sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas

Last week I wrote about the tainted beef episode. Here is what scares me: Over the last several years we have seen food safety as a whole crumbling before our eyes. Nearly everyone in this county has been affected by some food recall or has gotten sick because of poorly processed food. The FDA has for some time been pushing irradiation has a means to supposedly increase safety and has been expanding its use (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/health/policy/22spinach.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&oref=slogin).

Allow me to give an example why this is a problem. Earlier this year the University of Wisconsin published a study about the ability of a cat's nervous system to repair itself (http://www.physorg.com/news157654992.html). Specifically, the study discusses demyelination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myelin#Demyelination_and_dysmyelination) of the central nervous system of cats and the eventual recovery. Demyelination can result in symptoms similar to multiple sclerosis. While the fact that recovery is wonderful, I am more interested in the protocol that the scientists used to induce demyelination.

The abstract of the study (Duncan, I.D., et al. "Extensive remyelination of the CNS leads to functional recovery." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States 106.16 (2009): 6832+.) includes this quote: "We show that cats fed an irradiated diet during gestation developed a severe neurologic disease resulting from extensive myelin vacuolation and subsequent demyelination." Yes, the scientists simply fed the cats irradiated food during pregnancy. Maybe the scientists learned of this when the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service realized that importing irradiated pet food was causing serious neurological dysfunction in cats (http://www.daff.gov.au/aqis/import/general-info/ian/09/33-2009).

What worries me more is the lead scientist's reaction to the condition caused by irradiation: "We think it is extremely unlikely that [irradiated food] could become a human health problem," Duncan explains. "We think it is species specific. It's important to note these cats were fed a diet of irradiated food for a period of time." My question to Duncan is "Has anyone ever tested this?" And for the record, the period of time involved was three to four months.

It appears to me that the FDA is once again going to turn the American population into unwilling test subjects. Personally, I am going to do my best to avoid irradiated food. I am glad that my local farmers do not have the resources for such a procedure. Remember, irradiation works by intentionally damaging the DNA of pathogens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation). However, what prevents it from damaging the DNA of the food itself at the same time? The FDA has also been trying to replace the term irradiation with 'cold pasteurization' (http://www.consumersunion.org/pub/core_food_safety/004680.html). Be sure you familiarize yourself with irradiation labeling: http://www.ftcldf.org/aa/aa-23sep2008.htm. Diligence will be the only way we can keep this technology out of our food supply.