Can Nuking Your Food Make It Safer To Eat?Sayer Ji, Contributor Even though organic food does usually have considerably higher nutrient density, it is not always the positive quality of what it contains that makes it so special. Rather, it is what you know the organic food does not contain, or what has not happened to it on its journey to your table, that makes buying organic a no-brainer to the educated consumer. Let me explain. The FDA presently supports and actively promotes the use of cobalt-60 culled from nuclear reactors as a form of electronic pasteurization on all domestically produced conventional food. They claim it makes the food safer.1 The use of euphemisms like food additive and pasteurization to describe the process of blasting food with inordinately high levels of gamma-radiation can not obviate the fact that the very same death-rays generated by thermonuclear warfare to destroy life are now being applied to food to make it safer. This sort of Orwellian logic, e.g. WAR is PEACE, is the bread and butter of State-sponsored industry propaganda. Despite the irresponsible promotion of this process as safe, food irradiation destroys much of the vitamin content of food, produces a number of toxic byproducts: formaldehyde, benzene, and formic acid, as well as unique radiolytic products, e.g. 2-alklycyclobutanoes, that have been demonstrated to be cytotoxic (damages cells), genotoxic (damages DNA), and carcinogenic (causes cancer) in test tube and animal studies. (View peer-reviewed research on gamma Iirradiation here). How is it that a process that is so obviously detrimental to human health is allowed? There are at least three reasons driving this dangerous process: In the same way that irradiating bacteria contaminated food does nothing to remove the unsanitary processes that cause the underlying problem, in 2006, the FDA passed, without any public review or oversight, the use of bacteriphage virus cocktails to be sprayed on meat, in an attempt to prevent Listeria monocytogenes outbreaks. These bacteria-specific viruses, in theory, lay dormant waiting for virulent and antibiotic-resistant bacteria upon which they prey. Although the FDA only approves the use of lysic bacteriphages which are not believed to alter the DNA of the cells they infect, the possibility of contamination with lysogenic strains which can alter DNA is significant, owing to the fact that these viruses are only between 20 and 200 millionth of a millimeter in size. The FDAs decision to define bacteriophages as Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) food additives is premature, and therefore a red flag to those who are concerned about the underlying food safety issues that are not being addressed. With the country still reeling from the implosion of the financial markets, new attention has been placed on the huge trade deficits the US has with its trading partners. One major factor in our increasingly disadvantaged global trading position is our decision to use genetically modified organisms (GMOs), despite growing concern over its short and long term adverse effects on the health of the human body and the environment. For example in 2006 the most significant event in the history of the U.S. rice industry occurred, according to David Coia of the USA Rice Federation trade group, when trace amounts of genetically modified rice was found commingled in the U.S. rice supply. America is one of the only countries in the world which does not require GMO ingredients or foods to be labeled as such. We cant expect the rest of the world to so carelessly experiment on its population with foods that have been profoundly altered to contain potentially toxic gene products from other species, as well as contamination with highly toxic agrichemicals such as Roundup, or similar glyphosate-based formulations. Their reluctance to participate in the largest food experiment in the history of our species is directly reflected in the worlds increasing resistance to accepting food exported from the U.S., which has had huge impacts on our economic well-being. If you wish to withdraw yourself as a guinea pig from this national GMO experiment, remember, the only way you can know for sure that you food is not genetically modified is if it is certified organic, or certified GMO-free. (to learn about the devastating health effects of GMOs, go to seedsofdeception.com) Food quality has become an oxymoron in this country. With the state-sponsored promotion of food irradiation, virus-laden food additives, genetic modification, pesticide usage and raw sewage fertilizer, Americans who dont go out of their way to buy only organic food, are unknowing participants in the largest food experiment ever performed in recorded history. Not too long ago, all cultures considered food sacred for its ability to sustain our physical, emotional and spiritual well being from the ground up. Today, the forces of commodification and naked, unbridled free market capitalism have converted food into devitalized metabolic poisons, which slowly render those who consume them into commodities themselves, i.e. sickened patients, against whom are plied the thousands of branded snake-oil potions conjured up by the conventional medical establishments cauldron-like pharmacopeia. Remember, next time you shop, know that buying organic isnt just about it being more nutritious than conventional food; rather, it provides the only assurance that can still shield you from the veritable minefield of potential health liabilities which is lurking within every supermarket across the land. Resources This article first appeared at GreenMedInfo. Please visit to access their vast database of articles and the latest information in natural health. 