Several years ago regulators finally permitted irradiation of pork, poultry, fruits, vegetables, spices and grains.
Now the Department of Agriculture has grudgingly announced that it will allow irradiation of red meat.
There is an effective way to prevent contamination of meat in our processing plants: irradiation.
Another problem: It's not clear when or if the beef industry will use irradiation.
Proponents of partial-breast irradiation say technology has changed significantly since then, potentially improving outcomes.
Officials also endorsed a controversial proposal for using irradiation to kill germs in meat.
The Ag Department should finalize irradiation rules right now, thereby saving lives and preventing needless outbreaks of food poisoning.
Still, he is co-leader of the major study comparing it to whole-breast irradiation.
Since 1992, irradiation has been approved for chicken producers, but it is used on less than 1% of the output.
Moreover, the Department will demand that an irradiation symbol be displayed on meat labels, including a statement that the meat was so treated.
Our story noted that bureaucrats at the U.S. Department of Agriculture had been sitting on an irradiation plan since December 1997.
The team, led by radiation oncologist Benjamin Smith, said that was nearly double the 2.2% of women who received whole-breast irradiation.
Equivalent to the pasteurization of milk, irradiation is a completely safe technology that kills poisonous bacteria, mold, fungus and parasites on agricultural products.
But after a decade of experience, it's still uncertain whether partial-breast irradiation is as effective in preventing recurrence and prolonging survival as whole-breast irradiation.
Although its opponents feel irradiating meat is dangerous, "The CDC feels that the irradiation of foods is both effective and safe, " said Dr. David Satcher of the CDC.
"Partial-breast irradiation is a very promising approach, but there's a lot we have to learn, " says Lori Pierce, professor of radiation oncology at University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.
It was gradually replaced by lumpectomy and whole-breast irradiation after several long-term, randomized trials showed this treatment was as effective as removing the entire breast in preventing cancer recurrence and prolonging survival.
In the first study at Stanford University, a man who received his brother's kidney has gone for two years without drugs after his doctors tweaked his immune system with irradiation and antibody treatments.
Progress: Just weeks after our story appeared, the USDA gave the go- ahead to the meat industry to use irradiation, which destroys bacteria by showering meat with electrons, gamma rays or x rays.
These materials include low-grade waste from power stations and small devices containing radioactive materials such as cesium-137, used in some cancer treatments, cobalt-60, used in food irradiation, or americum, incorporated in sensors for oil exploration.
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