|
|
|
|
.
.
.
.
***Why don't you go to the source of your problem-- a disease-ridden factory-farmed food system instead of allowing the irradiation of lettuce and spinach. Food 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.
While irradiated lettuce and spinach must be labeled in supermarkets, there are
currently no labeling requirements whatsoever for restaurants, schools, hospitals,
or nursing homes serving irradiated produce or other nuked foods such as beef.
This is not fair, I have a right to know what I am eating. Food irradiation is
prohibited on any product labeled as "organic" and it better stay that way. But all food should be labeled opening and honestly. We are only as good as the stuff
we put into our bodies.
We, the citizens of the United States of America are in your hands & wisdoms'.
Thank you for your time. Please advise the public on the progress you for-take.
Sincerely, Tammy Beatty . . .The FDA accomplished their goal...the annihilation of the human race. . . . . ***Hippocrates stated 400 BC- let food be your medicine and medicine be your food.
***If the government required better living conditions for livestock the need for irradiation of meats would not be an issue. More room, cleaner yards, and sunlight decrease infections dramatically. Irradiating vegetables wouldn't be necessary if slurry from livestock were not used as fertilizer with all its cotaminantes from close quarters, etc. without being sun dried first.
I strongly disagree with the short term, unquantified and largely unstudied quick fix remedy of irradiation of any foods.
Sincerely,
Ilse Funk
***Once again the public's health is not top priority but rather what is easiest to administer for the fda. If the farmers and the industry were forced to clean up their
feed lots we would see less contamination and recalls of food. Our customers
want labeling of products such as irradiated food in all areas, stores, restaurants and food services. We have the right to know if our food has been irradiated as well as genetically modified. As a store we will not purchase any commercial lettuce or spinach products. Rather we will purchase Organic only so our customers can be assured they are getting a product that is not irradiated.
*** Do you want YOUR children to eat radiated, nutrient-compromised food? How
about investing in the future of our descendants? Please wake up and THINK!!
Get to the source of the problem- inorganically, chemically-sprayed food. Act
PREVENTIVELY!!! Thank you, Holly Wood
***Please STOP the poisoning of America. Stop food Irradiation NOW! Do it for our children if you can't do it for yourselves.
***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. Please do not allow this process to begin. Instead, I challenge you to deal with the problems inherent in a disease-ridden factory-farmed food system. Regards, Nikkee
***I'd like to ask you to reconsider the use of ionizing radiation on human food until all the possible side effects will be studied. It is well known that ionizing radiation, even for long term exposure to small doses, causes tumors in humans. That's why a wide range of protection measures are in place for personnel that works in radiation environments. Fruits and vegetable may sustain the same biological damage from ionizing radiation as humans do. When we consume irradiated food, mutated food cells could trigger mutation in human body cells.
Using ionizing radiation to kill harmful bacteria on fruit and vegetables is the
wrong type of action: you need to eliminate the cause for the bacteria to get to
the fruits and vegetable. For example, clean up factory-style farming practices
which result in those bacteria to get into the water which is used to rinse
fruit & vegetable. Thank you.
***Re: The methods used on the American consumers market. Please use wisdom and vision in the pursuit of safe-guarding the populations FDA standards. There are alternative, innovative recourses to justify the safety of American produce.
The actions projected to the lettuce & spinach product will seriously affect not
only the immediate health of consumers, but, burden the government & healthcare
system for decades. Also, the factor of public revolt, lawsuits and mass illness
should be a red-flag to the enforcing agencies that issue determinations on our
food supply.
*** Do NOT irradiate our food. It is not the best way to solve the problem and has potentially negative health effects. Prove it causes NO harm first or do something that is in balance with natural organic food production instead. Cancer is on the rise and there is much reason to suspect that is is a result of what Agribusiness is doing to our food.
***please do not allow the unsafe and unhealthy practice of irradiation of our foods.
pass laws that force the industry to put in place safer, cleaner methods of
growth, slaughter (where appropriate) and processing.
thank you, heather arps
*** I am seriously concerned about the FDA's intent to approve irradiation of foods and I wish to urge you to consider alternatives to irradiation. As an individual consumer with a great number of allergies and a parent who died fairly young of a rare form of cancer, I strongly believe that there are aspects of human biology, environmental toxicity, and nutrition that are not currently understood scientifically. It is arrogant disregard for the potential for harm that led to previous episodes such as the DDT scandal. It is a distinct possibility that we will look back on this decision with a similar sense of horror and regret. Please give this further thought and consideration. Thank you.
