Preserving food by exposing it radiation will make it less nutritious and cause chemical additives to become more toxic, said co-founders of a consumer group, who spoke at SF State Tuesday.
If two bills now before Congress and a proposed Food and Drug Ad ministration rule are approved this summer, gamma ray bombardment of the nation's fruits, vegetables and spices could begin in September, said Jeff Reinhart, co-founder of the San Francisco-based Coalition to Stop Food irradiation.
Reinhart, a biochemist and molecular biologist, said when food is radiated, "key nutrients are either depleted or destroyed, and food chemical additives will be converted to even more toxic forms.
"We will be adding to the total body load of toxic chemicals by eating irradiated food," he said.
Irradiation of poultry, fish and much of the rest of the food supply could follow within two years, Rein hart told 15 people in Old Science Building 101.
However, the proposed FDA rule states, "At the level established in this proposal (100 kilorads or less), irradiation does not present a safety or health risk.
"According to the Feb. 27 Bay Guardian, "a single dose of about 300 rads would within two weeks prove fatal to one of every two people exposed to it.
A kilorad is equal to 1,000 rads.
According to an FDA pamphlet, "When food is irradiated, most of the radiation passes through the food without being absorbed.
How ever, some of the rays do not pass through.
This absorbed energy slows maturation (spoilage) and kills insects.
"Consumers would have no way of knowing which products had been treated with radiation because there would be no labeling requirements for retailers.
Lola Holland of the San Francisco FDA office would not comment on the proposed rule.
According to the pamphlet, "food irradiation is viewed by economic experts as a means of increasing food supplies. (?) expanding exports of American agricultural products. (and) help save some of the estimated 25 to 30 percent of the world's food supply that is lost each year because of pests and spoilage.
"But Reinhart said the majority of this food loss is due to lack of distribution. The process would be used mainly by large agribusinesses after a harvest" said Reinhart.
The food would be taken to a processing plant where it would be passed underneath Cobalt-60 or Cesium-137, both of which are radioactive substances that produce gamma rays.
The shelf life of foods could be greatly extended by irradiation, according to the FDA pamphlet.
The pamphlet also said chemical changes occur in irradiated food, but they are "inconsequential compared to changes that occur normally in storage or in cooking.
"Reinhart said the food does not become radioactive, but its molecules are altered and "the food is injured." He compared it to a burned section of human skin, which becomes open to infection.
"The food gets weepy or oozy, it's much more prone to subsequent contamination," he said.
Dennis Mosgofian, a co-founder of the coalition, said widespread commercial use of the process would "turn the chief inability of the nuclear industry (radioactive waste) into an asset--they would market it, franchise it.
"Reinhart said the FDA is a "mild proponent" of irradiation while "the Department of Energy is a strong proponent.
The commercial irradiators see a $1 billion a year industry by 1990.
""It's not a fully launched industry," Mosgofian said.
"It depends on public money, primarily from the DOE," he said.
"We think there will be an effort to pass (the two irradiation bills now before Congress) before an FDA ruling (possibly in August),"said Mosgofian.
He said the bills would "fundamentally gut the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act's Food Additives Amendment of 1958, which now protects consumers from food additives food irradiation which can adulterate food and make it dangerous to eat.
"The coalition was formed to start a grassroots campaign to inform the public of the government's food irradiation plans, which haven't received much publicity, Reinhart said.
The coalition wants irradiated food to be labeled as such.
"This is the Achilles heel of the nuclear movement," Mosgofian said."Food irradiation connects all anti-nuke issues in people's minds."
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