This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on Web of Science (2)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Herbert L. DuPont, MD; James H. Steele, DVM
The University of Texas Medical School/ School of Public Health at Houston

JAMA. 1993;270(5):576.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—The topic of food irradiation is timely and important. We will respond to the specific points raised by Dr Tritsch rather than provide an overview of the technology and its feasibility and the associated nutritional and micro-biological aspects. Those interested in the topic are referred to general reviews.^1-3

Irradiation produces radiolytic, not radioactive, products in foods. In a comprehensive review sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration,³ it was concluded that the available evidence failed to show that radiolytic substances, which are not unique to irradiated foods (they are found in foods subjected to other accepted types of food processing), were harmful to people in the amounts consumed. Specifically, the Food and Drug Administration indicated that there was no evidence that they posed a cancer hazard, interfered with reproduction, caused birth defects, or posed other long-term hazards. The report specifically indicated that formaldehyde, present in many . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?