The First Charter of Human Rights, By The Persian Emperor
Kourosh The Great Over 2700 Years Ago

"Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely"

A Proud Moment In American Agriculture & Food Distribution Industry

February 2003,
Cold Storage Facility in Northeast Now Offers Irradiation to the Food Industry

Milford Twp, PA – CFC Logistics of Milford Township, Quakertown, PA, a USDA-approved 4.4 million cubic foot cold storage facility, has become the only facility of its kind in the nation that operates a food irradiator inside its cold storage space.

“Having an irradiator located within a cold storage/logistics operation provides a unique service opportunity for food companies in the Northeast that want to irradiate their food and perishable products to kill food borne illnesses such as e-coli,” said Jim Wood, President of CFC Logistics, Inc. This irradiator will be dedicated to meet the needs of the food industry in the Northeast. Services provided will meet the requirements for maintaining the cold chain of all segments of the food industry including meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables, spices, manufacturers, and retailers.

The GENESIS Irradiator™, designed by GRAY*STAR, Inc. of Mount Arlington, NJ, provides the customer flexibility in terms of product mix, shape, fresh or frozen, and variety in packaging. “Customers can use their standard packaging up to 24” thick,” said Russell Stein, designer of the GENESIS Irradiator™. “There is no requirement to redesign the shape or size of the product to be used in our irradiator.” CFC Logistics selected the GENESIS Irradiator™ for its versatility, cost-effectiveness, dependability, and ease of installation.

Irradiation is endorsed by every major health organization in the United States, including the American Medical Association and the U.S. Surgeon General, as an important step in saving lives that are lost every year to food borne illnesses. CFC Logistics is offering irradiation as part of its commitment to community health and welfare. “We are pleased to be able to help the food industry move toward a safer supply,” said Phil Clemens, Chairman and CEO of CFC’s parent company, the Clemens Family Corporation.

Conveniently located just off the Quakertown interchange on the Northeast Extension, the facility provides superior access to the PA Turnpike, Interstates 78 and 80, with easy on/off access for truck drivers. It is within a 100-mile radius of major markets, cities, and the ports of Philadelphia, Wilmington, and New Jersey / New York.

CFC Logistics, Inc. is a subsidiary of the Clemens Family Corporation of Hatfield, PA, who owns Hatfield Quality Meats, Inc. of Hatfield, PA, Wild Bill Foods of Lancaster, PA, and Country View Family Farms, of Lancaster, PA.

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Upon reading the above upbeat announcement one can only believe in the benefits and progress that irradiation delivers to the health of public consumer. Irradiation turns your food into radioactive nuclear waste. There is nothing safe about radioactive nuclear waste, so how is it going to ensure food safety? How is irradiation going to minimizing the risk of food contamination and consequential life-threatening infections?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), claims that a large number of illnesses and subsequent hospitalizations and deaths could be avoided if just half of the raw meat and poultry consumed in the US were safely and properly handled and fully cooked. Many of these illnesses and deaths could be avoided.

So in order to cover up for the dirty, sloppy handling and management of food processors and manufacturers let’s just nuke the food and to hell with the public who cares. Let’s just get the cash and run. Make sure to deposit it into an offshore account though, just to be on the safe side. You know how it is with the nonsense ideas such as loyalty to the land, consumer and paying taxes where you sell your shitty products and the possibility of lawsuits; it is much better that way.

Each year an estimated 62,000 people are infected with E Coli through contaminated badly handled food, resulting in 50 people dying. In addition, CDC estimates about 1.3 million cases of Salmonella poisoning are reported each year, out of which about 550 people die. Many of these illnesses and deaths can be avoided by simply supporting real organic farmers, not the big agro corporations. Buy your foods locally, eat what is in season, shop at your local farmers market, learn how to cook, and don’t buy packaged foods of any kind.

All this great news about irradiation, which promises to kill and destroy harmful bacteria that cause infections and prolongs the shelf life of foods thus offering a solution to relieve hunger and deliver nutritional needs, is a big lie.

What is not stated is the flip side of irradiation. The immediate risk involves the use of radioactive nuclear material. The long-term effects involve the minimized nutritional value and the continued ingestion of irradiated foods. Lastly, there is always the risk for badly treated, poorly paid foreign contract workers who cannot read nor speak English to fuck up and put us all at risk of high dosages of radiation and/or radioactive nuclear waste leakage.

