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RE: Article: Approval of Irradiated Sweet Potatoes Has Critics Steamed
Radsafers, Don and Paul
Is there any information on what the pests do to these "spuds". Is the taste
changed?
I ask this because many years ago I took part in a test at the Chalk River
Nuclear Labs. The test was to see if high doses of radiation would improve
the taste of red wines. If I recall correctly, "horrible" wine was made
"drinkable" if the doses were not too high. I don't recall the doses but the
wines were irradiated with Co-60.
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-----Original Message-----
From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu]On Behalf Of John Jacobus
Sent: March 9, 2004 1:34 PM
To: radsafe; know_nukes
Subject: Article: Approval of Irradiated Sweet Potatoes Has Critics
Steamed
This appeared in today's Washington Post, and I
thought it would be of interest.
---------------You have been sent this message from
jjacobus@mail.nih.gov as a courtesy of
washingtonpost.com
Approval of Irradiated Sweet Potatoes Has Critics
Steamed
By Cindy Skrzycki
The purple potato has caused a spud war.
A recent decision by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection
Service to allow irradiation to kill pests in a
special breed of sweet potato raised in Hawaii has
left growers on the mainland trying to protect their
crop and opponents of irradiation fuming.
The fuss is over a tuber called the Okinawan sweet
potato , which has light skin and lavender flesh and
is of Chinese and Japanese origin. The potato is not
well-known or easy to get on the mainland, except in
specialty or ethnic markets on the West Coast. But now
that an irradiation facility in Hilo, Hawaii, is
treating the vegetable, it may one day come to a table
near you -- though it might seem an unusual addition
to a Thanksgiving repast.
Last June, the Agriculture Department proposed
allowing Hawaiian farmers to treat their potatoes with
a high dose of radiation, as an alternative to methyl
bromide fumigation -- a step that was required to
allow entry of the crop onto the mainland. Both
treatments are designed to eliminate pests found in
Hawaii, such as the West Indian sweet potato weevil
and the sweet potato stem borer (also known in
entomology circles as the sweet potato vine borer).
This was a relief to Hawaiian growers, who found it
inconvenient and costly to ship their sweet potatoes
to a fumigation facility on the island of Oahu. Plus,
they had to pay overtime to have Agriculture
Department inspectors present for treatments done
after 4 p.m. or on weekends.
Growers also faced the increasing cost and the
eventual phaseout of methyl bromide under the terms of
an international environmental agreement.
In the recently issued final rule, the USDA reassured
growers on the mainland that their production -- 1.3
billion pounds annually -- dwarfs Hawaiian output, 1.8
million pounds. The U.S. Sweet Potato Council in
Columbia, S.C., looked at the same figures a different
way. It said in comments to USDA: "Hawaiian production
is a mere pittance . . . and therefore, Hawaii should
be able to consume every sweet potato they produce and
then some."
Sweet potato consumption has been declining over the
years. In 1932, when it was considered a poor man's
food, Americans consumed 30 pounds each per year. Now,
it's closer to 4 pounds, though the tuber has become
more appealing because it's a favorite of Oprah
Winfrey and television chef Emeril Lagasse.
North Carolina is the No. 1 producer; the sweet
potato is the official state vegetable.
The USDA, which has approved 15 fruits and vegetables
in Hawaii for the treatment, said the new rule has
many benefits.
It said irradiation costs less; growers would incur
lower transportation costs; irradiation does not
affect the quality of the crop as methyl bromide does;
and the irradiation plant will have plenty of work
since Okinawan sweet potatoes are a year-round crop.
"A steady source of revenues from treatment, such as
revenues from treating sweet potatoes to be moved
interstate, would help assure this facility's
continued operation and availability for all the
producers in Hawaii who can use it," the rule said.
The facility, called Hawaii Pride, opened in 2000 and
was financed by a $6.75 million loan, three-quarters
of which is guaranteed by the USDA.
John Clark, president of Hawaii Pride, said the
company urged the USDA to approve irradiation. "It was
our request to move on it and our diligence in sitting
on them to see that it kept moving forward. We hired
people to make sure it was moving from desk to desk.
We pushed it," said Clark, who is trying to market the
purple potato to big stateside retailers.
The happy news doesn't reassure consumer groups.
Public Citizen, which opposes food irradiation, said
the USDA didn't do enough research to see whether the
dosages would kill specific pests associated with the
sweet potatoes, and it didn't look closely enough to
see whether the Okinawan would harm the domestic
industry.
"We see this as another bad decision as our own
government exercises poor judgment on the issue of
food irradiation," said Wenonah Hauter, director of
Public Citizen's Energy and Environment Program.
California growers aren't pleased either. They know
they can't keep out shipments from another state, but
they are worried about the pests that come with them.
"The question here is, we are not sure irradiation is
taking care of the insects it is supposed to take care
of. We don't need a new infestation in California or
the mainland," said Robert Weimer, a sweet potato
grower in Mercer County, Calif.
Peter Follett, a research entomologist in Hawaii
for USDA's Agricultural Research Service, said
30,000 to 50,000 pounds of the potatoes are being sent
weekly to the mainland from the irradiation facility.
In addition, the amount of sweet potato acreage in
Hawaii has doubled since the facility opened.
Paul Gadh, import specialist for the Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service, said the USDA decided on
"the upper limit of the range of [irradiation] dosage
suggested by internal bodies and our researchers."
Irradiation would be used on three internal pests,
while inspectors would handle the gray pineapple
mealybug and the Kona coffee root-knot nematode the
old-fashioned way, by looking for them.
Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to
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2004Mar8&sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
) 2004 The Washington Post Company
=====
+++++++++++++++++++
""A fanatic is one who cannot change his mind and won't change the subject."
Winston Churchill
-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail: crispy_bird@yahoo.com
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