메이지 시기 서양으로 파견된 이와쿠라 사절단(岩倉使節団)을 통해서 서양의 ‘위생’ 개념이 동아시아에 수입되었다. 

이와쿠라 도모미(岩倉 具視)를 단장으로 한 48명의 사절단은 1871년 12월 23일 요코하마에서 미국 샌프란시스코로 출발하였다.  이들은 워싱턴 DC, 영국, 프랑스, 벨기에, 네덜란드, 러시아, 프로이센, 덴마크, 스웨덴, 오스트리아, 이탈리아, 스위스를 여행하였다. 그리고  돌아오는 길에 이집트, 아덴, 실론, 싱가포르, 사이공, 홍콩, 상하이를 방문하고, 1873년 10월 13일 귀국하였다.

이와쿠라 사절단의 일원이었던 의학자 나가요 센사이(長與專齋, 1838~1902)는 생명이나 생활을 지키는 개념으로서 독일어의 ‘Hygiene’이 사회기반의 정비를 포함하고, 국가와 도시를 포함하고 있는 것에 주목하였다. 그는 서양에서 사용되고 있는 sanitation, health, Hygiene 같은 용어가 단순히 건강보호의 측면에만 사용되지 않는다는 사실을 깨달았으며, 건강과 위생을 담당하는 행정기구의 사무범위가 인간 생활의 거의 모든 분야를 포괄하고 있다는 사실을 알게 되었다.

나가요 센사이는 이 행정기구가  “세상의 危害를 제거하고 국가의 복지를 완전히 하는 기구로서 유행병, 전염병예방은 물론, 빈민구제, 토지청결, 상하수도 설치․배수, 시가 가옥 건축방식부터, 약품․염료․음식물의 단속에 이르기까지, 대체로 인간 생활에 관계된 것은 모두 망라”하고 있다고 전했다.

그는 이 행정기구를 번역함에 있어서 양생(養生), 의무(醫務), 건강(健康), 보건(保健) 같은 직설적인 단어들이 적합하지 않다고 판단하고, 새로운 번역어를 만들어냈다. 그가 독일어 ‘Hygiene’의 번역어로 찾아낸 단어는 장자(莊子) ｢경상초편(庚桑楚篇)｣에 있는 ‘위생(衛生)’이었다. 이 단어는 그 자체로 고아( 高雅)하고 발음도 나쁘지 않기 때문에 ‘Hygiene’의 번역어로 채택하였다.
(松本順自傳․長與專齋自傳, 東京 : 平凡社, 1980, 133-134쪽, 139쪽)

나가요 센사이가 ‘Hygiene’의 번역어로 수용한 ‘위생’이라는 개념에는 서양에서 근대국가가 성립되면서 형성된 국민의 건강을 보호하기 위해서는 국가가 적극적으로 개입해야 한다는 의미가 내포되어 있었다. 다시 말해 국가가 국민의 건강을 보호하기 위해 국민의 생활 전반에 걸쳐서 적극적인 개입을 시행한다는 의미가 들어 있었다.(笠原英彦, 日本の醫療行政, 慶應義塾大學出版會, 1999, 32-33쪽)

나가요 센사이는 1874년(메이지(明治)7년) 일본 문교부 의무국장에 취임했으며, 도쿄의학교(현재의 도쿄대(東京大) 의학부)의 교장을 겸했다. 같은 해 도쿄사약장(東京司薬場, 국립의약품 식품위생연구소의 전신)을 창설했다. 1875년에 의무국이 내무성으로 이관되면서 위생국으로 개칭되었는데, 그 초대국장으로 나가요 센사이가 취임하였다. 그는 콜레라 등 전염병의 유행에 대비하여 위생공사를 추진하고, 위생사상의 보급에 진력하였다. (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E9%95%B7%E8%88%87%E5%B0%88%E9%BD%8B)

일본의 메이지 시기 나가요 센사이에 의해  ‘Hygiene’의 번역어로 도입된 ‘위생’ 개념은 조선 말 우리나라로 수입되었다. 강화도조약으로 개항을 한 조선은 1877년 1차 수신사를 일본으로 파견하였다. 김기수의 ‘일동기유’에는 일본으로 출발하기 직전 동래에 머물러 있을 때 일본측으로부터 전해 받은‘성내(城內)’에서 금지조항 28조가 수록되어 있다. 그 내용은 성내’에서는 오물투기, 가옥 앞의 청소, 오수의 준설, 분뇨처리, 방뇨장소 등에 규칙을 마련하고 이를 어길 경우 엄벌에 처한다는 내용이었으며, 김기수 일행은 얼마 후 실제 일본에 도착하여 도로, 하수도, 변소 등 위생관련 시설들의 상황과 관리실태를 주의 깊게 관찰하고 돌아왔다.