When was the last time you went to your dentist’s office for your annual check up and obviously had to have a set of x-rays of your teeth? Have you noticed for the tiny, tiny fraction of the x-ray radiation that you are exposed to, you are covered with a heavy lead vest, then the doctor grabs this long extension cord with the remote control, walks out of the office, hides behind the door and pushes the button to take the x-ray. Just think about this for a second and try to come up with the answer, why the good doctor runs out of the office and doesn’t sit with you? Why you are covered in lead for such a tiny exposure for a split second? If you think that is safe, then go eat irradiated food.

The first negative point is very obvious, the risk of using radioactive nuclear waste. Any leakage of the radioactive material could cause serious long-term damage to our living environment and consequently to our health. Irradiation is the process of bombarding our foods to its core with high doses of ionizing radiation, thus transferring our food to radioactive nuclear waste. The radiation kills bacteria and extends the shelf life of our foods all right, but we all know that radioactive nuclear waste disintegrates within millions of years. Shit! Talking about extended shelf life…!!!

Leakage of radiation waste is of a concern, especially to the immediate community residing within the vicinity of the irradiation facility. Just like a nuclear plant, irradiation facilities run the same risks of leakage, which could have catastrophic effects on the environment. But the risk can be even more widespread since radioactive waste used in irradiation facilities have to be transported long distances.

As much as irradiation kills food bacteria, it also strips it of its vitamins and minerals leaving minimal to no nutritional value. Irradiation changes the chemical structure of food, depleting so many nutrients up to the point that it is just little more than empty calories. Irradiation can destroy up 90% of vitamin A in chicken, 86% of vitamin B in oats and 70% of vitamin C in fruit juice.

The longer the food stays on the shelf, the more nutrients are lost. The consumer is deceived in believing what one purchases delivers the full nutritional value it claims. Over the long run, the human body will suffer serious effects if it does not receive the adequate amount of nutrients it needs to survive. One can only assume the risk of diseases due to low immune system b/c of lack of essential vitamins increases the more irradiated foods are consumed over an extended period of time.

As mentioned, irradiation changes the chemical composition of foods. The long-term effects of ingesting irradiated foods on humans are not yet completely proven. However, initial laboratory research, where animals were fed irradiated foods over a period of time, indicate potential health complications to human beings. The animals developed mutations, had premature deaths and nutritional deficiencies, reproductive problems, fatal internal bleeding, suppressed immune systems and stunted growth.

So who truly is benefiting from irradiation? CFC Logistics, the proud owner of the only irradiation within a cold storage facility is a subsidiary of the Clemens Family Corporation of Hatfield, PA, which also owns Hatfield Quality Meats, that sells bacon, deli meats, fresh pork, franks, ham, sausage, and specialty pork products and Clemens Markets a suburban Philadelphia supermarket chain. Clearly their own business will profit from the savings incurred with irradiation. Their foods will have longer shelf lives minimizing waste. Food safety costs will be reduced since everything can be zapped by irradiation. Elimination of diseases not only protects their consumers but more importantly reduce their potential liabilities from lawsuits due to contaminated foods. So as much as the company is looking after the welfare of the community, they are clearly going to profit in their own line of business. Not to mention the increase revenue from leasing their irradiation cold storage facilities to other food companies.

Food irradiation is yet another instrument to increase the corporate control and monopoly of the world's food supply, therefore worsen the already unsustainable global food and agriculture trading system, prioritizing profits over people.

Irradiation encourages monoculture and the further expansion of cash crops at the expense of a country's food security, biodiversity and the livelihoods of small farmers and other small producers. Food irradiation at the same time puts at risk the health and safety of unsuspecting consumers. It sacrifices ecological sustainability by encouraging mass production that is dependent on increased chemical pesticide use.

In no time, areas devoted to staple food crops would further decrease as corporations try to "capitalize" on the potential of cash crops for the food irradiation market. By using irradiation to mask "barriers to trade," such as invasive insects and unsanitary food production, multinational food corporations can reap massive profits by producing cheaply these hazardous and unhealthy products in the Global South and selling them at high prices in consuming nations.

The labor and the resources of the Global South are shipped overseas without just compensation. The people will not be reimbursed for the destruction of their environment and their low standard of living caused by neo-liberal trade agreements.

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Solution
We, The People Of The World, Demand The Following:

We Demand A Passage of Worldwide Legislation And/Or UN Mandate For Stopping & Banning Food Irradiation.

We Demand An Immediate Stop Put On Construction Of Food Irradiation Facilities Around The World.

