re: Re: The FEAR is Our own worst enemy. (Re)

[Philip Hypes <phypes@lanl.gov>]

There's more to the food irradiation issue than just deaths.  There are
millions of dollars worth of time lost each year to sublethal foodborne
illnesses.  And putting the monetary issue aside, the experience is none
too pleasant in and of itself.  I'll take all the irradiated food I can
get, no matter what the Wild Oats Market manager says.

Phil

At 09:47 AM 2/15/00 -0600, you wrote:
>Oh but Al, other industries or individuals do want to have regulations to
the 
>point of zero risks. Take for instance the "food industry." Several people a 
>year die from food poisioning. There is a movement to have all food
irradiated 
>to save tens-of-lives each year. Of coarse, if regulations required that all 
>foods be irratiated the cost of a few thousand $4 to $6 million dollar 
>irradiators would be small compared to even one life being saved. What, you 
>scoff and say it's not worth it. What if your son, daughter, wife, husband, 
>mother, father, etc. died from tainted meat that could have been "purified" 
>with radiation. When it comes to "food irradiation," "nuclear power," 
>"political power," or  "any special interest" follow the money.
>
>Show them the money and they will show (snow) you the logic.

Very true, as is the sanity comment.  Someone recently asked what the
solution is (in reference to public fears as they affect rad policy);  it's
educating the children, probably at the high school level.  It wouldn't
take much of an introduction to risk evaluation and epidemiology to equip
the next generations that our current policies do more harm than good in
many areas (and that there are a lot of snake oil salesmen out there).
>
>Sanity is rare when it come to fear of death and/or greed. But hey, all this 
>is only my opinion and most if not all is said tounge in cheek.
>
>John P. Hageman, CHP, Radiation Safety Officer, Southwest Research
Institute, 
>6220 Culebra Road, San Antonio, TX 78238 
>Ph: 210-522-2633, Fax: 210-522-5720, jph@swri.edu

Phil


___________________________________________________________
Philip Hypes
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Safeguards Science and Technology Group (NIS 5)
(505) 667-1556  phypes@lanl.gov

Opinions expressed are purely my own unless otherwise noted

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