By Tony Webb, Tim Lang, Kathleen Tucker
The long-term health hazard significance of polyploidy seen in the children studied here, who had received freshly irradiated wheat, is not clear. On this will depend the answer to the answer to the question whether irradiated wheat is safe for human consumption.
In the light of these observations, it is clear that a cautious approach must be adopted to the whole question of the mutagenic potential of irradiated wheat.
Scientists do not fully understand what mechanisms come into play in the formation of cancer, but it is widely believed that there is damage at the cell level, in particular to chromosomes, that initiates the process, and that exposure to a secondary agent may be needed to promote cancer.
What is particularly worrying is that the initial effect of irradiation is to create free radicals, i.e., highly reactive chemical components created by splitting the more stable complex chemicals structures in food. Free radicals are believed to be common cancer �promoters�. That is, they promote the second-stage developments that turn the initially damaged cells into malignant (i.e., cancerous) ones. Most of the free radicals created by irradiation rapidly recombine into stable chemical forms. However, some remain. One of the tests being developed to detect irradiated foods relies on detection of very small quantities of free radicals remaining in some foods for some time after irradiation.
Whatever the mechanisms involved in the chain of events from cell damage to cancer and/or genetic damage, few in the medical profession would regard an increase in polyploidy cells as a trivial matter. The discovery of such changes in the blood of animals and humans fed irradiated diets is clearly cause for concern, though not in itself proof that eating irradiated foods causes such effects. It does require careful evaluation of al the scientific evidence.