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***Chemical by-products called "unique radiolytic products" (URPs) are created in foods by irradiation. Some scientific studies carried out on URPs link serious health risks with the consumption of irradiated foods. # Irradiated foods are less nutritious than fresh foods because radiation damages some vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids. Normal cooking methods and storage of foods will also cause nutritional losses, but irradiation plus cooking and storage decreases the nutritional value even more. Many vitamins are obtained from fresh fruits and vegetables. # Irradiation has been hailed as an alternative to pesticides. However, at best irradiation might replace some post-harvest uses since pesticides will still be used in the field. Studies have not been done to determine the consequences of irradiating the pesticide residues commonly found in foods. # Irradiation will not replace many additives commonly used in processed foods. In fact, some additives need to be used in combination with irradiation to control undesirable side-effects. # Irradiation of poultry is being proposed as a means for preventing salmonella food poisoning. In fact, less than 20% of salmonella poisoning cases can be traced back to poultry. A more effective solution is education about proper storage, handling and cooking of all foods which may carry the salmonella bacteria. # Irradiation can actually cause food poisoning since treated foods may be contaminated but appear fresh. Microorganisms which normally cause meat to look or smell spoiled may be killed by irradiation, yet hardier bacteria, such as the one causing botulism food poisoning, may survive. Some organisms may even mutate when irradiated, forming new, more radiation-resistant strains. # Aflatoxin is a toxic and carcinogenic (cancer-causing) substance produced by a bacteria which inhabits damp grains, beans and nuts. Aflatoxin poisoning is a major cause of death in Asia and Africa. Irradiation of this bacteria actually causes it to produce more aflatoxin. Building dry storage facilities is a more practical way to control this organism. # Increased use of food irradiation will increase occupational and environmental hazards. The level of gamma radiation inside an operating irradiation facility is anywhere from ten to hundreds of times the level that would kill a human in a single short exposure. The gamma source for irradiation must be replaced regularly, so the risk of transportation accidents increases with time. Spent gamma sources also become radioactive waste, and there is still no acceptable method of long-term radioactive waste management.
***Irradiating lettuce and spinach is hazardous to our health. Please pass legislation to clean up the factory farm industry instead of further contaminating our food.
***To whom it may concern, There is plenty of evidence to suggest that Irradiating food makes food more dangerous, not safer for human consumption. With the increase of environmental stressors, air, water and food additives, the human body is continually challenged to thrive. The last thing we need is a process to further denigrate the quality and nutrition of the produce available.The formation of free radicals produced with irradiation may set off a chain reaction in the body that destroys important antioxidants. This would make us more susceptible to the prominent diseases of the day ie, cancer, heart disease, liver damage and other serious problems. There have been enough serious problems shown in lab testing to suggest we choose an alternative method to assure the safety of our food! Please do your job and protect the public from this further attach on our diminishing quality of health. Sincerely, Mary E Rossman, NP,GKCC, RVT
***Please clean up industrialized feed lots rather than irradiating produce. Those feedlots feces is what is causing the vegetables contamination especially after having them so close together.

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.NOW Eat Your Irradiated Vegetables!!

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***Irradiating our food is not an acceptable way to fix a problem. The cost to the nutrients in our food chain is too high for the benefits derived. Reverse your decision to nuke lettuce and spinach. Instead, implement strategies to keep food clean from the source. I am a farmer, so I know it can be done.
***Irradiation of food is a very bad idea: it would create free radicals which are disease causing agents and decrease nutritional value.
*** Please help those of us who care enough about their health to no eat irradiated items. This process is only a treatment of the symptom not a cure for any of the real problems... Like factory farms with less than even moderate conditions where pollution and chemicals can find their way in to the food systems. Does it not make sense to try and fix those problems instead of only create new ones to deal with later...
***Please stop Irradiating Lettuce and Spinach--Keep our food pure and healthy!
***20 years from now, when the horrible side effects of irradiating our food comes back to haunt ourselves and our children, we will be SO SORRY we didn't do things the RIGHT WAY. Take the harder road to do it right, instead of adding to the chemicals and destruction added to our foods and slowly poisoning us and our kids. Very Very sad. I guess money talks.