Why in the greatest country in the world, are we 250 million people guinea pigs for the greatest experiment ever perpetrated! It sounds like something the Nazis were capable of during the darkest days of our history.
God did not put us here to be lackeys of the pharmaceutical industry (?better health through chemistry?) and filling the coffers of the ceos of these companies, and God did not put pure healing foods to be nuked and changed into dangerous carcinogens. What are you thinking? Legislate organic farming and stop the unnecessary death of cows and chickens pumped full of antibiotics and hormones and fed candy bars, bakery scraps, and other animals, causing mad cow disease: pesticides that are hormone disruptors all lower immunity and give rise to unnecessary radiation of our food. Helene B. Leonetti, MD www.helenebleonettimd.com
***We would like to see ionizing radiation banned from use in the United States. The long shelf life does not compensate for the loss of nutritional value in our food. Please protect the health interests of the the American public.
I cannot believe you are allowing irradiation of lettuce and spinach. The problem is agribusiness spraying poop ridden water on spinach and lettuce. Why don't you address the root of the problem.We don't need any more radioactive material remnants around than we already have !!!
***NO IRRADIATION OF FOOD!
The irradiation of spinach and lettuce is a concept that holds ramifications that
have not been fully explored. And where will it all end? Will all of our food
eventually be irradiated? Why can't we take the steps necessary at the farming
and processing stages to make sure our food is free of harmful bacteria, etc?
Irradiation is not the answer to this issue
*** I am very against irradiation of produce or meat.
I know the symbol is on there at the store and I can avoid it there, but not at
restaurants, etc. Please do not do this. There are better more organic ways of handling pathogens.
***Irradiated fruits and vegetables benefit the packer and grocer, not the farmer or consumer. The consumer receives an inferior product that appears fresh, but has depleted vitamins and enzymes.
***This measure is a step in the wrong direction. It will make our food supply less safe, not more. It will allow substandard food to be consumed by the public.
The long term effects will be more resistant pathogens, mutations, destruction of nutrients. Insisting on better standards of production is to the point, not lowering those standards.DC
***To Whom It May Concern,
Keep our government's hands off our food. In no way, shape, or form do I want my
food irradiated. DO NOT IRRADIATE MY FOOD! Leave it alone and let us take care
of ourselves.
I am disgusted with the path the FDA is taking and am tired of the constant
support of corporate greed at the expense of the people, planet and all living
things.
Sincerely,
Reinette Senum
*** Seriously we have been eating food from other countrys for 100 years, why now with one innocent do we need to start radianting our food. I think that we have enough unhealthy process done to our environment that we dont need to poision what has been fine up till now, it was only one time for goodness sakes. The
radiant of our food will only remove what nutrients remain.
***Stop trying to ruin my food. There are alternatives to irradiation that do not damage the food and nutritional qualities and that do not create other more
serious side effects.
Listen to sources other than your revolving door flunkies form the industries
selling the very service/products that are damaging our food supply.
Even you have families, children friends that deserve better.
*** I do not support the decision to use ionizing radiation at an attempt to extend
the shelf life of food. All that we need is fresh, wholesome, organic food that
is grown naturally. If this horrible decision comes to fruition, I and others
of like mind will boycott these products. Stop messing with our food!!! For the
sake of the health of humans and animals as well as the earth itself.
***Dear FDA:
Please do NOT approve irradiation of spinach, lettuce and other food. The
health of Americans is declining at a frightening rate, and will decline even
faster if our food is irradiated.
Irradiating food distorts food molecules. It causes formation of free radicals
and carcinogenic chemicals, and the destruction of vitamins and essential fatty
acids.
Americans have learned to eat more vegetables. Please keep the nutrients in the
vegetables. Do not allow irradiation.
Thank you.
Heidi Dulay, Ed.D., N.C.
*** Shame on you that you would subject people to irradiated foods instead of cleaning up the problem. This is not going to fix it! Wake UP!
*** dear FDA please focus on the health and nurtrition issues surrounding the current production of our food rather than subject it to radiation after the fact to try to correct issues that can be eliminated by more intelligent agricultural procedures. thanks
*** This is so unacceptable, unnecessary and irresponsible.
***I am writing this email to urge you not to allow irradiated foods. My family does go to some restaurants and unless the food is organic, we will not know if the produce is safe and not irradiated.
