Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 25, 1994 TAG: 9402250147
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The announcement brought an immediate outcry from opponents.
Espy told a House Appropriations subcommittee that the department soon will ask the Food and Drug Administration to review the safety of treating beef, pork, veal and other red meats with low-level doses of radiation.
There is "no doubt" that irradiation can eliminate bacteria such as the rare strain of E. coli that killed three children in the Pacific Northwest last year. The outbreak, that also sickened hundreds, was traced to undercooked hamburgers at fast-food restaurants.
But more recently, the public has been bombarded with stories about government radiation experiments conducted on the public since World War II on humans. Opponents of food irradiation played up the connection.
"While irradiation does kill bacteria, it involves the use of inherently dangerous materials and poses its own risks to workers, the environment and consumers," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the private Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The FDA approved irradiation of poultry in 1990, and already has permitted its use on spices, grains, fruits and vegetables and pork.
The World Health Organization and the American Medical Association have also endorsed irradiation.
But the food industry has made little use of irradiation, citing consumer resistance. "Companies cannot afford to market products that will not be purchased by consumers," said a statement by the poultry industry's National Broiler Council.
The food does not become radioactive as a result of the treatment. But FDA scientists do acknowledge that slight but harmless changes occur in the food chemistry, just as cooking causes changes.
The FDA review would take at least a year.
by CNB