*** I object to any radiation of the food that I am eating. I feel strongly that the producers and distributors of our food need to have strict health and cleanliness guidelines to prevent disease - not "killing" our food to prevent the pathogens. What is labeled as "safe" radiating today will be tomorrow "oops....we made a mistake...this is unsafe levels after all" No nuking or radiation of our foods please
***Clean up industrialized feedlots instead of irradiating our food sources!!! We need to maintain the most natural process of food production to ensure the nutritional values and the health of the food in general. PLEASE do the RIGHT thing.
***I'm against this process. Use our taxpayer monies to force the industries that process the food to lean up there plants.
***Irradiating food is a really, really bad idea. Instead of trying to clean-up the tainted product why not devote your energies towards industrial farming and their violations of your lax standards.
***The FDA is doing a very poor job of monitoring food safety and I believe people would be better served by simply buying local produce or growing their own food. The use of chemicals and chemical processes to kill bacteria caused by poor farming and food preparation processes is a weak and dangerous effort to make food grown by conventional agricultural methods "safer" to eat. People can easily poison themselves without your help. Most of us want to eat wholesome, nutritious, fresh, and natural food without ingesting lot of chemicals or radiation. Get your act together and start doing the job you were hired to do. Your agency is becoming irrelevant and downright dangerous and must take appropriate steps to move into the 21st century or get out of the biz.
*** The FDA has approved the irradiation of lettuce and spinach. The American people deserve to be able to buy these items without any further processing. It's hard enough to stay healthy without the government allowing more and more vitamins and minerals to be destroyed by over processing, including irradiation. A simple washing of lettuce and spinach in a solution of vegitable wash is enough to wash off any pathogens that would cause ill health. Also, I believe the FDA should go after the cause of pathogen contaminated foods that are coming from big agri business and confined animal feeding operations who waste is contaminating the very underground water supply that is pulled up by their neighbors to water their crops. This is what is causing these contamination problems. Come on people!!!! So far I have been able to maintain my health without any prescription medications because I have painstakingly searched out healthy foods direct from our local organic farmers. The FDA is making it harder and harder to find healthy foods for the common good of Americans.
***I am APPALLED that your "solution" to pathogens on vegetables such as lettuce and spinach is irradiation! CLEAN UP THE FACTORY FARMS THAT SUPPLY THESE FOODS!!!
***Stop irradiating our food!!!
***Irradiation of our foods is simply not the answer. Clean up the source of contamination or do not allow contaminated food to enter our markets...........it is that simple. The health risks of eating irradiated foods are known and unknown. We will not buy these products. Please do your job, FDA, and protect the American people. Thank you. R.J. Sharrott
***Please do not irradiate our produce!!! Keep our food as God intended, pure and natural.Thank you.
*** Please stop allowing dangerous irradiation. Attempting to ensure food safety with a method proven to be unsafe is insane.
***Food irradiation is a very controversial issue that requires further thought and consideration. This practice of bombarding food with high levels of x-rays (ionizing radiation) in order to destroy disease causing pathogens is demoralizing the desire to eat healthy. Unfortunately, in the process of irradiation, other hazards arise, like the creation of toxic free radicals, vitamin and nutrient loss, and the formation of carcinogenic chemicals. We should be cleaning up our factory farms rather than nuking our vegetables. This will create further problems that we really do not need. And is the FDA, our own government who is implementing such practice!!! This is so unhealthy and how is even consider to ruin our precious health. This is truly unconscionable! Lucero Mejia
***I do not want my lettuce and spinach irradiated. I eat mostly live fruits and vegetables for the health properties. I think it is appalling that our government would allow irradiating and pasteurizing our raw foods to get around cleaning up the filthy factory farm practices. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Sincerely, Suzanne Cook
***It is ridiculous that the FDA thinks that irradiating food is the answer to the problem of pathogens. The problem is with conventional farming methods. If the country would convert to all-organic farming practices, PATHOGENS AND RECALLS WOULDN'T HAPPEN! Get a clue. Killing off the nutrients in food that already has so few nutrients because of stripped soil and carelessness in animal husbandry is not the solution, it will only make issues of public safety worse, and make everyone more sick in general.
