Executive Summary

THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION is the most important and influential agency of its kind on the planet. Created in 1948 by the United Nations, the WHO pursues a mission nothing short of preserving the health of the Earth’s population –– “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” ¹

Headquartered in Geneva, the WHO has grown from 61 member nations at its founding to 193 today, from Algeria to Zimbabwe. Its more than 100 initiatives encompass virtually every health problem imaginable, from anthrax and adolescent reproductive health, to vitamin A deficiency and violence against women.²

When the WHO speaks, the world listens.

In 1999, the WHO announced that any food could be “treated” with ionizing radiation and still be safe for human consumption. Even though this radiation –– in the form of gamma rays emanating from radioactive cobalt-60 or cesium-137, or near-speed-of-light electrons fired by linear accelerators –– could be as high as the equivalent of several billion chest x-rays, a WHO report proclaimed that irradiating food “does not result in any toxicological hazard.” ³

Food & Water Watch is reproducing this report with Public Citizen’s permission.