Good bacteria are absolutely critical for life. This process destroys these
necessary probiotics along with other nutrients.
Support good farming practices and we will have none of these infection control
issues. The blood is on your hands when a problem arise from this careless decision.
*** Please DO NOT allow the irradiation of foods! As a cancer survivor, I have learned that natural enzymes are one of our best protections against cancer. Irradiation kills enzymes and leads to the formation of free radicals, which can set off chain reactions in the body that destroy ntioxidants, tear apart cell membranes, and make the body more susceptible to cancer, diabetes, heart disease, liver damage, muscular breakdown and other serious problems. WE DON'T NEED THIS!!! Irradiation also leads to nutrient loss in foods, including the destruction of vitamins and essential fatty acids, and leads to the formation of carcinogenic chemicals, like benzene and toluene. LIKE, WE NEED THIS????
No more Frankenfoods, please! Europe doesn't allow this kind of irradiation, why
should we?
***I respectfully protest the FDA's premature decision to allow irradiated spinach and lettuce BEFORE putting in place the requirements that schools, hospitals, nursing homes, restaurants, etc inform their clientele. It appears that the FDA is no longer fulfilling its duty and responsibility to protect the people of this country from those who would exploit us for profit. It is particularly scandalous that the most vulnerable members of our society are affected by this ruling, and that the possible long-term harmful effects of irradiation are delegated to the future.
If the FDA is interested in protecting the public from businesses
(who continuously break their trust to provide healthy safe food), the FDA
needs to adopt the precautionary principle.
***This is yet another example of the FDA "not getting it" about how to protect consumers from the
interests of the food and drug industry. We need to stop destroying the soil we
grow our food in, stop using toxic chemicals to keep pests away from these inferior foods (pathogens and pests attack sickly foods and animals), stop allowing the excessive processing of foods which destroys virtually all nutrients in food, stop allowing the very dangerous, Pandora's box of genetically engineering our food supply, and with this process of irradiation or cold-
pasteurization destroying not only the germs but what little nutrition and life force left in the food, not to mention soaking it with toxins and carcinogenic properties. All this does is extend the shelf life of the "food" for sale(which benefits the people selling it) while benefiting the person who consumes it
in no way. They are worse off for the process. We need not fear germs period
whether the are in our food, air, or anywhere else for that matter. Germs are everywhere, especially hospitals with all their superbugs created as a result of all the anti-bacterial warfare played out there.
What we need to do to stay healthy is eat REAL food, grown without chemicals or
man-made adulterations(GMOs), and minimally processed so it is nutrient dense in order to build our immune system. With a healthy immune system you can be exposed to all kinds of germs and never get sick. The "germ theory" never graduated to scientific law. It has been thrown out because it is false. Please stop protecting the very people/corporations/industries you exist to
protect the public from and start doing your job which is supposed to be protecting the American people. Where is your conscience? In a private Swiss bank account? Or are we really to believe that you are not aware of any of this. My heart hopes it is the latter.
***Irradiating vegetable produce is a waste of industrial resources, taxpayer money, and governmental administrative resources. A better use of governmental administrative resources would be to clean up animal feedlots and getting rid of the various toxins that are produced in the factory farms.
Irradiated foods yield an increased array of free radicals in foods which make the
human body more susceptible to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes among others.
Laboratory tests using irradiated food show tissue damage including genetic
mutation, vitamin deficiencies, and other reproductive problems.
Irradiated vegetable produce has been linked to mutant strains of E. coli and
salmonella.
Irradiation aids the formation of toxic industrial solvents such as toluene and
benzene.
Irradiation produces nutrient loss in foods such as essential fatty acids.
Please do not create more health problems with our overburdened and ineffective
health-care system by promoting this type of destructive activity.
Regards, Ed Benner E BENNER DECORATOR
***I am sick and tired of the Government trying to tell me what is healthy for me to eat and then pulling a bunch of garbage like this. NO IRRADIATING MY FOOD!!!!!
***Approving food irradiation is careless and extremely harmful to the public. Your decision disgusts me. Do the right thing and say NO TO FOOD IRRADIATION
***Clean up the feedlots, then none of this irradiation will be necessary. Alexa Kasper RN
*** Irradiating food is not going to clean up our factory farming industries. It assumes that tainted food is the norm and is ok to market. Clean up the farms and
feedlots so that we can have the clean and healthy food that this country has
depended upon in the past. Do your job.!
