Friends,
Public Citizen is having a last-minute call-in day on
Wednesday October 15th, and we need your help!
This week is National School Lunch Week, and we are using it
as an opportunity to get co-sponsorship on the Right to Know School Nutrition
Act. This bill, sponsored by Barbara Lee, requires labeling of
irradiated foods served in schools, and requires schools to have a
non-irradiated option at all times.
Please help us spread the word! Below is an email
alert and a link to an action alert about the call-in day. We would
really appreciate it if you could forward this out to your lists.
If you have any questions, please call Monique at
202-546-4996 or Tracy at 510-663-0888 x 103.
Thanks,
Monique Mikhail
The Stop Food Irradiation
Campaign
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***Call in Day for National School Lunch Week -
October 15, 2003***
Urge Your Member of Congress to Co Sponsor H.R. 3120
The "Right to Know School Nutrition Act"
As part of National School Lunch Week, Oct 13-17, we urge
you to call your Member of Congress and tell them to co-sponsor H.R.
3120. This bill, introduced by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA) requires
labeling of irradiated foods when they are served in schools, and requires
schools to have non-irradiated meal options available at all
times.
Call 800-839-5276 and ask to speak to your
Representative.
To find out who represents you, visit www.vote-smart.org
***Sample Phone Rap***
Hi, I am a
constituent of Representative ______________________. I am calling to
urge him/her to co-sponsor H.R. 3120, the Right-to-Know School Nutrition
Act.
This bill is very important to me, because it will help
ensure that schoolchildren have alternatives to irradiated food if their
school decides to serve it. I do not believe that enough research has
been done on the safety of irradiated foods, and I am firmly opposed to using
our children as guinea pigs for a questionable technology.
Please keep me informed of Representative _________________
's stance on this legislation. Thank you.
***Background***
In May 2003 the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
approved irradiated beef for the National School Lunch Program, which provides
more than 25 million low-income children with free or subsidized lunches. The
USDA made their decision despite the overwhelming opposition to this proposal
from parents and concerned citizens.
Irradiation exposes food to doses of ionizing radiation
equivalent to millions of chest x-rays, in order to kill bacteria. This
process destroys essential nutrients and hastens their depletion during
storage and cooking. Irradiation also creates known toxins and
carcinogens in food, such as benzene and toluene, and a new class of
chemicals, called "unique radiolytic products" some of which the FDA has never
tested for safety.
Food irradiation perpetuates the disgusting environment
found in many feedlots and slaughterhouses, where animals wallow in their own
filth and are slaughtered at overly fast linespeeds. These conditions
make it impossible to keep meat clean from excrement and other carriers of
deadly pathogens like E. coli 0157:H7.