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Sodium nitrite and sodium nitrate added to cured meats and smoked fish as a color fixative combine in meat and in the stomach to form a powerful carcinogen (cancer-producing substance). This fact puts the profit motive of the food industry and the health of the American public squarely into opposition and thus far the government regulatory agencies are supporting the food industry.

Sodium nitrite and nitrate can be poison. Nitrites combine with blood to form a pink pigment which does not carry oxygen. They have a number of other ominous side-effects. Nitrites combine with amines to form nitrosamines, among the most potent carcinogens known.

Nitrites are likely to combine with amines in the stomach to form nitrosamines. Animals of all kinds, fed nitrites and amines, develop cancer in various parts of their bodies. These nitrosamines are sometimes present in nitrated food even before we ingest it.

The chemical has the unusual and difficult to replace quality of keeping meat a fresh-looking pink throughout the cooking, curing and storage process. The nitrous acid from the nitrite combines with the hemoglobin in the blood of the meat, fixing its red color so that the meat does not turn the tired brown or gray natural to cured meat. Unfortunately, it does much the same thing in humans. Although most of the nitrite passes through the body unchanged, a small amount is released into the blood stream. This combines with the hemoglobin in the blood to form a pigment called methemoglobin, which cannot carry oxygen. If enough oxygen is incapacitated, a person dies. The allowable amount of nitrite in a quarter pound of meat can incapacitate between 1.4 and 5.7 percent of the hemoglobin in an average sized adult. When 10 to 20 percent is incapacitated, a victim discolors and has difficulty breathing.

Why are nitrites used in our food? Nitrites are traditionally used as color fixers. It must appear to be red and fresh, even when it isn't. Meat producers argue that they are needed as preservatives.

The government seems too weak and divided to curtail the usage of Nitrites. What is the public to do for its protection?