Is anyone else concerned????

Skittles6617 · August 2008

So, watching the news last night and find out that the FDA has approved using RADIATION zapping on our produce, lettuce, spinach, tomatos, etc. I am not so sure about this. It is supposed to be killing bacterica, but what is it doing if we are ingesting any of the residue (for lack of a better time). It is supposed to be so many more times the power of that of having an X-ray. I can't remember the exact number. Am I over reacting????

Skittles6617 · August 2008

So, watching the news last night and find out that the FDA has approved using RADIATION zapping on our produce, lettuce, spinach, tomatos, etc. I am not so sure about this. It is supposed to be killing bacterica, but what is it doing if we are ingesting any of the residue (for lack of a better time). It is supposed to be so many more times the power of that of having an X-ray. I can't remember the exact number. Am I over reacting????

yoginimary · August 2008

I'm not a fan of irradiation, but only because it means our food isn't safe in the first place. I do not think there is reason for concern, they've been doing it to meat for years. If you don't want your food irradiated, buy organic. If it has the seal, it cannot be irradiated.

BrenNew · August 2008

I can't imagine they'd do it if there was any possibility of being harmful to people.
Plus, the way that I look at it, I could be as careful as I wanted about everything under the sun, and then bam, I could get hit by a bus! :laugh:

pojo30 · August 2008

You are not overreacting. I am a freak when it comes to pesticides or now radation. My husband gave me crap about buying organic baby food for my kids. I still buy organic because I don't think it is necessary to use all the chemicals. I often wonder if the chemicals in our food is related to all the ADHD and Autism problems we have. The only thing that bothers me is that organic food cost more.

Skittles6617 · August 2008

I can't imagine they'd do it if there was any possibility of being harmful to people.
Plus, the way that I look at it, I could be as careful as I wanted about everything under the sun, and then bam, I could get hit by a bus! :laugh:

True, I just am very careful, because here is my general theory.....I have a daughter with severe eczema and asthma. And I am sure everyone notices that the ezcema, asthma, juvenile diabetes, etc. is more profound in this generation than ever before. It must have something to do with what we do to our environment. So, I try to watch and eliminate whatever I can without going OCD. :bigsmile: My opinion is they just need to fix the problem from the get go, rather than try new chemical ways of killing bacteria and hope that a few years down the road they don't say oops!! this now causes XYZ in people. Hence the medicine that came out about 10 years ago for eczema which everyone raved over and now they find is causing cancer in children. Just my thoughts. :ohwell:

Skittles6617 · August 2008

You are not overreacting. I am a freak when it comes to pesticides or now radation. My husband gave me crap about buying organic baby food for my kids. I still buy organic because I don't think it is necessary to use all the chemicals. I often wonder if the chemicals in our food is related to all the ADHD and Autism problems we have. The only thing that bothers me is that organic food cost more.

Exactly, no doubt all the chemicals are causing at least half of the health issues in our children. We should not have to worry about such things.

time2wrk · August 2008

I can't imagine they'd do it if there was any possibility of being harmful to people.
Plus, the way that I look at it, I could be as careful as I wanted about everything under the sun, and then bam, I could get hit by a bus! :laugh:

You are way more trusting than I am. I have gotten cynical in my old age and I don't think the government or anyone corporate has the people's best interest at heart over the almighty dollar. *sigh*

Eve23 · August 2008

You are not overreacting at all.

Quite honestly I don't like getting foods that I am not familiar with where the food is coming from. Here is one reason why. I have lived where they farm many foods and found I have a reaction to many of he pesticides they use. I believe others do as well they are just not aware of it. SecondlyI really think that the length of time between producer and store is often way to long and this is only an added step. As it is some produce has sulfites put on them to keep them from wilting and staying crunchy. This may not be a big deal to some however if you have any type of a reacion to sulfa it might reenforce the idea that these are not good practices and we should buy locally as much as possible.

Personal opinion sorry.

Eve23 · August 2008

I can't imagine they'd do it if there was any possibility of being harmful to people.
Plus, the way that I look at it, I could be as careful as I wanted about everything under the sun, and then bam, I could get hit by a bus! :laugh:

You are way more trusting than I am. I have gotten cynical in my old age and I don't think the government or anyone corporate has the people's best interest at heart over the almighty dollar. *sigh*

Agree totally!!!!

