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Global Week of Action Against Food Irradiation, November 23-29, 2003

Click  here to sign the Global Anti-Irradiation Statement!

During the week of Nov. 23-29, actions took place in the U.S., Australia, Italy, Brazil, and the Philippines to oppose the use of irradiation technology for food, and also to oppose food irradiation facilities that use Cobalt 60 as their nuclear energy source.  Check out some of the events below:

Milford Square, Pennsylvania

About 300 citizens of Milford Square, PA participated in a rally and traditional native Lenape Nation ceremony to protest the installation of a nuclear food irradiation facility in their township.  Citizens and speakers from local, state, and national organizations called for the removal of the facility and a moratorium on the use of irradiated meat in the National School Lunch Program. (photos courtesy of Stew Schrauger)

Venice, Italy

Citizens, farmers and the Green Party held protests for 3 days during the meeting of EU Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries.  THey set up a display in front of the palace that houses the Italian television network.

The Philippines

In the Philippines, a whole day of consultations and planning of actions among peasant groups, consumer networks, food sovereignty advocates, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), people from the academe and the church sector took place. A roundtable discussion also ensued with officials from the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute, Department of Agriculture and representatives of the country's Parliamentarians. There was common consensus that food irradiation would essentially benefit the big agricultural exporters, processors and food conglomerates and not farmers or consumers, as claimed by the industry. Peasant groups and NGOs in the Philippines view the advent of the food irradiation industry as another tool to increase the control and further consolidate the monopolistic practices of a handful of agribusiness corporations of the world's food supply. The Integrated Rural Development Foundation [IRDF] and the Task Force Food Sovereignty organized the events in the Philippines.

Brazil

Just a few days before the International Stop Food Irradiation Week, Porto Alegre, the southern most capital of Brazil, held an international meeting on agri-ecology. While speakers were debating the importance of developing a sustainable and healthy agriculture system, activists were at the front door of the meeting collecting signatures for an international petition against food irradiation. All the signatories agree on one point: food irradiation doesn't fit in a world of food sovereignty. Five Brazilian groups and more than 120 people (including people from Spain, Portugal and the USA) signed the petition. In contrast, the food irradiation industry sponsored a meeting in the city of Campinas in São Paulo State on Nov. 25th and 26th. The presentation by the representative of Anvisa - the National Regulatory Agency - clearly stated that they have never monitored irradiated food or its labeling, which means that they don't monitor the legislation they created themselves. Regardless, a speaker from the Ministry of Agriculture said they plan to expand the use of the technology as a phyto-sanitary measure. Fortunately, many people don't agree with this idea. Activists also collected signatures and distributed pamphlets at a Farmers Cooperative Fair in Porto Alegre on the 22nd and 29th of November. Similar activities will continue with the support of groups like Public Citizen and Friends of the Earth/Brazil. 

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