One of the main theories on the origin of life proposes that the falling down of extraterrestrial bodies caused the appearance of prebiotic molecules on Earth. Quantitative development of this model requires information on the interaction between cosmic rays and these molecules; the dissociation and compaction cross sections, and sputtering yields are particularly needed. Aiming this goal, the current work analyses the effects produced by the impact of fast ions on chiral samples of valine. Valine thin films, deposited on KBr substrates, were irradiated by H positive, He positive and N positive ions with 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 MeV, produced by the PUC-Rio Van de Graaff accelerator. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to analyse the irradiation effects on valine, to identify products and to determine compaction and destruction cross sections and sputtering yields. So far, amino acid radiolysis by MeV ion beams has been poorly studied and an adequate methodology for this analysis is not yet established. Substantial part of this work was then dedicated on the search of optimum experimental conditions. Effects due to sample thickness, temperature/annealing and chirality, as well as substrate and sample preparation, were studied. It was observed that bands attributed to CO2, CO, C2H6, C3H8 and N-H links appear in the FTIR spectrum during irradiation and that destruction cross section decreases as the valine temperature increases. Compaction due to irradiation may be affected by chirality. The obtained results suggest that destruction cross sections follow approximately Se3/2, where Se is the electronic stopping power.