We Demand That Food Be Produced Organically Via Sustainable Methods Such As Crop Rotation With Diverse Means That Conserve And Protect Our Environment, Protect Our Waterways And Support A Diverse Ecosystem.

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The Big Picture
The irradiation of the world’s food supply is on the agenda of governments and transnational corporations alike. Irradiation can drastically extend the shelf life of food, kill invasive insects, and mask the contamination of meat products.

This facilitates international trade in food and leads to higher profits for large, industrialized food producers. Family farmers and small-scale producers, on the other hand, will be left out in the cold as irradiation tarnishes the image of their products and threatens their livelihood.

Giant agribusiness companies want to grow more fruits and vegetables in the developing world, where labor is cheap and environmental regulations are weak or non-existent. Zapping this food with ionizing radiation would kill the invasive insects that are considered "barriers to trade" and allow food to be shipped over long distances because it increases food’s shelf life.

This could devastate U.S. farmers as production is shifted overseas and cheap imports flood the U.S. markets. The economic disasters for American agriculture caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) pale in comparison to what could happen if the globalized agriculture system envisioned by the World Trade Organization (WTO) comes to pass.

The system the WTO is working to create can’t happen without irradiation. In fact, a high ranking U.S. Department of Agriculture official has said that food irradiation is “absolutely necessary” for global trade in food as envisioned in trade agreements.

Food irradiation also advances the consolidation of the food system, thereby handing over ever increasing control of the world’s food supply to large corporations. It allows big agribusiness to ship food further and mask the contamination of meat caused by large-scale animal operations and unsanitary processing plants. Family farmers and small producers can’t compete with overseas production and the large factory farms that drive prices below their cost of production. Irradiation is a vital tool for the corporate giants who depend on production in the developing world and on factory farms to make their profits. They know this, and they are using their influence in international organizations and trade circles to promote irradiation on a global scale.

There are already 33 countries where irradiated food is available. For example, Brazil currently has 11 irradiation facilities and another 21 in the planning stages as well as the most lenient food irradiation regulations in the world.

Currently, eight types of food are irradiated for commercial use in Brazil, including wheat, grains, flour, and some beans. The irradiation industry wants to irradiate tropical fruits grown in Brazil for export to the U.S. and Europe.What is Food Irradiation?

Irradiation blasts food with radiation equivalent to hundreds of millions of chest X-rays. These high levels of energy initiate a complex sequence of reactions that, in addition to killing bacteria, literally rip apart the molecular structure of the food. This process creates new and unidentified chemicals that have not been adequately studied as safe to consume.

One of these new chemicals, called 2-DCB, has been shown to cause cellular and genetic damage in rats and in human cells. The chemical has never been found naturally in any food on earth. Ironically, it is a well-known “marker” for determining if a food was irradiated.

The nutritional content of irradiated food also suffers. For instance – according to Food and Drug Administration scientists – irradiation destroys up to 80 percent of the vitamin A in eggs and half of the beta-carotene in orange juice.

If irradiated foods are stored longer and shipped further from the farm, these foods will arrive at the dinner table with significantly diminished nutritional value.

Low Sales and Labeling
Despite elaborate marketing campaigns by the food irradiation industry, the public has consistently rejected their products. Test-marketing of irradiated ground beef in New York, California, Florida, and Wisconsin have failed, with well over 100 grocery stores pulling the products off of their shelves.

Currently, federal rules require whole foods sold in stores – such as apples, potatoes and ground beef – to be labeled “Treated by Irradiation” and carry the international symbol for irradiation, the radar.

But there are numerous loopholes. Processed foods containing irradiated non-meat ingredients are exempt, as are irradiated foods served in restaurants, schools, nursing homes and hospitals.

Due to weak sales, the irradiation industry has spent several years pressuring the federal government to change labeling regulations to allow the phrase “electronic pasteurization.” Consumer surveys have repeatedly shown that people prefer current labeling requirements and that associating pasteurization with irradiation could result in public mistrust of pasteurized dairy products.

What Can We Do About Food Irradiation?
Family farmers and small producers cannot compete with corporate giants who rely on cheap labor, environmentally damaging methods, and irradiation to produce food.

Without working together to support sustainable local agricultural systems and fight technologies that enable the globalization of our food supply, we will lose our family farmers.

The first thing we can do to stop the global spread of food irradiation is to not buy irradiated products here at home. Ask your local grocery store and restaurants if they sell irradiated food and tell them you don’t want it.

Also let your elected officials know that you want them to strengthen consumers’ right to know by protecting the labeling requirements for irradiated food. Your voice is important!