Some medical experts, in fact, contend not only that the agency has relied on an inadequate amount of testing, but that the five tests accepted by the FDA for review do not support the safety of food irradiation. One of the two also suggested that irradiated food could have adverse effects on older animals. Many consumer groups and medical experts say the studies that have been conducted strongly suggest food irradiation makes food unsafe to eat. Studies show that irradiation produces unique products in food which may cause mutations, leading some critics to suggest that irradiated food may prove carcinogenic. Epstein says that tests in which irradiated food has been fed to lab animals, and in one case to children from India, have found reproductive effects in rats and monkeys, and chromosomal damage, especially polyploidy, in rats, monkeys and the children.
Irradiation reduces the nutritional value of food as well.
Epstein says loss of nutritional value is of particular concern since food irradiation is being promoted as a means of extending the shelf life of food shipped to undernourished people in the Third World. Consumers who wish to avoid purchasing irradiated food may have difficulty doing so. Critics of food irradiation are also concerned about environmental hazards associated with the process. Other risks include increased worker exposure to radioactive materials and the potential for the contamination of irradiation facilities immediate environment and nearby groundwater supplies. In 1974, whistleblowers at the Isomedix company in New Jersey reported that radioactive water had been flushed down toilets and had contaminated the pipes leading to sewers.