고종은 1881년의 총 64명의 조사시찰단(朝士視察團)을 일본으로 파견하여 메이지 일본의 문물과 제도를 시찰하고 보고서를 작성하라고 지시하였다. 이 보고서에는 일본의 정치, 경제, 사법, 교육, 군사 등의 제도가 상세히 기술되어 있다. 일본 내무성 산하에 위생국이 설치되어 있다는 내용도 들어 있다.

1882년 임오군란 이후 박영효는 수신사로 일본에 다견되었는데, 당시 일본에 체류중이던 김옥균과 치도(治道)의 시행에 대해 토론하였다. 이후 김옥균은 “치도략론(治道略論)”과 “치도략칙(治道略則)”을 작성했다. 그 내용에는 분뇨수거, 도로정비, 방화대책 등의 위생에 관한 내용이 많이 포함되어 있다.

1883년 1월 한성판윤에 임명된 박영효는 치도국(治道局)을 설치하고, 순경부(巡警部)를 창설하였다.

1884년 한성순보에는  ｢만국위생회(萬國衛生會)｣라는 기사가 실렸는데, 위생을  “이미 발생한 병을 치료”하는 醫療와 대비되는 개념으로, “모든 병이 발생하기 전에 예방”한다는 개념으로 이해되었다. 또한 위생사업은 “백성을 오래 살게 하는 훌륭한 방법이며 국가를 튼튼하게 하는 참된 법”으로 칭송받았다.( ｢萬國衛生會｣, 漢城旬報, 1884. 5. 5.)

1894년 갑오개혁으로 내무아문 아래 위생국이 설치되었고 ‘경무청관제’가 새행되어 위생관련 업무를 경무청에서 담당하게 되었다.

메이지 일본을 거쳐 조선에 들어온 서양의 위생개념은 국가 공권력의 개입을 통해 일제 식민지 시기를 거쳐 우리나라에 뿌리내리게 된 것이다.

[참고]

‘위생(hygiene)’의 어원은 그리스어 휘게이아(Hygeia)이다. 히게이아는  태양의 신 아폴로(Apollo)의아들인 의학의 신 아스클레피오스(Aesculapius)의 딸이다. 아스클레피오스는 에피오네와 결혼하여 두 명의 아들과 5명의 딸을 두었다. 두 명의 아들은 마카온(Machaon, 외과의사)과 포달레이리오스(Podalirius, 내과의사)이고, 5명의 딸은 휘게이아(Hygieia, 위생), 이아소(Iaso, 의학), 아케소(Aceso, 치유), 아글레이아(Aglæa, 건강한 혈색), 파나케이아(Panacea, 만병통치약)이다.

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PREVENTING PATHOGENIC FOOD POISONING: SANITATION NOT IRRADIATION

Samuel S. Epstein and Wenonah Hauter

Bacterial food poisoning can be readily prevented by long overdue basic sanitary measures rather than by ultrahazardous irradiation technologies.

The food and nuclear industries, with strong government support, have capitalized on recent outbreaks of pathogenic E.coli 0157 meat poisoning to mobilize public acceptance of large scale food irradiation.  Already, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing the use of high-level radiation to “treat” beef, pork, poultry, eggs, vegetables, fruit, flour and spices, while the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) proposes the imminent irradiation of imported fruit and vegetables.

Caving in to powerful corporate industry interests, both House and Senate Appropriations Committees have recently proposed to sanitize the FDA’s already weakened labeling requirements for irradiated food by eliminating the word “irradiated” in favor of “electronic pasteurization” (1); this term was proposed by the San Diego based Titan corporation, an erstwhile major defense contractor using highly costly linear accelerator “E-beam” technology, originally designed for President Reagan’s “Star Wars” program, which shoots food with a stream of electrons travelling at the speed of light.  However, the proposed electronic pasteurization label is a euphemistic absurdity, especially since the FDA’s approved meat radiation dosage of 450,000 rads  is approximately 150 million times greater than that of a chest X-ray, besides circumventing consumers’ fundamental right to know.

