Re: irradiated?

Richard L. Bowen (rbowen@hawaii.edu)
Thu, 12 Mar 1998 10:08:01 -1000

I would like to complement Dale for his assessment of the overreaction of
SA folks to irradiation and other issues. We would like to export our
fruits from Hawaii but fruit flies are a hurdle. Over the years we have
developed several approaches (dry heat, hot bath) to disinfect papayas but
they degrade the quality of the fruit. Irradiation offers the most promise
and will also increase shelf life. A private firm has received approval to
build a plant on the Big Island, although it was fought by the anti-nuclear
folks, the Hawaii Organics association, etc.

I can understand the objections of people who fear that irradiation of meat
will just allow the large agribusinesses to continue their horrible
production practices. But I do not think irradiation itself is the enemy.

Dick Bowen
University of Hawaii

>Craig and Dale;
>
>I must agree with Craig about the purpose and rationale behind
>irradiation.
>> > What is interesting to me is the vitriolic response of the sustainable
>> > ag folks. It is almost like this is (along with pesticides and maybe
>> > GMO's) a sort of litmus test. Like you can't be an authentic
>> > sustainable ag person if you accept it. I think that there is a
>> > political root to all of this.
>
>> It seems very straight-forward to me. Nothing about food irradiation
>> fits into the lexicon of sustainable anything. No serious sustainable
>> ag person can support this "solution".
>
>It's very indicative of a food system gone awry -- use of
>antibiotics in feed to hasten weight gain, confinement rearing of
>cattle, concentration of processing in the hands of a few giant
>corporations, cattle regarded as units of production only, cattle fed
>parts of their own offal -- very much a techno-fix for a
>techno-created problem -- very much the medical model of making the
>symptom disappear, and leaving the cause unchecked.
>
>Linda Littrell
>Linda Littrell
>Applied Economoics
>University of Minnesota
>612/625-1762
>llittrel@dept.agecon.umn.edu
>
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********************************************************************************
Dr. Richard L. Bowen
Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics
University of Hawaii
Gilmore Hall
Honolulu, HI 96822
808-956-6755
808-956-9091 fax
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