According to Dr. Joseph Mercola, 38% of our food is being irradiated. That’s over a third of our food! You may ask yourself, well, what is irradiated food. Well, the process of irradiation is well waves of gamma radiation penetrate our food in an irradiation plant, and the gamma rays kill insects, and bacteria. However, these gamma rays don’t always kill the “bad” bacteria. Food irradiation is a terrible way to clean food, and it shouldn't be happening in this day and age, Food irradiation is very controversial. It has many safety issues, it does negatively affect the food, there’s a lot of government corruption along with a lot of corruption from the meat industry. “The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) has recorded 54 accidents at 132 irradiation facilities worldwide since 1974.” (What’s Wrong with Food Irradiation?). Food irradiation plants used nuclear substances which are extremely dangerous if they get into the wrong hands because they are deadly. “It has been reported that numerous unrecovered losses and thefts of radioactive materials occur each year. Recent events have raised concerns over the potential for terrorists to obtain these materials for the use in ‘dirty bombs’”(Food Irradiation, Health Risks, Misleading Consumers, Misuse of the Technology). There needs to be extensive security around these facilities. This risks national security. In addition to the risking national security, these facilities also threaten public safety. “In 1974, an Isomedix facility in New Jersey flushed radioactive water down toilets and contaminated piped leading to sewers. In the same year, a worker received a dose of radiation considered lethal for 70 percent of the population.”(Mercola) This is outrageous. If a nuclear power p... ... middle of paper ... ...Health Risks. Organic Consumer Association, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. "Food Irradiation." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013 "Food Irradiation." Food Irradiation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. "Food Irradiation, Health Risks, Misleading Consumers, Misuse of the Technology." Medical News Today. MediLexicon International, 14 June 2004. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Hanselman, John C. "The Unknown Dangers of Food Irradiation." Natural Health & Wellness Information & Recipes. Alive Publishing Group, Oct. 2000. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. Mercola, Joseph, Dr. "Nuclear Lunch: The Dangers and Unknowns of Food Irradiation." Mercola.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. "The Facts about Food Irradiation." The Facts about Food Irradiation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. "What's Wrong with Food Irradiation?" What's Wrong with Food Irradiation? N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
—- . ”Tyson Foods: Living Food Safety." Tyson. Tyson, 28 Feb 2014. Web. 7 Apr 2014.
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
Apart of becoming a new patient at a dental office is taking an x-ray and some may have question along with taking an x-ray, like “will I be affected by the x-ray?” or “will I get cancer?”, “how long will it take” “are x-ray’s safe?”, the list goes on and on. So in this paper we will talk about different types of radiation affects such as affects on children and pregnant women as well as some things that may help reduce some of the radiation that may harm the human body.
The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Kallen, Stuart A. Food Safety. Detroit: Greenhaven, 2005. http://www. Print.
The continuous spread of nuclear technology and nuclear weapons is a threat for national security and the safety of the entire planet. The inextricable link between nuclear energy and nuclear power is arguably the greatest danger of nuclear power. The same low-enriched uranium that is processed in a nuclear power plant is the same uranium used to make nuclear weapons. Nuclear power plants are the contributors to these mass destruction weapon capable of wiping out the human race. An article published by the World Nuclear Stockpile Report says, “ Nine countries in the world posses a total of 15,375 nuclear weapons.
One of the biggest and longest lasting environmental impacts of the detonation of the atomic bomb is the radiation contaminations that are left over. These contaminations spread into water, air, animals, soil and into the atmosphere. What’s worse is that these contaminations have materials that have very long half-life meaning that their radiation effects do not decay quickly. “Many of the substances released, including plutonium, uranium, strontium, cesium, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), mercury and cyanide, are carcinogenic and/or mutagenic and remain hazardous for thousands, some for hundreds of thousands, of year” (The Effects of nuclear weapons). The spread of these contaminates will cause significant health risks to animals ca...
Shah, Anup . " Is GE Food Safe?. " - Global Issues. N.p., 20 Jan. 2002. Web.
...nce World War II to the present day, the technology of nuclear power has increased significantly in terms of energy output and safety. The energy efficiency of nuclear power is far superior to its counterpart fossil fuel and renewable energy. Compared to fossil fuels, tiny amounts of fuel used by nuclear reactors is equivalent to a large sum of coal. This is a no brainer. Why mine a ton of coal when a little uranium can be used to gain the same amount of energy? Not only is it efficient, it’s safe to use. Used fuel is packed away in storage safely, so there isn’t any chance of radiation leaking out. In the present day, nuclear power incidents haven’t been occurring lately. Advancements in technology and equipment used have made nuclear energy a very reliable and safe source of energy. With today’s energy needs, nuclear power has the ability to keep up in the race.
World Health Organization. (2006). Health Effects of the Chernobyl accident: an Overview. Retrieved November 1st, 2013 from http://www.who.int/ionizing_radiation/chernobyl/backgrounder/en/index.html
Many consumers and farmers have discovered that living in an industrialized culture where the focus has become faster, bigger, and cheaper is not the best way to produce our food. Obsessed with productivity, the agriculture industry is reaping the negative consequences of creating an unsustainable environment for food production. Time and time again, the media captures stories regarding deadly bacterial contamination and dangerous pesticide contamination causing illness and death in our communities. The environment is also damaged and contaminated. This devastating trend, due to irresponsible farming practices as a result of the industrialization of the food industry, has become all too common.
Food safety is an increasingly important public health issue. Governments all over the world are intensifying their efforts to improve food safety. Food borne illnesses are diseases, usually either infectious or toxic in nature, caused by agents that enter the body through the ingestion of food. “In industrialized countries, the percentage of people suffering from food borne diseases each year has been reported to be up to 30%. In the United States of America, for example, around 76 million cases of food borne diseases, resulting in 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,000 deaths, are estimated to occur each year.” (Geneva 2)
The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.
Nuclear power, the use of exothermic nuclear processes to produce an enormous amount of electricity and heat for domestic, medical, military and industrial purposes i.e. “By the end of 2012 2346.3 kilowatt hours (KWh) of electricity was generated by nuclear reactors around the world” (International atomic energy agency Vienna, 2013, p.13). However, with that been said it is evident that the process of generating electricity from a nuclear reactor has numerous health and environmental safety issues.
To save words we not go into the basic details of these radiations but these radiations make the radioisotopes our friend or foe. These radiations revolve round the issue of their use and disposal. Interestingly, both use and disposal are issues of concern. Disposal is an issue because the waste is non-biodegradable and the harmful radiations from them could cause cancer and alter genes in the DNA etc. The use of radioactivity is by itself an issue. Is it safe to use? Where shall the nuclear power plant be located? Where will the waste go?
Media coverage of such cases have made the public less comfortable with the idea of moving further towards nuclear power and they only opt for reducing human activities to reduce global warming. It is true that there have been some notable disasters involving nuclear power, but compared to other power systems, nuclear power has an impressive track record. First, it is less harmful and second, it will be able to cater for the growing world population. Nuclear power produces clean energy and it delivers it at a cost that is competitive in the energy market (Patterson). According to the US Energy Information Administration, there are currently 65 such plants in the Unite States (National Research Council). They produce 19 percent of the total US energy generation.