[who_would_fardels_bear]

Government scientists should come out and say that irradiation works, but only if done in large, well-protected facilities located near the stores where the fruit is sold.

So if you want healthy fruit, you need to have a nuclear power plan built near your town.

[Paul Heinzman]

28 Days Later sold me on irradiated produce. All you really need to know about survival is covered in zombie movies.

(I should really change my tagline before posting this endorsement of zombie movies.)

[mojo114]

Oh no not this again. Irradiation was discussed in the 80’s and the scared of nuclear-xrays-cancer causing-crowd had a huge fit. History is such a comfort as you now know what to expect this go around, absolute hysteria and zero.

[tet68]

Irradiate Iran, do it for the children.

[LADY J]

Wonder why this kind of science is believed by so many people who in turn, won’t believe the scientists about global warming being a natural event that goes from cooling to warming & back again & has been going on for centuries on this earth.

[Dr.Zoidberg]

Oh dear Gaea NO! They want to make our food radioactive!

Wasn't Chernobyl and Three Mile Island enough for you horrible, evil people? Now you want to nuke our food?

/insane antinuke protester mode off.

[sphinx]

Though some activist groups continue to speak against irradiation

So can we sue these turkeys if we get food poisoning?

[ThePythonicCow]

The above cartoon is from Mike Adams site NaturalNews.com.

The problem, as Mike sees it, and I think he's right, is not that irradiation makes the food more harmful by making it more radioactive or some such. The fear of radioactivity is just a paper tiger conveniently brought up just to justify ridicule of those who would oppose irradiation.

Rather, the problem is that irradiation destroys essential nutrients in the food, leaving us weaker and more susceptible to disease.

See Mike's article The Food Irradiation Plot: Why the USDA Wants to Sterilize Fresh Produce and Turn Live Foods into Dead Foods.

To quote briefly from this article:

Even a simple leaf of spinach contains hundreds of natural medicines -- phytonutrients that help prevent cancer, eye diseases, nervous system disorders, heart disease and much more. Every living vegetable is a powerhouse of disease-fighting medicine: Broccoli prevents cancer, beet greens cleanse the liver, cilantro removes heavy metals, celery prevents cancer, berries prevent heart disease and dark leafy greens help prevent over a dozen serious health conditions while boosting immune function and helping prevent other infections. But when you subject these fruits and vegetables to enough radiation to kill 99.9% of the pathogens that may be hitching a ride, you also destroy many of the phytonutrients responsible for these tremendous health benefits!

This means that while irradiating food may decrease outbreaks of food-borne illnesses, it will have the unintended consequence of increasing the number of people who get sick from other infections (and chronic diseases) due to the fact that their source of natural medicine has been destroyed. For many Americans, you see, salad greens are their one remaining source for phytonutrients. Given their diets of processed foods, junk foods and cooked foods, there are very few opportunities for these consumers to get fresh, phytonutrient-rich foods into their diet. And now the USDA wants to take that away, too, by mandating the irradiation of all fresh produce.