Action Alert: Online Irradiation Poll!

[Guest guest]

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

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

Sent: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 8:12 AM

***Apologies for cross posting***

***Please circulate widely***

ACTION ALERT! Vote No in Online Irradiation Poll!

Pathmark and D'Agostino grocery stores have just announced their plans to

sell irradiated meat! So, Newsday is doing an online poll about consumer

acceptance of irradiation. Go to http://www.newsday.com/business/ and

scroll down the page 1/3 of the way to the " Irradiated Meat Arrives " story

and click on " Irradiated Beef for Sale " to vote no to irradiated beef!

Write a Letter to Pathmark!

Pathmark is the newest addition to the list of supermarkets selling

irradiated meat. Write to Pathmark telling them you don't want to buy

irradiated meat, and write a letter to the editor expressing your dissent!

(Sample letter and talking points below.)

Pathmark Stores, Inc.

Jim

President

200 Milik St.

et, NJ 07008

Direct Tel: 732-499-3000 ext. 3281

*****************************SAMPLE LETTER*************************

Contact Name

Address

Dear Contact Name,

I am writing to urge you to stop selling irradiated meat. I am surprised

that your company, which prides itself on quality food, would sell its

customers food processed using a questionable technology that perpetuates

unsustainable, unhealthy meat production.

Consumers do not want to eat food that has been exposed to high doses of

ionizing radiation, as previous test marketing efforts have shown. In 2001,

citing poor sales and low consumer interest, more than 80 grocery stores and

meat markets in Florida, California, and Wisconsin pulled irradiated beef

products from their shelves.

Irradiated food has not been proven safe to eat! It not only degrades the

nutritional content of food, but research has revealed a wide range of

health problems in animals that ate irradiated food including premature

death, fatal internal bleeding, a rare form of cancer, stillbirths and other

reproductive problems, genetic damage, organ malfunctions and nutritional

deficiencies. In addition, the FDA did not follow its own testing protocols

when legalizing irradiated food.

As your customer, I demand and deserve fresh, wholesome, safe food that has

been grown and processed in clean environments. I do not want my family or

my community to be " guinea pigs " for this controversial technology.

If you care about the community and truly aspire to provide quality food,

then you should use your chain's buying power to pressure your suppliers to

adopt safe, sustainable production practices. I urge you to remove

irradiated meat from your stores until these lingering health questions have

been adequately addressed.

Sincerely,

Your Name & Address

***********************LETTER TO THE EDITOR - MAJOR

POINTS***********************

§ Irradiation exposes food to a dose of ionizing radiation equivalent to

millions of chest x-rays.

§ Irradiation depletes vitamins and nutrients.

§ Irradiation creates new chemicals in the food called unique radiolytic

products, including chemicals known or suspected to cause cancer and birth

defects.

§ The FDA did not follow its own testing protocols when approving

irradiation.

§ To date there have been no long-term toxicological studies done on the

safety of consuming irradiated meat.

§ Whether ionizing radiation comes from radioactive materials or " e-beams, "

its effect on food is the same; the only difference is how the radiation is

produced.

§ The real purpose of irradiation is to mask filthy conditions in

slaughterhouses and food processing plants that operate at ever-increasing

speeds.

§ Although irradiation can kill most bacteria in food, it does nothing to

remove the carriers of this bacteria - feces and other contaminants that

often soil meat.

§ The problem often begins with the inhumane, unhealthy, and

environmentally-damaging conditions at large factory-style farms

§ Meat should be cleaned up at the source, not zapped at the end of the

line.

***************************************

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To learn more about food irradiation, visit our website at

www.citizen.org/cmep .

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-Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program