Case in point artificial sweetners.

mlillie · August 2008

Yeah- I try to only buy organic as well. My exp is that you can never fully know what is behind the decision making when it comes to FDA. The FDA has too many people giving $$$ for these types of things to pass- I dont think that it is the consumers that benefit most of the time.

The most sprayed fruits are grapes, peaches and berries so if you can find these organic, buy them.
I work at a children's cancer clinic so I run across a lot of medical articles about the harm that we are doing to our food and water supply. It is scary.

1StepataTime · August 2008

I don't trust the FDA at all. If I could afford it I'd only buy organic because there's all sorts of bad stuff in other foods. Just my opinion

jlwhelan1 · August 2008

Do you have a link to the story? I'll read it and give you my feedback if you want. If I get time (not likely) I'll go to the original studies and read them. I just don't trust news reporters to be able to accurately read and interpret scientific papers unless they themselves are scientists.

But the generic answer is:
Radiation and chemicals are two very different things.
Radiation itself is a generic term. It basically just means the movement of energy waves of subatomic particles. It could refer to visible light, ultraviolet, infrared, or it could also refer to microwaves, x rays or even radio waves. So you see radiation is a very non-specific term. IT does NOT mean radioactive.

Without specifically knowing what the story said (and news reports are really not necessarily correct when it comes to passing on science) here is a reliable source to explain radiation.
http://physics.isu.edu/radinf/food.htm

I would eat food that had been irradiated. *However, given a choice I would choose non irradiated and locally grown organic.*
I avoid whenever possible the use of chemicals on food. I can't afford to buy all organic, but I do whenever possible and I do not buy animal products which have hormone treatments, antibiotics, or genetic engineering (I buy from directly from a rancher.)

Be well & healthy.

banks1850 · August 2008

Thank you jl. I was driving my self nuts reading all the posts about radiation. I KNOW what irradiating food does, so I KNOW it doesn't scare me. It may kill some of the vitamins in it, but that's probably the worst thing. I guess the only thing radiation doesn't do is it doesn't help improve the actual product production practices, which is a little different fight.

Hey, I love home grown as much as the next guy, but Paying 30 to 50% extra for food is just not possible for my wife and I, and that's about how much extra organic costs.

Guys, before you go crazy on the FDA, please read up on this topic. It's been something in practice for about 25 years, and there have been numerous INDEPENDENT studies on it. The FDA is a government organization, and like many, it's pretty bad at what it does, I agree, but in this case, it's got the right idea. With the amount of produce out there, it's impossible for the government to track how clean all of it is, and by allowing radiation, at least we can confirm that your kids aren't eating E. coli bacteria!

rayneenie · August 2008

I can't imagine they'd do it if there was any possibility of being harmful to people.
Plus, the way that I look at it, I could be as careful as I wanted about everything under the sun, and then bam, I could get hit by a bus! :laugh:

You are way more trusting than I am. I have gotten cynical in my old age and I don't think the government or anyone corporate has the people's best interest at heart over the almighty dollar. *sigh*

Agree totally!!!!

Case in point artificial sweetners.

I more than agree. The Gov uses us as geunie pigs all the time!

jlwhelan1 · August 2008

Hey, I love home grown as much as the next guy, but Paying 30 to 50% extra for food is just not possible for my wife and I, and that's about how much extra organic costs.

Guys, before you go crazy on the FDA, please read up on this topic. It's been something in practice for about 25 years, and there have been numerous INDEPENDENT studies on it. The FDA is a government organization, and like many, it's pretty bad at what it does, I agree, but in this case, it's got the right idea. With the amount of produce out there, it's impossible for the government to track how clean all of it is, and by allowing radiation, at least we can confirm that your kids aren't eating E. coli bacteria!

No problem Banks!

Yes, the prices for organic is more $$, especially for this little grad student's budget. I do what I can, especially the foods my children eat most often, potatoes, apples, and grapes.:happy:

Is anyone else concerned????

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