Although the questionable means by which the General Standards For Irradiated Food was ratified are enough cause for concern in and of themselves, the revision of Codex’s position presents an even bigger danger to the food supply than the original version. This revised policy seems to be part of an ongoing disregard by federal agencies who are charged with protecting the public. Just recently, the EPA proposed modifications to their Protective Action Guides for radiation exposure to Americans in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.
The revised General Standard For Irradiated Food is remarkable because of its crafty use of technical wording to allow much higher, even limitless, amounts of irradiation in food. Prior to the change in 2003, the limits were set at 10 kGy, an amount of radiation that is the equivalent of 330 million chest x-rays, a procedure that is dangerous in and of itself when only done once. [1]
However, even the limit set prior to 2003 is not as strict as the current FDA regulations and the regulations of most other nations. Currently, the FDA sets limits on the amount of food irradiation on a case-by-case basis with some foods allowed to receive more radiation than others.[2]
Codex, however, makes no such distinction and levels a blanket endorsement of irradiation regardless of the type of food. [3] Nevertheless, most of the upper limits for radiation set by even the FDA (which are themselves intolerable) are lower than those set by Codex. By FDA standards, only two categories are allowed the pre-2003 Codex 10kGy maximum.
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