Re: CHOICE? with Food Irradiation

[Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 08:05 13.12.1996 -0600, you wrote:
>Dr. Schoenhofer and others,
>
>I must beg to differ, not so much in what you said concerning labeling and
>the choices people make, but in your premise.  Food and Water, the lobbying
>group who is spearheading this effort to discourage Hormel from using
>irradiation, is in fact, taking the decision OUT of the process.  They are
>not, as Glen Vickers put it, "mom at the grocery store," offering an
>opinion.  They are a well-organized, often misinformed group of
people..............................................................


Scott,

You describe the typical "green" group.

I regret the death of any child, of any grown-up. I regret the death of
thousands and millions of children in underdeveloped countries starving to
death and who die on diseases which with out Western medicine could be
easily eradicated. Sorry, call me brutal or irresponsable, whatever you
like, but the death of ten children in the Western world, caused by
Escherichia coli is no reason for me, why all food has to be irradiated. I
also wonder, how E. coli can be in apple juice - I suppose it was a lack of
hygiene. Just in that case there are enough other methods available to
sterilize the juice. You mention the costs - may I draw the conclusion, that
these children had to die, because the company wanted to avoid the costs for
sterilisation? The starving of million children in underdeveloped countries
i s  a reason in my opinion to irradiate food to avoid infestation with
insects and spoilage. 

I assure everybody again, that I am not against irradiation of food, but it
should be applied in cases, where it makes sense. 

I hope, Scott, that you did not recommend to treat all food with no
exception by irradiation as a precaution. Many foodstuffs are not suitable
at all for that treatment. What a market! What a profit! Would not this be
an excellent argument for these "green" groups?

Franz
Schoenhofer
Habichergasse 31/7
A-1160 WIEN
AUSTRIA/EUROPE
Tel./Fax:	+43-1-4955308
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e-mail:		schoenho@via.at