The American FDA has approved irradiation of seed used for growing sprouts, and no labels will be required on the sprouts! This applies only to the USA at present.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) officials have confirmed that irradiated seeds for sprouting could not be imported into Canada.

Click here to view the official FDA document describing the treatment and labeling requirements. (PDF format, you'll need Adobe Acrobat to read it)

Why is this being done? It's in response to the food poisoning scare in alfalfa and clover sprouts. Rather than working with sprouting seed growers, suppliers, commercial sprouters, and handlers, (requiring good growing and manufacturing practices and careful testing of seed and sprouts) the FDA has opted for the "magic bullet" approach to solving the problem. Sprouts can be grown from any old seed lot that will germinate, and irradiation will substitute for proper care and cleanliness in growing and handling.

The FDA has determined that "only negligible amounts of radiolysis products are expected to be present in the sprouts that are grown from irradiated seeds for sprouting." This is despite the fact that "This petition contained no toxicity studies on the sprouts grown from irradiated seeds."
quotes from FDA docket Number 99F-2673

Personally, I prefer to avoid eating even negligible amounts of these untested radiolysis products.

What can you do if you live in the US and don't want to eat sprouts grown from irradiated seeds?

The FDA has left very little time to comment and made the process difficult by giving only a mailing address for comments. You can send comments until November 30, 2000 to:
Dockets Management Branch (HFA-305)
Food and Drug Administration
5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061
Rockville, MD 20852

• Probably more useful is to ask the store where you buy sprouts if they are going to sell sprouts grown from irradiated seeds.
  
• Contact the companies that grow sprouts in your area and ask if they will use irradiated seed without labelling the sprouts as grown from irradiated seed.
  
• Buy sprouts that are certified organic. No reputable organic certifying agency will allow use of irradiated ingredients.
  
• Buy certified organic seeds and grow your own sprouts at home.