***Food irradiation has not been tested enough to prove that it is safe and does not destroy the nutritional value of the food.
*** Please consider the serious risks associated with food irradiation as well as some of the safer alternatives to insuring food safety.
Irradiating food makes food more dangerous, not safer. Some major concerns with food irradiation include:
-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, 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 enhancing 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.
Thanks for receiving this comment. Malcolm Seymour The Heritage Institute
www.hol.edu
***I am not fond of adding more chemicals to our foods -- especially when they can be on the side of cancer growths. Please discontinue as we do not know the long range forecast for these chemicals in our bodies.
Sincerely, Irene Bortolussi
***please do not allow this to happen!! We need vitamins and minerals in our food not radiation! Educate people to clean their produce, grow them organically then our world will be a lot healthier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
***I am seriously concerned about the prospect of more food irradiation. Our nutrient source is already of poor quality because we have for many years disregarded the natural balance in the soils. The mass use of extreme pesticides has created new and stronger versions of pests altering the entire food chain. Now adding in radiation will further degrade the nutrient quality of our food, and has the potential to create evenmore resistant "bugs" that our immune systems won't catch up to for generations...I am sad to see this trend. I request that any approval of such processes be required to demand full public disclosure, including the use of such processes for foods in the food industry (canned goods, prepared foods, restaurants, etc.), and I would support financial incentives for avoiding the use of radiation. Extending the shelf life of food while reducing it's nutrient value is worthless. Poor quality in exchange for longevity is inconsistent with my view of a healthy life!
***We urge you to not irradiate our food, or anything else. Our editorial policy is to oppose this wherever possible. The only possible exception is emergency food stores.
*** Please do NOT radiate food items. There are many things about food that make it healthy that would be affected by radiating. Shelf life is not the most important part of food. We make more and more health problems for ourselves by trying to "guarantee" safety.
It is most probably more dangerous to get into your car and drive than to eat wholesome food your entire life. Please do not radiate food!
***
***Why must you ruin our food sources? Everything else is contaminated. I think it would be nice to eat a salad without worrying about carcinogens. I'm sure there's a better answer.
***The irradiation proposed and begun on iceberg lettuce and spinach is harmful in a
number of ways. I object to the diminishing of nutrients produced by irradiation as well as the damage causing effects on antioxidents.
I am adamantly opposed to using this process in our foods.
Ruth Stafford
***Irradiation of food has not been proven to be safe. The public should be able to buy foods that have not been tampered with.
***Please start using some common sense about out food. Do not use ionizing radiation for our food: not for human or animal consumption! Irradiation does not belong! Thank you, please do the right thing for your children!
***Do not irradiate my food
***The problems in the industry that result in contamination of spinach and lettuce need to be cleaned up rather than further compromising the health of people through irradiation of our food.
*** I would like to express my dismay that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the irradiation of lettuce and spinach. Irradiating food makes food more dangerous, not safer. Food irradiation causes 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 caused by food irradiation in laboratory testing include premature death, fatal internal bleeding, cancer, stillbirths and other reproductive problems, mutations and other genetic damage, organ malfunctions, stunted growth and vitamin deficiencies. Irradiation can create mutant forms of dangerous bacteria, like E. coli and Salmonella. It causes nutrient loss in foods, including the destruction of vitamins and essential fatty acids, and the formation of carcinogenic chemicals, like benzene and toluene.
I am upset that there are currently no labeling requirements for restaurants
serving irradiated produce or other items. It is possible that I may consume
irradiated lettuce and spinach in the future without my knowledge or consent,
which I find unacceptable. There are many alternatives to irradiation such as
heat treatment and ozonation, plus stricter regulation of the food industry
would prevent many problems from arising in the first place. Please reconsider
the irradiation of our food. I grow my own vegetables as much as possible, but
not everyone can do this, and it is unfair that some families should only have
access to less healthy food.
***As a physician, citizen, and patient dealing with personal chronic diseases, I am totally opposed to any practice of irradiating food to render them sterile.
This process may rid lettuce and spinach free of bacteria, but transforms the
food so that it becomes the source of more severe disorders in the future. I
highly recommend a farming practice that by its very nature renders our food
free of infectious agents.
***I am vehemently against irradiation of our food. The process reduces the nutritional value and vitamins, creates toxic free radicals, and forms carcinogenic chemicals. Please put you effort in creating laws for greater sanitary and safer growing, storing, and shipping of food.Thank you.
