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From: avi@pegasus.UUCP (Avi E. Gross)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: irradiated food - what exactly are people worrying about?
Message-ID: <984@pegasus.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 23-Feb-84 19:38:36 EST
Article-I.D.: pegasus.984
Posted: Thu Feb 23 19:38:36 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 24-Feb-84 02:59:48 EST
References: <1186@mhuxv.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems, Lincroft NJ
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I am hearing all kinds of comments about RADIOACTIVITY in the irradiated
food. I would be willing to bet that there is more exposure to radiactivity
from smoking a cigarette (known fact) than from eating the typical
irradiated food. The radiation they are exposed to is absorbed by them, but
does not generate a long-lasting radiation response.

The problems that could arise come from another level. The radiation is
expected to kill all organisms that happen to be alive in the food.
Typically, this happens because critical structures in the organisms are
damaged by the radiation -- such as nucleic acid chains and proteins. At
lower levels, some of the organisms will just be kept from reproducing, and
will therefore just die after a while. As the rads are increased, you get a
dead bacterium. Many viruses would not be affected while in a dormant phase.

The problem is that the radiation can create broken chemical bonds that
result in new (potentially harmful) chemicals in the food. Depending on the
food and radiation types involved, you can get free-radical formation and
recombination into compounds that are potentially carcinogenic. These would
be formed in very low levels, and will not cause much damage in a dead
entity that does not have an active metabolism. However, it can potentially
cause us harm if we consume it. EVERYTHING seems to cause cancer in high
enough dozes. Canadian rats have been proven to always get cancer (if they
don't die first) if they consume twenty times their body weight on a daily
basis!!!!

To sum up, I am not convinced that there is a significant amount of
potential damage in irradiated food. Even if there was, what is the risk
compared to eating food that is prepared in other ways, such as "smoking",
"salting", chemical preservatives, "overcooking followed by canning", or
being left in the refrigerator for weeks? I know that smoke leaves
carcinogens, salt causes other problems, cooking can make you lose vitamins,
and refrigerators only keep food for so long. I would rather eat irradiated
food, than get botulism, among other cute illnesses. Irradiated food is
probably at least as safe as sacharin and aspartame. :-) It is definitely
safer than tobacco, and we are stupid enough to subsidize people who farm
and sell that (ob)noxious substance.
-- 
-=> Avi E. Gross @ AT&T Information Systems Laboratories (201) 576-6241
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