Text 5581, 66 rader
Skriven 2008-04-17 22:09:06 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JOAN MACDIARMID
Ärende: irraiated Foods       1/4
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DS> In my opinion, these idiots are just plain wrong.  There
DS> is research and evidence going back over fifty years that
DS> shows NO residual harm from irradiating food.  This article
DS> is simply a knee-jerk rejection of OMG EVIL NUKES.

JM> Thank you for going first on this. I was going to
JM> sigh and let it pass as the foolishness it is, since
JM> I would automatically be discredited by anyone who
JM> would take that stuff seriously, as I am an evil
JM> member of the American Chemical Society!

If this were not a moderated forum, I would have been a lot
more blunt in my criticism. I don't suffer willful stupidity
easily, and that article has it in spades.

JM>  One thing I would point out is that radiation comes
JM>  in all sorts of wavelengths. . .

And thanks for pointing that out for those who don't realize
it.

JM> Another point I would make is that I have tried
JM> the "irradiated" ground beef Wegman's sells at
JM> a somewhat higher price, and it is definitely
JM> better to my taste. I don't know what wavelength
JM> of radiation was used to sterilize it, except
JM> it wasn't ultraviolet, because UV won't penetrate
JM> an opaque material far enough. Probably X-rays,
JM> but the irradiation doesn't leave radioactivity
JM> or lingering contamination.

Exactly.  I don't see any reason not to use x-rays or
other forms of radiation to sterilize food.

For one thing, it has been commonly known since the 1940's
that radiation wasn't a "contaminant" in and of itself -
it's the radioactive dust and material in FALLOUT that
is deadly.  This used to be widely publicized by the AEC
and the Dept. of Civil Defense, in their charming cold-war-
era educational materials.

For another, the argument that removing all biological
contaminants from foods will adversely affect our immune
systems is spurious.  Pasteurization removes listeria
and tuberculosis from milk, two biological agents I would
prefer not to encounter.  There are plenty of other
exposure vectors available to "toughen us up" without being
overly concerned with irradiation.

DS> In this case, it ain't the USDA operating out of extreme
DS> ignorance.

JW>  Well put. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

Heh. The amount of knowledge in that article was little enough
that it would require your most finely calibrated lab instruments 
to measure.

---
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Restaurant Reviews; If I post it here in NCE, you'll find it 
blogged with photos at Dave's Cupboard.

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(The extra shelf in Dave's Cupboard.
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