***It is appalling to me that the FDA and USDA are passing 'laws' like the irradiation of food without discussion with the people whom it will effect. It is also appalling that these organizations would rather continue faulty, unclean, disease-ridden farming and husbandry practices, rather than CLEAN UP THEIR ACTS! Covering up unhealthy farming practices with another unhealthy practice like irradiation of our food, and animal feed, will only serve to cause more human disease and create more pollution in our environment through the continued use of pesticides, fungicides, artificial fertilizers, etc., and through the decreased nutritional value of our foods after irradiation. In truth, the number of people affected by unhealthy bacteria in food is extremely low compared to the number of people dying from, or severely debilitated by medical drugs! Yet there are no laws limiting drugs to people after FDA approval. It seems there is a 'grander plan'' here: it it to keep our population unhealthy so that drug companies and Agrobusiness like Monsanto's Corp can flourish?! It does not seem to anyone that the objective is to keep our food supply clean! Working instead to encourage sustainable, biodynamic farming practices would go a long way to keep our human and animal populations healthier.
***Irradiation is bad science and potentially harmful to our health-please stop this legislation-
***Dear FDA, I wish to register my most strenuous opposition to your proposed rule to irradiate lettuce and spinach. As a professional toxicologist who has studied low-level environmental pesticide contamination for more than 20 years I am well aware of 'safety' precautions that ignore low-level immune, endocrine and neurological consequences as well as developmental problems in fetuses exposed to high-energy molecules like free radicals that are generated by pesticide formulations. Irradiation generates similar high-energy molecules that can have all kinds of broad-spectrum effects that are unpredictable. Thus Irradiating food makes food more dangerous, not safer. The formation of free radicals can set off chain reactions in the body that destroy antioxidants, tear apart cell membranes, and make the body more susceptible to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, liver damage, muscular breakdown and other serious problems. It has been demonstrated that there are serious health problems in laboratory testing including premature death, fatal internal bleeding, cancer, stillbirths and other reproductive problems, mutations and other genetic damage, organ malfunctions, stunted growth and vitamin deficiencies. These are in addition to the subtle effects on neurological, endocrine and immune function especially if there have been fetal exposures. There is also the danger of creating mutant forms of dangerous bacteria, like E. coli and Salmonella as well as nutrient loss in foods, including the destruction of vitamins and essential fatty acids. Finally, the rule is inconsistent in that irradiated lettuce and spinach must be labeled in supermarkets, but there are currently no labeling requirements for restaurants serving irradiated produce or other items. Patrons and clients may consume irradiated lettuce and spinach in the future without their knowledge, nor consent.

***I am opposed to the use of ionizing radiation of Human food. Instead processes for ensuring the safe processing and handling of food should be enforced. Ebun Adelona
***Irradiating food is a bad idea. Not only does it diminish the vitamin and mineral content of the food and destroy essential fatty acids, there is risk that it may increase free radical production in the body. The doos safety concerns as of late have more to do with having less food inspectors than anything else. Promoting locally grown produce from small family farms is the best way to ensure food safety, not killing our food. We are made of what we eat. Irradiating food essentially "kills" it and the vital compounds in. If we do this, we need to think about what that is doing to us.
***The safety of irradiated foods is still not at all clear. It should not be used as a substitute for hygiene and inspections. Please mandate that it always be labeled as such, so that the consumer can make the choice, including in restaurants, etc.Thank you.
***Please clean the fields with natural methods, rather than kill the life in the foods we eat. You are destroying our health in the name of the dollar. STOP IT.
*** Once again the real problem is being ignored in favor of the potential for monetary gains attained from exacerbating the decline of health of the American people. Your "solution for the problem" (radiating more or less safe and nutritious food items that may contain disease pathogens due to the deplorable conditions exercised in "modern agriculture") is quite likely to cause more harmful and deadly disease conditions than it prevents. I deplore you to reconsider.
***We are already bombarded with toxins in our air, water and food as it is, lets not add to our problems. Surely there are other ways of preventing disease that are less radical than that. Extension of shelf life, isn't a good thing. Especially if it takes away from nutrition,. You might as well do away with the product entirely, what is the point of eating something if there is no nutritional value to it.
