence of anyone with a pulse. Why? Because if the radiation doesn’t alter anything, then how can it kill E.Coli and Salmonella?

The whole point of the radiation is to kill living organisms. And it works by causing fatal damage to the tissues and DNA of those microorganisms. So guess what it does to the plants? Since RADIATION isn’t SELECTIVE, it also irradiates the plant fibers and tissues, causing DNA damage and the destruction of enzymes and phytochemicals.

Amazingly, the FDA claims this does not count as “altering” the food because these changes aren’t “visible”.

If it weren’t such a nutritional atrocity, it would be downright hilarious. DNA changes are not visible to the human eye, but they can result in serious health consequences. Just ask anyone born with two Y chromosomes.

Eat up, guinea pigs!

Of course, the radiation pushers will claim that nobody really knows whether irradiating the food kills just 1% of the phytochemicals or 99% (or something in between). And they don’t know what the long-term effect is on human health, either. This is exactly my point: The irradiation of fresh produce is a dangerous experiment, and we’ve all been involuntarily recruited as guinea pigs.

I will be curious to see a serious scientific inquiry into the nutritional damage caused to fresh produce by irradiation. I also find it simply astonishing that this decision by the FDA has been made in the absence of such scientific studies. Much like it does with the pharmaceutical industry, the FDA prefers to poison the people first, and then figure out later just how much damage might have been caused.

I say when you’re dealing with the food supply, you should err on the side of caution. We are talking about the health of the nation here. This is not a small matter. It should be treated with extreme caution, skepticism and scientific scrutiny. Instead, it is being addressed with a gung-ho attitude framed in mind games and enforced ignorance.

In other words, rather than figuring out whether food irradiation is actually safe, the FDA would rather simply pretend it is.

Welcome to Make Believe Land, where all your food is now safe and nutritious, courtesy of the FDA!”

By Julie Schmit, USA TODAY

The Food and Drug Administration has approved use of irradiation on spinach and lettuce to kill dangerous bacteria, but companies may have a tough time selling the idea to consumers.

The FDA’s decision, effective today, adds iceberg lettuce and spinach to the short but growing list of foods approved for irradiation, including meat, poultry and some shellfish.

While a handful of companies have succeeded in selling irradiated ground beef since it hit the market in 2000, the idea has largely flopped. “Mom wouldn’t buy it,” says Craig Wilson, food-safety chief for Costco.

Like pasteurization of milk and pressure cooking of canned foods, treating food with ionizing radiation can kill bacteria such as E. coli. NASA gives irradiated food to astronauts, and the technology, which kills bacteria by altering its DNA, was first used in the U.S. in 1964 to extend the shelf life of white potatoes.

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Based on available data, the FDA said Thursday that irradiation done correctly and at approved levels would reduce or eliminate bacteria without altering the nutritional value of the greens or harming consumers.

Opponents say more testing is needed and that the FDA could better enhance food safety by policing foodmakers more. The consumer group Food & Water Watch called irradiation an “impractical, ineffective and very expensive gimmick” that may ruin flavor, texture and nutritional value.

The FDA’s ruling resulted from a petition filed in 2000 by a food-manufacturing association asking the FDA to approve irradiation for a broad array of foods. In 2007, the petition was amended so that the leafy greens could be ruled on first.

The year before, bagged spinach was associated with an E. coli outbreak that killed five people, sickened more than 200, and pummeled bagged salad sales. The outbreak underscored the inherent risk of eating raw food that’s grown outside, where animals can spread bacteria.

The steady pace of food-safety scares since then — and growing consumer awareness of food-safety risks — will improve consumer acceptance of irradiated greens, says Doug Powell of the International Food Safety Network at Kansas State University.

“There’s been enough outbreaks … that the consumer demand should be there,” he says.

Processors of leafy greens have long considered irradiation promising, but they’ve struggled to find the right dose that kills bacteria while preserving freshness.

“Historically, the fragility of the (leafy greens) has been a quality issue,” Dole spokesman Bill Goldfield says. Based on Dole’s testing, “It looks to be very promising.”

The FDA will require irradiated produce to be labeled.