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Re: food irradiation
Would anyone care to comment on this statement?
>But its lasting efficacy is being debated. Ms. Foreman, who says
there >is a place for irradiated foods in nursing homes and
hospitals, warns >that "in the long run, years out, bacteria are
likely to develop >resistance to irradiation," just as they have to
one antibiotic after >another.
I see that several informed people have already commented on the
foolishness of this statement. Ms. Foreman appears to be quite
ignorant. Some of you with biological tendencies picked up right
away on this, but there is another idiotic thing that she states: a
comment about killing harmless bacteria and giving dangerous bacteria
a competitive advantage.
The only way this could occur, of course, is if the nutrient source
(the meat) was what was limiting growth, in other words, leave the
meat out of the refrigerator until it begins to rot (yum). Otherwise
the rate of bacterial growth will be controlled by the
cold storage temperature, not by competition. Her argument is goofy.
But then, I guess goofy arguments are what most of these
threads have been about...
An actual microbiologist,
HANDBELL PEOPLE have all gone campan-
David F. Gilmore
Assistant Professor of Environmental Biology
P.O. Box 599, Dept. of Biological Sciences
Arkansas State University
State University, AR 72467
dgilmore@navajo.astate.edu
dgilmo@fastdata.net
ph 870-972-3082 fax 870-972-2638
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