             Furthermore, the new labeling initiative is reckless.  Irradiated meat is a very different product from cooked meat.  Whether irradiated by linear accelerators or pelletized radioactive isotopes, the resulting ionizing radiation produces highly reactive free radicals and peroxides from unsaturated fats.  U.S. Army analyses in 1977 revealed major differences between volatile chemicals formed during irradiation or cooking meat (2).  Levels of the carcinogen benzene in irradiated beef were found to be some tenfold higher than cooked beef.  Additionally, high concentrations of six poorly characterized “unique radiolytic chemical products”  admittedly “implicated as carcinogens or carcinogenic under certain conditions,”  were also identified (2).

Based on these striking changes in the chemistry of irradiated meat, FDA’s 1980 Irradiated Food Committee explicitly warned that safety testing should be based on concentrated extracts of irradiated foods, rather than on whole foods, to maximize the concentration of radiolytic products (3).  This would enable development of sufficient sensitivity essential for routine safety testing.  In 1984, Epstein and Gofman more specifically urged that “stable radiolytic products could be extracted from irradiated foods by various solvents which could then be concentrated and subsequently tested.  Until such fundamental studies are undertaken, there is little scientific basis for accepting industry’s assurances of safety” (4).  In an accompanying editorial comment, FDA was quoted as admitting that “it is nearly impossible to detect (and test radiolytic products) with current techniques” on the basis of which the agency’s claims of safety and regulatory abdication still persist (5).

While refusing to require standard toxicological and carcinogenicity testing of concentrated extracts of radiolytic products from irradiated meat and other foods, FDA instead has relied on some five studies selected from 441 published prior to the early 1980’s, on which its claims of safety still remain based.  However, the chair of FDA’s Irradiated Food Task Committee which reviewed these studies insisted that none were adequate by 1982 standards (6), and even less so by the 1990’s (7).  Furthermore, detailed analysis of these studies revealed that all were grossly flawed and non-exculpatory (8).

             These results are hardly surprising since a wide range of independent studies prior to 1986 clearly identified mutagenic and carcinogenic radiolytic products in irradiated food, and confirmed evidence of genetic toxicity in tests on irradiated food (9).  Studies in the 1970’s, by India’s National Institute of Nutrition, reported that feeding freshly radiated wheat to monkeys, rats, mice and to a small

group of malnourished children induced gross chromosomal abnormalities in blood or bone marrow cells, and mutational damage in the rodents (10).

             Food irradiation results in major micronutrient losses, particularly vitamins A, C, E, and the B complex (11).  As admitted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agriculture Research Service, these losses are synergistically increased by cooking, resulting in “empty calorie” food (12); this is a concern of major importance for malnourished populations.  Radiation has also been used to clean up food unfit for human consumption, such as spoiled fish, by killing odorous contaminating bacteria.

            While the USDA is strongly promoting meat and poultry irradiation, it has been moving to deregulate and privatize the industry by promoting a self-policing Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) control program (13); in late 2000, the agency will start a rulemaking process to privatize meat inspection. Moreover, the Department of Energy (DOE) continues its decades long aggressive promotion of food irradiation as a way of reducing disposal costs of spent military and civilian nuclear fuel by providing a commercial market for cesium nuclear wastes.

Irradiation facilities using pelletized isotopes pose risks of nuclear accidents to communities nationwide from the hundreds of facilities envisaged for the potentially enormous radiation market; in contrast to nuclear power stations, these facilities are small, minimally regulated, unlikely to be secure, and require regular replenishment of cobalt (Co-60) or cesium (Cs-137) isotopes, entailing nationwide transportation hazards.  Furthermore, linear accelerators, besides plants using radioactive isotopes, pose grave hazards to workers and are subject to virtually no regulation (9, 14).

The track record of the irradiation industry is, at best, unimpressive.  Robert Alvarez, former DOE Senior Policy Advisor, recently warned that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission files are bulging with unreported documents on radioactive spills, worker over-exposure, and off-site radiation leakage (15).  Strangely, the Environmental Protection Agency has still failed to require an Environmental Impact Statement prior to the siting of food irradiation facilities.

