Editorial

Irradiation: It’s an Idea Whose Time Still Hasn’t Come

In the late 1980s, the people of Hawai`i said “No” to the state’s proposal to develop a fruit irradiation facility. At public hearings and in the public comments during the environmental disclosure process, testimony was overwhelmingly opposed to the project.

What makes the Department of Agriculture believe that things are going to be any different now?

The same concerns that existed in the 1980s live on today and, if anything, are stronger. Scientific studies of irradiated food have not conclusively demonstrated it to be safe for human consumption — quite the contrary, in fact.

No published research has shown the fears that existed five years ago about worker safety or environmental contamination to have been groundless.

No sudden technological breakthroughs or economies of scale have brought down the price of an irradiator; indeed, the state’s estimate of the cost of a “pilot plant” in 1995 is almost twice the cost of a similar facility that, in 1989, was deemed to be too expensive.

And if the state couldn’t afford an irradiator in the spendthrift days of the late 1980s, what on Earth makes the Department of Agriculture folks believe the state can afford one now?

Changing Times

What has changed since the late 1980s is the makeup of the agricultural industry in Hawai`i. “King Cane” is history. No heir is apparent, but the Department of Agriculture would seem to be grooming Prince Papaya for the job. Plans to put thousands of acres of former sugar land into papaya cultivation on O`ahu, on Hawai`i, and elsewhere might be behind the search for a treatment process that would satisfy federal Department of Agriculture quarantine requirements.

But don’t count the papaya growers and packers among the proponents of irradiation. Having invested some $20 million into heat-treatment plants, they are not rushing to embrace the resurrected plans for an irradiator.

Other growers of commodities mentioned in the state’s grocery list of export products may be snared into supporting the DOA’s plans, but all should be aware that irradiation is no panacea. It may kill thrips and mites and flies, but it does nothing to curb the damage of the ring-spot virus infesting papayas in Puna and is helpless to slow the mildew fungus stalking the newly diversified fields of Kunia. Nor can irradiation do anything to make cut flowers grown in Hawai`i more cost-competitive with flowers from Central America.

Lyle Wong of the Department of Agriculture proposes all kinds of applications for irradiation, with the apparent intention of gaining a wide base of support for the idea. But libraries and museums already have ways to deal (non-radioactively) with pest infestations in their collections.

As for the “public health” benefits Wong touts in the ability of irradiation to clean up Hawai`i’s contaminated chickens: if, as he says, the state has the highest rate of salmonellosis in the country (a claim that the Department of Health rejects), that suggests an utterly appalling lack of sanitation and poor housekeeping in the state’s chicken parlors and poultry processing plants. To think this should or could be tolerated so long as irradiation cleans up the contaminated meat is a repugnant thought indeed.

Environment Hawai`i wishes to acknowledge the award of a generous two-year grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation of Los Altos, California. The grant will help us expand our coverage of fisheries management issues.
We also are grateful to the following for their recent donations: Paul and Tanya Alston, Kekuni Blaisdell, Sheila Conant, Joan Conrow, Francis Delany, Leo Drey, Anne Earhart, Arlene Kim Ellis, Andrew Fisher, Mollie Foti, Cynee Gillette-Wenner, Murray Gardner, Susan Graham, Dana and Isaac Hall, Derral Herbst, Lela Hubbard, the ILWU, Robert and Sue Irvine, Lenore S. Johnson, Marion Kelly, Kenneth and Patty Kupchak, Doug Lamerson, Frances Lum, Lola Mench, Mike Morton, Duk Hee Murabayashi, Thane and Linda Pratt, Peter Rappa, Sherrie Samuels, Muriel Seto, Hoppy Smith, Jack Schweigert, Ed Stevens, Leslie Wachi, and Alan Ziegler.

Observant readers may have noticed our address labels have changed. This reflects a new subscription management system recently installed (thanks to funds provided by the Atherton Foundation). If the information on your label is erroneous, please let us know so we can correct it. Thank you.

Volume 6, Number 1 July 1995