Anonymous - Comment

The use of Ionizing Radiation for the Control of Food-Borne Pathogens and Infectious Protozoa is a bandaid for the larger problem that is the American Factory Farming Industry. The real danger for the public is the insidious practices of these agro-conglomerates. Many FDA and USDA rules hurt small farmers, who, for example, can no longer butcher their own meat because of regulations in place as a result of meat-processing abuses committed by the largest producers. Big business loathes regulations and would like to have the market decide the demand for irradiated vegetables, provided it can deceive people about how food is produced. Currently there's the pesky FDA rule stating that irradiated food must be labeled as such. And there's something about the line "treated with radiation" that spooks us crazy consumers. So the next big battle for agro-conglomerates is to change "irradiation" to the euphuism "cold pasteurization." The goal is to slip this by consumers until cold pasteur... er, I mean bombarding with ionizing gamma radiation ... becomes standard practice for most vegetables. If the FDA is actually going to let this be done to our food- reducing it's nutritional value- then the least it can do is ensure that consumers are properly educated on the subject and are given a clear choice with proper labeling.