The focus of the radiation and agribusiness industries is directed to the highly lucrative cleanup of contaminated food rather than to preventing contamination at its source (16).  However, E. coli 0157 food poisoning can be largely prevented by long overdue improved sanitation.  Feedlot pen sanitation, including reducing overcrowding, drinking water disinfection and fly control, would drastically reduce cattle infection rates.  Moreover, E. coli 0157 infection rates could be virtually eliminated by feeding hay, rather than the standard unhealthy starchy grain diet, for seven days prior to slaughter (17).  Sanitation would also prevent water contamination from feed lot run off, incriminated in the recent outbreak of E. coli 0157 poisoning in Walkerton, Ontario (18); run off will remain a continuing threat even if all meat was irradiated.

Pre-slaughter, post-knocking and post-evisceration sanitation at meat packing plants is highly effective for reducing carcass contamination rates (16).  Testing pooled carcasses for E. coli 0157 and Salmonella contamination is economical, practical, and rapid.  The expense of producing sanitary meat would be trivial compared to the high costs of irradiation, including possible nuclear accidents, which would be passed on to consumers.  Additional high costs are likely to result from an anticipated international ban on the imports of irradiated U.S. food, and also from losses of tourist revenues.

             We charge that support of the “electronically pasteurized” label by the food and radiation industries, governmental agencies, and Congress, is a camouflaged denial of citizen’s fundamental right to know.  Rather than sanitizing the label in response to special interests, Congress should focus on sanitation and not irradiation of the nation’s food supply.

Note – This article is largely based on a June 6, 2000 P.R. Newswire press release by the Cancer Prevention Coalition and Public Citizen.

REFERENCES

1.        Congress Pressures FDA For Softer Labeling Of Irradiated Foods.  FDA Week, p. 9-10, May 12, 2000.

2.        Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, Evaluation of The Health Aspects of Certain Compounds Found in Irradiated Beef.  Report to the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command, Bethesda, MD, August 1977.

3.        U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Recommendations for Evaluating the Safety of Irradiated Food.  Final Report of FDA’s Irradiated Food Committee.  Washington, D.C.,  July 1980.

4.        Epstein, S. S., and Gofman, J. W.  Irradiation of food.  Science 223:1354, 1984.

5.        Sun, M.  Science 223:1354, 1984.

6.        van Gemert, M.   Memorandum Re: Final Report of the Task Group for the Review of Toxicology Data on Irradiated Food. April 9, 1982.

7.        van Gemert, M.  Letter to New Jersey Assemblyman John Keller, October 19, 1993.

8.        Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program and the Cancer Prevention Coalition.  A Broken Record:  How the FDA Legalized and Continues to Legalize Food Irradiation Without Testing it for Safety.  Special Report, October 2000.

9.        Piccioni, R.  Food irradiation: contaminating our food.  Ecologist 18(2):48-55, 1988.

10.     Vijayalaxmi, and Srikantia, S. G.  A review of the studies on the wholesomeness of irradiated wheat conducted at the National Institute of Nutrition, India.  Radiat. Phys. Chem. 34(6):941-952, 1989.

11.     Murray, D. R.  Biology of Food Irradiation.  RSP Research Studies Press Ltd., Taunton, Somerset, England, 1990.

12.     Food Chemical News, Irradiation compounds vitamin loss from cooking, ARS Reports.  November 10, 1986, p. 42.

13.     USDA Food Safety Inspection Service, Irradiation of Red Meat: A Complication of Technical Data for its Authorization and Control.  International Consultative Group on Food Irradiation, August, 1996.

14.     Trager, E. A.  Review of events at large pool-type irradiators.  Office of Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., March, 1989.

15.     Alvarez, R.  Food irradiation: 50 years of hollow promises.  Bull. Atom. Sci. 2000, in press.

16.     Elder, R. O. et al.  Correlation of enterohemorrhagic E.coli 0157 prevalence in feces, hides and carcasses of beef cattle during processing.  Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 97(7):2999-3003, 2000.

17.     Diaz-Gonzalez, F. et al.  Science 281:1666-1668, 1998.

18.     Analysis of Ontario E.coli Walkerton pollution disaster.  The Gallon Environmental Letter, Montreal, Quebec, May 2000.

ENDORSEMENTS

Robert Alvarez, Former Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy and Executive

                  Director the STAR Foundation

Kenny Ausubel, Collective Heritage Institute/Bioneers, Santa Fe, NM

Dr. Neal Barnard, President Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, Washington, DC

Tewolde Berhan and Sue Edwards, Institute for Sustainable Development, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Dr. Rosalie Bertell, International Institute of Concern for Public Health, Toronto, Canada

Barbara Brenner, J.D. Executive Director Breast Cancer Action, San Francisco, CA

Dr. Barry Castleman, Environmental Consultant, Baltimore, MD

Vera Chaney, Green Network, Leyden, Colchester, Essex, U.K.

