Journal Pancho Pistolas's Journal: Anybody else notice this one sneak by? 5

I just heard an announcement on the radio that some legislation just got passed approving food-irradiation of raw spinach. The folks supporting this claim it's in response to the rash of e. coli incidents of the past few years.

Boy, that was a rather stealthy play!

They've been trying to pass food irradiation onto more and more things for *decades*-- the radioactive treatment of foods to preserve them, that is. What's more, some food producers would like to use irradiation for everything from increasing juice yields in citrus to inhibiting sprouting to "softening" certain foods(!).

I think food irradiation is a horrible idea, and so has most of the country for various reasons.

Food irradiation was first introduced around the time right before incidents at Three Mile Island, Love Canal, and when we were having serious reservations as to the practical future of working with radioactive materials and just what constitutes "safe enough" doses and guidelines. People didn't like the idea then, and I'm quite certain if it was made public that our legislators were considering this stupid idea again, they'd roar it down again.

Now, before anybody thinks otherwise, I'm not saying nuclear power and radioactive materials are some evil thing. But ponder this:

The same food agencies and inspectors that weren't able to stay on top of any of the recent e. coli outbreaks-- or hell, even get straight what food they were coming from-- are now expected to collaborate their efforts with the same government agency that oversees our nuclear reactors.

Oh yeah, this bodes well.

The technology for keeping cow poo out of spinach crops is a hell of a lot less complicated by comparison, so why should I believe this will fare any better?

And I'm pretty PO'ed that legislators are pushing crap like this through-- it's not the kind of idea to just slap on as a bandage. I say we make getting more food inspectors and agencies a priority, instead of trying to cop out with some half-assed unknown "fix-it".

Remember DDT, Thalidomide, and more recently Vioxx? All of these (and many others) caused deaths and damage (and deformities) that could have been prevented, yet we were assured they were safe, that they were "thoroughly tested", curiously always through heavy marketing campaigns. I still vividly remember seeing footage of little kids in playing in a swimming pool getting sprayed with DDT "to demonstrate its safety".

I still find myself wondering if those kids are okay.

It's pretty damned easy to keep e. coli out of the crops and food if the people who grow and process them are properly trained and this is regularly checked. That's all I'm sayin'.