THE ONE-MINUTE ACTIVIST
This month we ask our Senators to help stop the FDA expanding the treatment of food with irradiation.
October 2008
Senator Edward Kennedy
317 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510Senator John Kerry
304 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510Dear Senator,
In response to the FDA's recent approval of irradiation for fresh spinach and lettuce, I am writing to ask you to step in and protect consumers.
As someone who is conscientious about the food I eat, I do not want to purchase greens that have been treated with irradiation.I want Congress to review and repeal this FDA approval.
In the meantime, please ensure that irradiated greens are properly labeled so that concerned consumers like me can avoid them.
While the FDA claims these products will be labeled, they are also currently evaluating comments to a proposed regulation which it published in April 2007 that would allow euphemisms such as “cold pasteurization” or “electronic pasteurization” to be used as substitutes on the labels of irradiated foods.I am also urging Congress to stop the approval process for the irradiation of any other foods being considered by FDA.
I strongly believe that the irradiation approval for spinach and iceberg lettuce was premature. I do not think that FDA conducted enough research into the nutritional depletion caused by irradiation, not to mention any problems with texture, color, and odor that might result from being treated with the equivalent of tens of millions of chest X-rays.There are significant health concerns with irradiation. When certain foods are irradiated, new chemical compounds are formed that might be carcinogenic -- something that FDA officials have confirmed in congressional testimony.
Instead of adopting regulations that would ensure the safety of our food supply, the FDA is promoting technological gimmicks that might prove to be more harmful than the problems they are intended to fix.
Thanks to the Food and Water Watch
