I think it sucks! Why can't they lable it so that we can make the decision to consume or not to consume. In the UK there were mass protests and rejuction but here we just sit on our a#s and swallow. This is a serious issue that needs more attention.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770403054

Safer than eating fecal coliform.

Irradiated food is fine. Would you make the choice not to drink non-homoganized milk?

Irradiated food is fine. Much safer than heat treated and probably more nutritious. Radiation works like this: The radiation source is placed in proximity to the food. The radiation in the source sterilizes the bad stuff. So long as no material from the radiation source (particulate matter, etc..) gets on the food, it is fine.

Radiation exposure does not cause the food to be "radioactive." You need a radiation source of beta or gamma radiation to actually stay on the material for it become "radioactive". It is a common hollywood misconception that objects and/or people can become radioactive by exposure alone and grow three eyes and have wierd looking children. Even persons exposed to high doses of radiation showed no higher rates of genetic damage passed onto their offspring than the general population.

As a matter of fact, a "dirty bomb" will not have enough radiation in it to really cause anyone harm. If the blast doesn't kill you, everything will be ok...The islamofacists would mainly do it for the terrorizing effects.

Personally I eat Organic when ever I am given the choice. My concern is that they should require that those items irradiated should be labeled as such. For those that chose to eat irradiated food they can choose the packages that carry the irradiated sticker, no problem. For those people like myself, that eat Organic, we should have the choice of not choosing the irradiated product with information listed on the package.

What's wrong with labeling products as Irradiated? They now require that all ingredients are listed on the package, so why not irradiation? Remember when they told us that margarine was better for our health than butter? I would like to have the choice to decide for myself. BTW, magarine is related to plastics more than it is to butter. People that feel safer when choosing the irratiated products will be able to see clearly on the package that it has been irradiated and they can feel safe that their health is not compromised. I hope that foods that are not irradiated will carry a label indicating that fact. Sorta like farmed salmon does now. Without a sticker indicating that it's a farm raised fish with artificial coloring, I could get tricked into buying it, when thinking that it's a wild fish.

JLH,
I couldn't agree more, and I also buy organic when possible. Safeway has a good line going now of these products and I am not surprised they are so popular.

I think people have misconceptions due to scare tactics regarding the whole radiation thing. Remember kids, radiation is your friend!!! (when applied in moderation and you have no short acute, or chronic long term exposure to a radiation source) BTW, we live in one of the lowest areas in the country for Radon.

Sh!t is organic. It will also kill you, or at least lead to organ failure.

The sun bombards everything with radiation, so anything that grows is "irradiated" before it leaves the field. Should all produce be labeled "irradiated", and if not, why?

This is just something for people to get uptight about.

The link lists some of the stuff added to processed foods and the nature of those additives. Hope this will help to understand my concerns for hiding information that can help the consumer with choices of what they choose to consume. Frankenfood contains any combination of the chemicals listed in the following link.

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/chemcuisine.htm

Remember when the tobacco companies insisted that cigarette smoking wasn't hazardous to your health? Thanks FDA! There is science on both sides that are conflicting regarding irradiation. I have heard the it's just fine and want harm you just as mentioned by others in this thread. I thinks it's fine if some people want to consume it, it's their right. What I am concerned about are the people like myself that would like another choice. Just as some food now carry the Organic label, I will assume that there will be a market for the food that carries the "Not Irradiated Organic" sticker. Foods without the label ("Not Irradiated) will be considered irradiated and therefore not purchased in my case. It's a free country and I just want the right to choose. I'm sure Trader Joe's and Whole Foods are keeping an eye on things in order to fill a nitch.

This is begining to sound like the C&R threads. Eat what you want, stay physicaly fit, and be happy. If anything these foods take the years at the end of your life. The years when your a babling, drooling, diaper wearer.

Eat what you want is all about choice, and i'm all for that. I like to know as much as possible about what I put into my body. My choice! What is so wrong about requiring them to state that a product has been irradiated?

From the way it sounds, there are many that will purchase a product for that very reason (irradiation). Although, there will be some like myself, that will choose the products that hasn't been treated with the irradiation procedure. Just as saccarin, aspartane, hydrogenated Oil and many other additives and treatments are labeled, why not irradiation? People can still buy their irradiated, hydrogenated, saccarin flavored foods, if the public is let in on what they are purchasing. No one's going to stop them (especially the FDA) from consuming stuff that is proven to harm us if it gets in the way of the bottom line$$$$. Asbestos was once considered safe, until we realized it was a cause of lung disease. Want be long before we all will have to carry a personal Geiger Counter in case a few particulates find there way to the dinner table and our plate.