Citizens Concerns, USA

Ronnie Cummins, National Director Organic Consumers Association, Little Marais, MN

Dr. Donald Dahlsten, Professor and Associate Dean, University of California, Berkeley, CA

Dr. Robert Elder, Senior Microbiologist Neogen Co., Lansing, MI, formerly Senior Scientist

                  Agricultural Research Service, USDA

Margarita Florez, Instituto Latinoamericano de Servicios Legales (ILSA), Columbia

Dr. John Gofman, Emeritus Professor Molecular and Radiation Biology, University of

                  California, Berkeley, CA

Edward Goldsmith, M.A., Publisher and Editor The Ecologist, London, U.K.

Dr. Jay M. Gould, Director Radiation and Public Health Project, USA

Randall Hayes, President Rainforest Action Network, USA

Luc Hens, M.D., Professor Department of Human Ecology, Brussels Free University, Belgium

Dr. Mae-Wan Ho, Director Institute of Science in Society, The Open University, Milton

                  Keynes, U.K.

Jeffrey A. Hollender, President Seventh Generation, Burlington, VT

Dr. Vyvyan Howard, Professor Pathology, University of Liverpool, U.K.

S. M. Mohamed Idris, President, Consumers’ Association of Penang, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth Malaysia) and Institute Masyarakat Berhad, Penang, Malaysia

Martin Khor, Director Third World Network, Penang, Malaysia

Dr. David Kriebel, Professor Epidemiology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA

Lynn Landes, Founder and Director Zero Waste America, Yardley, PA

Dr. Marvin Legator, Professor Preventive Medicine, University of Texas, Galveston, TX

Rabbi Michael Lerner, Ph.D., Editor TIKKUN Magazine, San Francisco, CA

Dr. William Lijinsky, former Director Chemical Carcinogenesis, Frederick Cancer Research

                  Center, MD

Dr. E. Lichter, Professor Community Medicine, University of Illinois Medical School, Chicago

                  IL

Dr. Donald Louria, Chairman Department Preventive Medicine, New Jersey Medical School,

                  Newark, NJ

Dr. Sheldon Margen, Emeritus Professor Public Health Nutrition, University of California,

                  Berkeley, CA and Chairman of the Berkeley Wellness Letter

George Monbiot, Health and Science Columnist, The Guardian, London, U.K.

Raymond Monbiot, Fellow of the Marketing Society, London, U.K.

Dr.  Vicente Navarro, Professor Health and Public Policy, The Johns Hopkins University,

                  Baltimore, MD, and Professor Political and Social Sciences, University Pompeu Fabra,

                  Spain

Dr. Herbert L. Needleman, Professor Pediatrics and Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh,

                  Pittsburgh, PA

Debbie Ortman, National Field Organizer, Organic Consumers Association, Duluth, MN

Dr. Peter Phillips, Professor Sociology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA

Dr. Robert Rinehart, Emeritus Professor Biology, San Diego State University, CA

Dr. Janette Sherman, Research Associate Radiation and Public Health Project, and Adjunct

                  Professor Department of Sociology, Western Michigan University, MI

Dr. Vandana Shiva, Director Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural

                  Resource Policy, Dehradun, India

Dr. George Tritsch, Cancer Research Scientist, Roswell Park Memorial Institute, New York

                  State Department of Health, NY

Stephen L. Tvedten, CEO Get Set, Inc., President of the Institute of Pest Management, Marne, MI

Dr. Vijayalaxmi, Associate Professor Department Radiation Oncology, University of Texas

                  Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX

Frank D. Wiewel, President People Against Cancer, Otho, IA

Dr. Gesa Staats de Yanes, Professor Fetal and Infant Pathology, University of Liverpool, U.K.

Dr. Quentin Young, past President American Public Health Association, Chicago, IL

NOTE:  Additional endorsements by activist groups and scientists, nationally and internationally, would be welcome. 

Direct reprint requests and further endorsements to:

Dr. Samuel S. Epstein

Emeritus Professor Environmental Medicine,

and Chairman the Cancer Prevention Coalition

University of Illinois School of Public Health

2121 W. Taylor St., Chicago, IL 60612

Wenonah Hauter

Public Citizen

Critical Mass, Energy and Environment Program

215 Pennsylvania Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C., 20003