I recently became aware that our government was considering using food irradiation for beef preservation. Conveniently, that is all the information the broadcast offered, but do we know all of the facts?

Finding a more effective means of preserving and protecting our food from spoilage is a concern we must take seriously, but is food irradiation the answer? Using irradiation instead of the more practical preservation techniques already in use needs studied further before we as consumers accept it.

The Food and Drug Administration deemed food irradiation as both acceptable and effective, even though available research results prove the opposite. It's not surprising consumers are reluctant to agree that using radioactive waste -- which is where the utilized materials Cobalt-60 and Cesium-137 comes from -- is as safe as the FDA claims.

Food irradiation's purpose is clearly understood, but it's safety needs are highly questionable. The effects it could have on people, animals and the environment make me wonder if a temporary solution to starvation is worth the risks.

Like many environmental issues involving the terms nuclear and radiation, the process of food irradiation has caused a widespread panic. Apparently, events at Chernobyl and Three Mile Island have engraved in consumers' minds that dealing with nuclear energy will be disastrous.

The reasons for finding a safe and cost efficient means of food preservation is quite simple. When we consider the problems currently facing our environment and the increase in population, it is evident feeding ourselves will become increasingly impossible. Many factors contribute to this inability to provide enough food; natural disasters such as droughts and desertification play their role. But these are not the only factors making it difficult to feed our world.

Far too often the products never make it to the consumers because of spoilage and microbial contamination. In developing countries with warmer climates, the losses of vegetables, fruits and nongrain staple foods often reach up to 50 percent of the total output. With this information, the World Health Organization has declared "food borne diseases, while not well documented, are one of the largest threats to human health and an important cause of reduced economic productivity."

With the need of proper food processing in mind, many forms have been used over decades past. Fermentation, chemical treatment, drying, heat treatment and freezing have all increased our preserving abilities, but with the needs we face, they are not adequate.

Thus the development of food irradiation. Irradiation involves using controlled doses of radiation in the form of x-rays, gamma rays or high-energy electrons on food to kill insects and reduce the number of microorganisms causing spoilage. It can prolong the shelf life of fresh fruits and vegetables and destroy parasitic worms and pests.

Many forms used to preserve food require energy and irradiation is no different. Throughout many experiments in the past, researchers have found it difficult to produce the safe and cost-effective rays. The products considered for use were Cesium-137 and Cobalt-60, which are still the main sources of energy required for food irradiation today.

In many cases the purpose for irradiating foods is to affect a living biological system. This system is either in organisms such as spoilage bacteria or in cases where the objective is to control ripening. If the radiation offered is too little, it will not achieve it's objective. But if excessive, it may be damaged enough to be unstable.

The FDA permits for the processing of fruits and vegetables 2.5 million times the exposure to a single chest x-ray in irradiation. In an FDA experiment, up to 30 percent of the normal lab animal diet was replaced by irradiated foods But it was halted due to the animals premature disease of death. The control group remained healthy eating identical diets of nonirradiated food.

Although 30 countries have authorized its use on 40 varieties of food, the United States has been limited to spices and seasonings, pork, wheat, white potatoes and the list keeps growing. Even though scientific research has warned us against consuming irradiated food, the Department of Energy is planning 1,000 irradiating facilities within the next 10 years.

It is entirely up to us to make ourselves aware of the hazards food irradiation can cause to both humans and our environment. We must also remain highly critical of those regarding food irradiation as safe and consider their political or economic hidden benefits. For example, the Department of Energy has a hidden benefit in that if the products (nuclear waste) used for food processing were not permitted for use in food irradiation, it would be faced with the burden, controversy and high expense of disposal.

We cannot allow food irradiation to take place without more accurate and truthful research. Even though food irradiation objectives are needed to help reduce starvation, the short term contributions are a long-term nightmare.