It seems some people could care less about how food is processed, because as J7 so eloquently put it, "it will only harm us when we are old and babling, wearing diapers, drooling." Same way that Cigarette smoking already impacts our lives (smokers & Non smokers) is exacted by J7's C&R summation regarding food choice and our health. We can smoke for a few decades (if we are lucky) before the lung cancer, the diaper, the drooling, the babbling, etc., set in.

If this is beginning to look like the C&R thread, then I would assume that to side for the non labeling of products that are irradiated, mean that one is for the personal Bonking of themselves. To support labeling of irradiated foods would be to personally C&R yourself. I'm a bonified C&R kind of guy, in fishy situations such as this. BTW, self bonking is legal and supported by the FDA, possibly as a way of solving the over population problems.

Hookum,

My point was exactly that. I want people to have the choice to eat what they want and if they want it labeled thats fine with me. If they want to eat 12 donuts packed with preservatives, a 2 liter of coke, then finish it off with a couple of smokes then that should be OK too.

I'm not taking a side here. I really just wanted you to know that irradiated foods are for safety and the type of radiation they are using is "safe". If it needs a sticker then fine no propblem. I myself dont believe that a sticker makes a difference to whats inside the package. Just because it says its organic dosent mean it is. On the other hand if it says it is safe then that dosent mean it is.

My point about the C&R thread was that some people refuse to accept or at least understand where somebody else is coming from. The C&R threads go on and on and on and on and on and on.......................................................with absolutley nobody being swayed either side.

P.S. Dont get your nut sack or your head to close to the tower of your computer. Electrical, magnetic, and radiation waves are everywhere.

I have no problem with requiring labeling that tells you virtually everything about the food.

You know organic is not as safe as you think remember the e-coli scare last fall that was traced to organic farms in fact more cases of e-coli are reported from organics then non organic. just some things to remember are manure is used for fertizler if not composted right can cause problems one pesticide you can use is called safer soap for bug control in all reality it is just dishwashing soap also what about the birds, rodents fecal alot of organics are washed in plain water that dosn't kill that I did try organics on a small scale once but the liability scare me so I got out

J7 I'm glad you cleared things and that you also support the labeling of the foods that we consume. There is no 100% method that will insure that the foods we eat will not harm us. You are right when you point out some of the many sources that could prove hazardous to our health. The individual should have the right to picks their own poison.

Why not add a label to the food. I mean, we already pay over $3 for a gallon of gas. Why not just come up with a excuse to raise our food prices. Because I'm sure there will be some increase in cost to the producer, and if you think that the increase will not be carried over to the consumer's price, then maybe you are smoking to much of an organic type of tobacco.

gvb, I'm sure you are right about an increase in price. All that extra ink will probably add another $.50 to the cost. What ever the amount, it is sure to exceed the actual cost.

I also go Organic whenever possible. For us it started a few years back when The wife and I stayed in Portland and The Oregonian ran a huge Expose on BGE and it's effects on growing children, especially girls. We didn't want our daughter to hit puberty at the age of six, so we switched to Organic Dairy first, and now the more I find out about the effects of agricultural chemicals, the more we try to buy Organic.

However I'm still a sucker for a bag of doritos and a good rum & coke.

This is why we need to pay attention to our food supply.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4698.cfm

More info regarding processed food. A must read.

http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/dirty-secrets.html

Maybe a better question would be... if it's organic should it be irradiated and still be considered organic.

I eat as much organic food as I can kill...but even through the eyes of killers, killing is less in vougue now... ain't it?


Personally I don't need a booklet for everything I buy with a life history of the product and all of it's experiences (organic or inorganic, irradiated or non-irradiated, washed or unwashed).

At some point in our lives we must cut that cord...and walk on our own.... make our own choices not just waiting to be "given the choice"

If you don't like the choices grow your own and kill it if ya' can... but don't biatch about what's put under your nose at the grocery store and demanding more labeling for christ's sake how much crap does one need to know before we realize we're responsible for ourselves? Because the only way we know what we are eating is to control the process from start to ugly finish. ( the picking and killing ).

And NO we don't need to be told about everything that is used to make our food safe.

God Bless Louis Pasteur. And that homo(genized) irradiated food.

I'll work on my own harvest...sorta' the way it was intended before political correctness and LL Bean took over.

RVW