Fw: [RADFOOD] MORE GOOD NEWS! LA Schools Ban Irradiated MEAT!

[Guest guest]

----- Original Message -----

From: " Mikhail " <mmikhail@...>

<RADFOOD@...>

Sent: Wednesday, September 10, 2003 9:09 AM

Subject: [RADFOOD] MORE GOOD NEWS! LA Schools Ban Irradiated MEAT!

> *please forward widely*

> *apologies for cross-posting*

>

> MORE GOOD NEWS! LA SCHOOLS BAN IRRADIATED MEAT!

>

> Last night the Los Angeles School Board voted 5-0 to ban irradiated

> meat from their schools for 5 years. LA is the second largest school

> district in the country and 72% of their students participate in the

> lunch program. This is a huge win for schoolchildren and shows that it

> is possible to protect your children from irradiated meat consumption at

> school! Check out the press release below for more details or go to

> this link to see the text of their resolution:

>

http://www.citizen.org/cmep/foodsafety/food_irrad/schoollunch/articles.cfm?I

D=10432

>

> ***Contact me to start work in your own community to ban irradiated

> meat from your school district!***

> 202-546-4996 or respond to this e-mail.

>

>

> For Immediate Release:

> Sept. 10, 2003

>

> Contact: Francesca de la , cell (213) 446-4522

> Lerman, cell (650) 867-0389

> Patty Lovera, (202) 454-5132

>

> LA School Board Bans Irradiated Food from School Lunch Program

>

> Concerned Parents and Consumer Groups Praise Decision, Hope it Sets

> Trend Across Nation

>

> LOS ANGELES - In a unanimous 5-0 vote last night to ban irradiated

> food from the lunch trays of the more than 700,000 students in the Los

> Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the school board resolutely set

> a new trend for other school districts across the country. Calling it

> " ludicrous " for children to be used as a test group for eating

> irradiated food when the long-term health effects are unknown, the

> seven-member board passed a resolution that forbids the 677-school

> system to buy irradiated meat from the USDA commodities program which

> feeds 27 million children annually in the National School Lunch

> Program.

>

> Parents, teachers, and public interest groups urged the LA school

> board to pass the resolution during tonight's meeting, noting that

> California is often considered a pioneer in healthy trends. Irradiation

> exposes food to a dose of ionizing radiation to kill bacteria; however,

> research has shown that it depletes essential nutrients and vitamins

> from the food and also produces chemicals that are known or suspected

> carcinogens. Last year, LAUSD passed a soda ban, effective beginning in

> January 2004, which called for the removal of sodas for sale on school

> property. There are 721,000 students in the LA school district, 72% of

> whom qualify for the federally subsidized meal program.

>

> " I am pleased that the Board of Education has made the decision to not

> expose our children to the potential risks of consuming irradiated

> foods, " said school board member Korenstein, who introduced the

> resolution. " Today we sent an important message: the health of our

> children comes first. It has clearly been demonstrated that a child's

> health directly affects their ability to learn. Because there are real

> questions about the health impacts of consuming irradiated foods we will

> not compromise the mission of protecting and educating children by

> allowing them to eat irradiated meat. "

>

> Yesterday, representatives of the Healthy School Food Coalition and

> Public Citizen delivered children's vitamin bottles to each of the seven

> school board members, to emphasize that nutrients and vitamins would be

> depleted from food that had been treated with irradiation. Since the

> National School Lunch Program serves meals to the most vulnerable

> children, largely low-income, the two groups deride d the USDA for

> allowing the irradiation industry to profit on a questionable technology

> at the expense of a healthy diet for LA's schoolchildren.

>

> " I'm not comfortable with the idea of my kids eating something that I

> don't know anything about, and that might not be safe for young

> children, " said Arely Herrera, a parent and member of the Healthy School

> Food Coalition. " I don't want my kids to be at risk. "

>

> " Today's victory is shared by the many parents and teachers who are

> concerned about the health and safety of their children, " said Francesca

> de la of the Healthy School Food Coalition. " Once again,

> California is saying no to corporations that seek to make money off our

> financially strapped schools and off our children. We don't want to buy

> what they're selling and I think today's vote makes that very clear. "

>

> The May decision to approve irradiated meat for the school lunch

> program was controversial because the USDA sided with industry over

> parental concerns. More than 400 comments from Californians were

> submitted during the open comment period earlier this year. Of the

> thousands of comments in total, 93% opposed the proposal to include

> irradiated meat in children's lunches.

>

> " The USDA ignored us then, but they can't ignore us now, " said

> Lerman, an organizer for the safe lunch campaign at Public Citizen's

> Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. " Parents don't want to

> expose their children to a questionable technology that is unnecessary

> and only perpetuates the filthy conditions in meat plants that cause

> food poisoning in the first place. "

>

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