***Please do not use Irradiation on our lettuce and spinach. We need our nation to be as healthy as possible. We are an amazing nation and to stay that way our population needs to be strong and vital. Being the most powerful nation in the world, should also reflect the fact that our people are the strongest in the world. Putting such harmful chemicals in and on our food supply only dimishes the heath and power of our nation. Respectfully yours, Lisa Del Monte
***
As an internist I am in the trenches with the typical inflammatory diseases which I will not enumerate...and from where I stand, roughly 99% of my patients recover and are able to wean from costly pharmaceuticals when they clean up their diet (no red meat, processed food, gmo grain, breast milk products) and eat an organic vegetarian cuisine...I have been in practice for close to 30 years and know of which I speak. I would strongly urge you to reconsider backing radiation of pesticide laden leafy vegetables...I am curious as to why the FDA doesn't back organic farming more and genetically altered edibles less.
*** Dear FDA,
No one knows the long term effect of what consuming irradiated food would do to
the population health . I've got idea why don't we have you an your constituants
eat irradiated food for 5 years in large quantities and measure the health care
outcomes. Lets do that first if you believe in it that much to open it to the
general population. Once again this is another initiative driven by the big farm and food industry!
*** As a nurse I feel irradiation of any food product is a hazard to human health. We need to fix the problems of factory farms instead of these band-aid approaches. Let's treat the problem not just the symptom.
Thank you, Candis Haley
***Just how is it you think you can bombard produce with radiation and not cause it to have reduced nutritional value? We want real unadulterated food, not food that satisfies the economic interests of greedy people. Every time we interfere with the natural scheme we invariably shoot ourselves in the foot. When will you ever learn that the plan put in place by the maker is far superior to the plan greedy humans keep wanting to implement on the rest of us. Perry Ambrose Nutritionist Searcy, AR
***PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE - DO NOT IRRADIATE OUR FOOD. THERE ARE OTHER ALTERNATIVES. DO NOT TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT. READ THE ARTICLE FROM THE ORGANIC CONSUMERS ASSOCIATION. YOU MIGHT
LEARN SOMETHING!!!
***Dear FDA, I am very concerned with the decision to irradiate green leafy vegetables to eliminate e.coli bacteria and other forms of bacteria in the food supply. For scores of years we have had food safety maintained by close inspection by FDA and other inspectors who seem to have done a wonderful job with keeping our food supply free of disease producing agents.
I have read portions of the rule to be enforced and I find the discussion of effects of radiation to be outdated and some of the study examples inconclusive and others prove that radiation of this type causes damage to important nutrients and in effect "cooks" the food. I suggest that the labeling of such a food as fresh is false and misleading and should be treated this way in labeling.
It now seems that there is not enough oversite to maintain that level of safety. One wonders about the education of the workforce in the food industry and the pressures from corporate food producers to get an easy fix to a complex problem.
I rely on products that are designated organic and recommend them to my clients. I do this because the ethos of organic producers is to take more care of the land and the quality of the food products that they produce. If the US goes to this kind of solution to a basic problem of cleanliness and good farming practices then I will be looking for alternatives from European sources who are more vigilant about their food production and seem to have more integrity and a higher moral scale when it comes to harming their fellow man.
I don't think my concerns are misguided when I see the reports of conditions that the undocumented workers at the kosher meat processing plant in the Midwest worked under. When there is such blatant disregard for basic humanity and brutal misconduct how can you expect a worker to adhere to regulations that the boss believes slow down production.
I don't think radiation will make a difference because food will be subjected to mishandling after radiation anyway. The answer is paying attention to the workplace, education and morale of the workers and empowering them to come forward when they see a violation without fear of retribution. Then the food system will be a cleaner and safer environment.Yours Truly, M Basdavanos
***As a nurse, I strongly suggest you review the science before you choose to irradiate our food supply. Many people eat lettuce and spinach to stay healthy. Irradiation of the food supply will not decrease the likelihood of disease, it's just a short cut. Good growing practices will provide safety.
***Irradiating food has been associated with hazards to the eater of the foods.
Please have further investigation (with no conflicts of interest) into these hazards before approving their use on food. And please ensure any irradiated foods are labeled as such. thank you, Lee Darrah M.D.
***Consumer Comments on Food Irradiation
bravenet.com
