The nuclear industry, the food industry and the U.S. government have insisted for a half-century that irradiated foods are safe, nutritious, and taste just like regular food. They say irradiation facilities are not dangerous. They say the technology does not threaten American agriculture.

Here are 10 reasons why they are wrong.

1. Irradiation forms chemicals known or suspected to cause cancer and birth defects. One chemical, 2-ACBs, has been linked to cancer development in rats and genetic damage in human cells.
2. Irradiation can mask filthy conditions in today’s mega-sized livestock slaughterhouses and food processing plants, where E. coli, Salmonella and other potentially deadly food-borne pathogens thrive in meat contaminated with feces, urine and pus.
3.  Irradiated foods have failed spectacularly in the marketplace, despite millions of dollars in government subsidies for research and propaganda campaigns.
4. Many serious health problems have been observed in lab animals fed irradiated foods, including premature death, cancer, tumors, stillbirths, mutations, organ damage, immune system failure and stunted growth. In one experiment, genetic damage was detected in young children who ate irradiated wheat.
5. Because it can extend shelf life and allow food to be shipped long distances around the world, irradiation could further globalize and consolidate the food industry. These destructive forces have already bankrupted thousands of American family farmers and ranchers.
6. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has legalized irradiated foods in defiance of federal regulations requiring comprehensive safety reviews.
7. Irradiation destroys vitamins, protein, essential fatty acids and other nutrients – up to 80 percent of vitamin A in eggs and half the beta carotene in orange juice.
8. Irradiation can ruin the flavor, odor and texture of food – sometimes disgustingly so. Zapped foods can taste and smell like a wet dog, burnt feathers, signed hair and rancid fat.
9.  Numerous deaths, injuries, mishaps and acts of misconduct have occurred at irradiation plants throughout the world. In 1988 the owner of a New Jersey facility was sentenced to federal prison after covering up accidents and safety violations.
10. It remains legal to irradiate food with cesium-137, a highly radioactive waste material left over from the production of nuclear weapons. A cesium leak near Atlanta in 1988 – known as the “Three Mile Island of the irradiation industry” – cost taxpayers $40 million to clean up.