What Research Says About Irradiated Food
Posted: Tuesday, June 30, 2009
by Patsy Leblanc
kursh
cancer in mammals
A significant number of rats consuming irradiated beef died from internal hemorrage within 46 days. The first death of a male rat coming on the 22nd day of feeding. This rat became sluggish on the 8th day of the regimen and started refusing food. He continued to be morbid during the next two days, did not eat any food, lot weight and appeared anemic. He was found dead on the 11th day.
Hemorrhagic death had occured in all males fed irradiated diets by day 34. There is evidence to suggest that inefficient absorption of vitamins, from the intestinal track may contribute to a deficiency state.. Vitamin K plays a major role in blood clotting.
Feeding of mice for two months before mating with 50 percent of the standard complete diet irradiated with gamma rays provokes a significant increase of embryonal deaths, probably to be interpreted as a dominant lethal mutation associated with gross chromosomal aberrations.
Considerable amounts of radioactivity were present in the liver, kidney, stomach, gastrointestinal tract, and blood serum of rats fed irradiated sucrose solutions. Radioactivity was present in urine and feces.
Irradiating can bring about chemical transformations in food components, resulting in the formation of potential mutagens, particularly hydrogen peroxide and various organic peroxides.
"Numerous studies have been carried out to ascertain whether cytotoxic effects occur when unirradiated biological test systems are cultured or fed with irradiated media or food. In such studies, adverse physiological growth retardation and inhibition, cytological cell division inhibition and chromosome aberrations and genetical effects have been observed in a wide range of test systems, ranging from bacteriophages to human cells... The available data suggest that a variety of free radicals may act as the toxic and mutagenic agents."
An increase in concentration of a mutagen in food by irradiation will increase the incidence of cancer. It will take four to six decades to demonstrate a statistically significant increase in cancer due to mutagens introduced into food by irradiation. When food irradiation is finally prohibited, several decades worth of people with increased cancer incidence will be in the pipeline
Irradiated sucrose solutions were extremely toxic to human white blood cells. Cell divisions were inhibited. Degenerated cell divisions were observed and the chromosomes were grossly damaged. The DNA was clumped or the chromosomes appeared shattered or pulverized. In contrast, treatment with unirradiated sucrose at the same concentration had no apparent effect on the mitotic rate and the chromosomes were not visibly damaged."
"When food containing fat is treated by ionizing radiation, a group of 2-alkylcyclobutanones [toxic chemicals] is formed. To date, there is no evidence that the cyclobutanones occur in unirradiated food. In vitro experiments using rat and human colon cells indicate that 2-dodecylcyclobutanone (2-DCB)... is clearly cytotoxic and genotoxic."
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