RE: Consumers Endorse Irradiated Meat in Florida; Food...

["Algutifan, Elizabeth K. (ELB) " <elb@bechteljacobs.org>]

Upon reviewing Public Citizen's web site yesterday, I'd say it's them. And I
believe it is because, like STAR and other similar environmentalist groups,
their agenda is the future elimination of all things nuclear (as if that
were even possible; these groups never bring up nuclear medicine). They are
totally one-sided on this issue - for example, one of their pages is labeled
"Food Irradiation Means Filthy Food." And like other non-nuclear activists,
they tend to cite very old (most are more than 20 years old) studies in
making their arguments. If I were an otherwise uninformed citizen learning
about irradiated food for the first time from www.citizen.org, I would want
to place plenty of distance between myself and the grocery stores that sell
it. They tell us, for instance, that irradiation can lead to "meat that
smells like a wet dog..." (Rodney, did that burger you ate a couple of weeks
ago from Schwan's smell like a wet dog? I doubt it.) 

Something else they mentioned, that I found really disgusting, warrants a
little discussion, although maybe not on Radsafe: "Irradiation does nothing
to remove the feces, urine, pus, vomit, and tumors often left on beef,
chicken, and lamb as the result of filthy and inhumane slaughterhouse
conditions." Sounds like one of the basic vegetarian arguments against
consumption of meat. Irradiation or no irradiation, if I were 16 and more
impressionable, upon reading this statement I'd probably swear off meat
forever. Now, I don't know a lot about slaughterhouses here in the USA, but
is it normal to find cattle excrement etc. on grocery store meat products?
What about in the dairy aisle? If this were really a problem, wouldn't we
all be vegetarians by now or demanded the meat industry clean up their act?

Just another example of scare tactics to woo the unsuspecting public to
their side. 

Elizabeth Algutifan, CHP
algutifane@bechteljacobs.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Bob Flood [SMTP:bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU]
> Sent:	Wednesday, August 02, 2000 2:06 PM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: Consumers Endorse Irradiated Meat in Florida; Food...
> 
> >AUBURNDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 2, 2000--Several Florida retail
> outlets
> >continue to report stronger than expected sales of irradiated fresh
> ground
> beef.
> >Store officials at DeLoach's Meat Market in Lakeland and Stuart's Finer
> Foods in Stuart
> >say their only problem is keeping the product in stock.
> 
> >WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two Florida grocers halted sales of irradiated meat
> due
> >to lack of consumer interest, which resulted in paltry sales. DeLoach's
> Meat
> >Market in Lakeland and Stuart's Fine Foods in Stuart decided to stop
> selling
> >experimental food products to their customers just days after sales
> began.
> 
> Without fear of contradiction, I can confidently state that BOTH of those
> stories can't be true. Both may be untrue, but both cannot be true. Wonder
> who's lying? And why?
> ============================
> Bob Flood
> Dosimetry Group Leader
> Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
> bflood@slac.stanford.edu
> 
> 
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