#36 Food Watch with Wenonah Hauter - Zapped: Irradiation and the Death of Food [00:25:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (202)

Wenonah Hauter

is the executive director of Food & Water Watch. She has worked extensively on energy, food, water and environmental issues at the national, state and local level. Experienced in developing policy positions and legislative strategies, she is also a skilled and accomplished organizer, having lobbied and developed grassroots field strategy and action plans. From 1997 to 2005 she served as Director of Public Citizen’s Energy and Environment Program, which focused on water, food, and energy policy. From 1996 to 1997, she was environmental policy director for Citizen Action, where she worked with the organization’s 30 state–based groups. From 1989 to 1995 she was at the Union of Concerned Scientists where as a senior organizer, she coordinated broad–based, grassroots sustainable energy campaigns in several states. She has an M.S. in Applied Anthropology from the University of Maryland.

In her new book with co-author Mark Worth - Zapped: Irradiation and the Death of Food is a call to action for those of us who actually care about what we eat.

Lab animals fed irradiated food have developed illnesses from cancer to immune system failure. So why is the government pushing the same food on you? When food is exposed to ionizing radiation, it doesn’t hold up too well either. Irradiation can wilt and discolor food, and cause it to smell and taste nasty—apparently comparisons have been made to “burned feathers” and “wet dog” - yummmm. We also don’t have to swallow the lie that irradiating greens would prevent most cases of food born illness the greens may carry. The majority of food borne illness linked to greens come from viruses, not bacteria. Irradiation won’t kill the viruses — but it does increase the greens’ shelf-life. Nutritionally, irradiation is also a disaster, destroying up to 91% of Vitamin E, 90% of Vitamin C, 50% of Vitamin A, and 95% of Vitamin B1. So why would we do it?

The motivation for irradiating is of course, industry-driven. Irradiation allows food producers to store food longer, ship it farther, and avoid cleaning up dirty conditions at food production facilities. What this means for the consumer is older food, fewer vitamins, and continued risk of foodborne illness. Irradiation is ineffective against mad cow disease and several other threatening pathogens, so irradiating instead of improving sanitation at plants is simply paying lip service to food safety.

But it won’t kill you…right? Actually, we don’t know. Lab animals fed irradiated food have developed illnesses from cancer to immune system failure. Experiments on lab animals fed irradiated foods have shown ruptured hearts, sterility, blindness, internal bleeding, cancer, tumors, stillbirths, mutations, organ damage, immune system failure, stunted growth, and a host of other problems.

There just isn’t enough research. While there isn’t conclusive evidence that eating irradiated foods could have the same effects as being exposed to radiation itself, some studies seem to suggest it. Of course, onflicting studies do exist that show irradiated food as having no health effects whatsoever.

Order the Book: http://www.amazon.com/Zapped-Irradiation-Death-Wenonah-Hauter/dp/0980115701

Read More:

The FDA Approves Food Irradiation: Food That Makes You Sicker Rather Than Safer

 

 Healthy Kids, Healthy Choices: A visit with Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Kim Perry and Carson Miller [19:51m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (386)

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation is a partnership between the American Heart Association and the William J. Clinton Foundation. We have come together to fight one of our nation’s leading health threats - childhood obesity. Along with our co-leader Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and American Heart Association President Dan Jones, the Alliance is working nationally to create awareness and real solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic.

Misson:To eliminate childhood obesity and to inspire all young people in the United States to develop lifelong, healthy habits.

GoalsThe goal of the Alliance is to stop the nationwide increase in childhood obesity by 2010 and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices.

healthiergeneration.org
Alliance for a Healthier Generation’s Kids’ Movement Director Kim Perry. Kimberly has worked for more than fifteen years successfully mobilizing communities to create a collaborative environment in which educators, legislators and policy makers can be educated and held accountable for improving the quality of life for low-income children and their families. She is nationally respected in the advocacy community for her steadfast work in child health public policy - including access to quality health care; and food and nutrition policies that address the paradoxical issues of childhood hunger and childhood obesity.
Before coming to the Alliance, Kimberly was the founding director of D.C. Hunger Solutions, a non-profit anti-hunger advocacy organization based at the Food Research and Action Center. Under her leadership, D.C. Hunger Solutions led three historic policy wins for children and youth: replaced junk food with healthier choices in public school vending machines, made school breakfast free to all public school students daily; and gave poor kids, who relied on free lunch during the school year, access to nutritious meals in their neighborhood, during the summer time. These victories were the platform for Kimberly’s leadership of another innovative social justice venture that organized over 150 citizens representing 14 sectors of the city to implement a Ten Year Plan to End Childhood Hunger in the Nation’s Capital. Now, more than half of all children living in poverty, in Washington, D.C., have access to three nutritious meals each day. The plan is nationally recognized and is currently being replicated in a number of states across the country.

The Kids’ Movement will be rolling out programs and activities to ENGAGE, EDUCATE and ACTIVATE youth across the country to be empowered and take the Go Healthy Challenge.
Carson Miller
Santa Fe, New Mexico

Since 2005 the Alliance has been working to create an on-air, online, and grassroots movement to reach millions of kids with “cool” messages about healthy living. Kids across the country have heard our message and to date over one million have taken the Go Healthy Pledge to dedicate themselves to a healthier lifestyle and to help their families, friends and communities make healthy changes.

carsons12.wordpress.com

Carson Miller is an active 12-year-old from Santa Fe, New Mexico. She loves to cook, particularly healthy foods to take to school for lunch. She enjoys going to farmers’ markets and meeting farmers. Carson plays competitive soccer and a variety of other sports. She has been recognized by Farm to Table for her efforts in promoting school nutrition. Later in life she hopes to combine her interest in business and cooking by going to Stanford and the Culinary Institute of America. Among other skills, Carson brings multimedia and advocacy skills to the Youth Advisory Board.

When asked what the biggest obstacle youth face when trying to live a healthier life, Carson replied:

“Junk food, snacks, and soda are advertised everywhere—from television commercials to computer pop-ups and movie theatres—with scrumptiously tempting pictures. Processed foods take up aisles and aisles at grocery stores and are always being promoted with coupons and sales.”

Alliance for a Healthier Generation