Re: food irradiation related question

["Neil, David M" <NEILDM@inel.gov>]

     The competitor would be another strain of E.coli. To outcompete the
     dangerous strain, it would have to out breed it.  Strains of bacteria
     are well known to exchange genetic material to pass along pro-survival
     traits.  Should this happen:

        1) You would now have a toxic strain with a competitive advantage.
        2) You would have a larger volume of potentially infective cow
            feces to deal with.  (Faster breeding = more biomass of
            bacteria = more fecal volume. Feces are mainly bacterial
            biomass, not food residue as is popularly supposed)

     This does not seem to be a "Good Thing".

     Dave Neil
     neildm@inel.gov
     maclir@if.rmci.net


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: food irradiation related question
Author:  RADSAFE (INELMAIL.RADSAFE) at _EMS
Date:    12/15/97 10:22 AM


An individual against food irridation and I have been trading "letters to
the editor" in the Seattle PI.  Her latest letter makes the statement
that since E. coli is the cause of not just meat contamination but a
number of fruits and vegetables (throught runoff, manure as fertilizer,
cross contamination, etc.).  As a result,  meat irradiation alone will
not solve the answer and a larger solution needs to be determined.   The
individual has mentioned a researcher from the University of Georgia who
believes the answer may be in adding a benign, competitive bacteria to
cattle feed to crowd out the detrimental bacteria.

Does anyone have any further information about such a process?

Sincerely,
Andrew H. Thatcher, MSHP, CHP
Washington Department of Health
360-586-8715 voice
360-753-1496 fax
dht0303@hub.doh.wa.gov