***Dear Sir or Madam: Technology provides many great uses but I am concerned about the use of ionizing radiation on food. Would it not be better to deal with the problems inherent in a disease-ridden factory-farmed food system instead of turning using ionizing radiation on foods such as lettuce and spinach. Is this really the best way to protect people from disease? Some hazards arise in the process of irradiation the creation of toxic free radicals, vitamin and nutrient loss, and the formation of carcinogenic chemicals, to mention a few. Has enough testing been performed on ionizing food and the possible dangers of eating such food. Since radiated food has been allowed, I strongly urge the FDA to make labeling of irradiated a requirement for supermarkets, restaurants, schools, hospitals, or nursing homes serving irradiated produce or other radiated foods such as beef. I also support prohibiting any product that has been subjected to radiation from being labeled as "organic." Thank you for your time and consideration.
***1) Please find safe alternatives to irradiation such as using natural essential oils: Plant oils kill pathogens. In laboratory experiments, the essential oils carvacrol (wild oregano) and thymol (thyme), available from common herbal plants, in quantities as low as 1 gram in one-half-liter slurries of cattle feces and urine completed blocked formations of foul-smelling volatile fatty acids. E. coli and other potentially harmful bacteria were also reduced in the manure. Scientists are now taking their research to manure in the feedlot to field test against E. coli O157:H7 and other pathogens. From the USDA Agricultural Research Service 2) Protection against meat contamination: On January 10, 2002 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the use of activated lactoferrin on fresh beef. Activated lactoferrin is an all-natural protein found in milk and dairy products. It has been shown to protect fresh beef against E. coli O157:H7 and more than 30 different types of pathogenic bacteria, including Salmonella and Campylobacter. The technology is unique in that it prevents pathogenic bacteria from attaching to meat surfaces, in addition to preventing growth. 3) Improving farming practices At a government-sponsored conference on food safety, federal officials said improving farming practices was the most promising way to prevent foodborne illnesses. It is "one of the areas that gets the least amount of attention and one that is the most important to improving food safety," said Stephen Sundlof, director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine. Research is under way on vaccines that would prevent cattle from carrying the bacteria, on feed additives that would eliminate it from the animals, and new methods of composting manure so it can be used as fertilizer without contaminating crops or ground water. Irradiating food makes food more dangerous, not safer. Some major concerns with food irradiation include: 4) Ozone does not have the problem of ever-increasing costs associated with disposing of chlorine laden post-processing wastewater. Because ozone converts back into oxygen during the act of killing microorganisms, it produces far less polluted wastewater for the processor to deal with. 5) Change in cattle diets Scientists discover that simple change in cattle diets before slaughter effectively eliminates E. coli O157:H7. Research reported in the Sept. 11 issue of the journal Science indicates that grain-based cattle diets promote the growth of E. coli that can survive the acidity of the human stomach and cause intestinal illness. E. coli contamination is responsible for more than 20,000 infections and 200 deaths each year in the United States." Most bacteria are killed by the acid of stomach juice, but E. coli from grain-fed cattle are resistant to strong acids," explains James B. Russell, a USDA microbiologist and faculty member of the Cornell Section of Microbiology. When beef carcasses are accidentally contaminated by feces at slaughter, the pathogens can enter the human food supply. E. coli O157:H7 can be killed by cooking or irradiation, but the bacterium continues to pose a food-safety risk. "In the meantime, now that we know where the acid-resistant E. coli are coming from, we can control them with a relatively inexpensive change in diet," Russell says. "This strategy has the potential to control the production of other acid-resistant bacteria, including virulent strains of E. coli that have not yet evolved." By feeding hay to cattle for about five days before slaughter, the number of acid-resistant E. coli can be dramatically reduced. 6) Gamma rays and electron-beams are not the only things that can kill disease-causing organisms in food: chlorine, steam, pressure, laser light and ozone. Ozone is an unstable. three-atom form of oxygen. When ozone comes unstuck, it forms one two-atom oxygen molecule and one lone oxygen atom. This atom is highly reactive, and it can burst the cell wall of a bacterium rapidly. For this reason, it is a better disinfectant than chlorine, a tried-and-true microbe killer that's used throughout the food industry. The Food and Drug Administration has put ozone in the "generally recognized as safe" category, allowing it to skip regulatory hurdles that would otherwise keep it out of the food industry. Treatment with ozone-bearing water kills upwards of 90 percent of pathogens on surfaces.Ozone can be retrofitted almost immediately into a plant that uses water in its processing. Below are health risks associated with irradiation. Please review these carefully as they will affect everyone's health. -The formation of free radicals, which can set off chain reactions in the body that destroy antioxidants, tear apart cell membranes, and make the body more susceptible to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, liver damage, muscular breakdown and other serious problems. -Serious health problems in laboratory testing, including premature death, fatal internal bleeding, cancer, stillbirths and other reproductive problems, mutations and other genetic damage, organ malfunctions, stunted growth and vitamin deficiencies. -The creation of mutant forms of dangerous bacteria, like E. coli and Salmonella -Nutrient loss in foods, including the destruction of vitamins and essential fatty acids. -The formation of carcinogenic chemicals, like benzene and toluene. -While irradiated lettuce and spinach must be labeled in supermarkets, there are currently no labeling requirements for restaurants serving irradiated produce or other items. Patrons and clients may consume irradiated lettuce and spinach in the future without their knowledge, nor consent. For more information, please refer to the Organic Consumer's Association website: http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/alternatives.cfm THANK YOU!
***Do we not have enough nutrient loss already in our fruits and veggies thru the years of insecticides, pesticides, acid rain, water pollutants, etc... DO NOT IRRADIACATE OUR FOODS !!!
***Stop the Irradiation in the Production, Processing and Handling of Food - another threat to our health and the increase in CANCER!!!
*** Irradiation in doses and intensities capable of killing organisms can also alter the organic molecules in the food itself. This, in effect, adds chemical pollutants to the food. I am opposed to this alteration of the food supply.
***Please do not let this pass. We need our food to survive. Keep the food healthy. Please
*** Please don't make me feed my family irradiated food! The slamonella and e. coli outbreaks are due to horrid conditions on huge factory farms. Animals should not be fed slaughter house waste! They should not be forced into severely overcrowded feedlots and mega farms! Careful and sanitary food and processing practices, in a well-monitored farm and food processing industry will do far more to curb the rising number of diseases and the deterioration of our American food industry!
*** Please do not let this continue. Irradiating our food is wrong. Please let us have our food as God intended, pure and natural. Thanks very much
*** Please keep our food clean! We don't want our lettuce and vegetable irradiated. Irradiation is the controversial practice of bombarding food with high levels of x-rays (ionizing radiation) in order to destroy disease causing pathogens. Unfortunately, in the process of irradiation, other hazards arise, like the creation of toxic free radicals, vitamin and nutrient loss, and the formation of carcinogenic chemicals. As a consumer, I urge you to make the FDA regulate waste that is used to fertilize the fields of corporate agribusiness. Consumers should be given a choice in the products that they choose. Many are now choosing organic. There needs to be some regulation on foods used in restaurants, schools, grocery stores, etc. so that people are aware that the foods that they eat are not healthy and have been irradiated. We do not need another form of control over our choices. We have enough of a health crisis in this country without being tricked into eating foods that have been altered, either by genetic engineering, or irradiation. Tell the FDA to get after the violators who contaminated the foods in the first place. Tell the FDA to do their job to protect the American people by guaranteeing that if a food is labeled "organic" it is the truth.
***Irradiation is a potentially harmful and dangerous policy to enact, primarily for children, but also for senior citizens. We have no real, long-term data to identify what dangers it poses. Please do not do this to us. Let's get to bottom of dirty processing plants and unhealthful growing and shipping practices.
*** Stop lying to the people of America. To many know the truth. Just ask Monsanto...........You will not get away with this from the new Obama Administration. We are all watching..........
***Please clean up the feedlots to reduce contamination of lettuce and spinach.
***Consumer Comments on Food Irradiation

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