OF MAGGOTS AND MEN

"What wasn't said about EDB" by W.R. Havender in the Wall St. J. of 4 Sept. 84 is well worth a trip to the library (the more so since you can also make a copy of the Isaacs' "Subsidizing Political Hidden Agendas" in the WSJ of Sept. 6 -- the story of Reagan's lost fight to stop taxpayers' subsidies to the radical activists). EDB is yet another case in which regulatory "science" was manipulated to please the media and the sham-environmentalist lobbies, a story in which William D.D.T. Ruckelshaus' devotion to principle once again stands unambiguously reconfirmed in its full absence; but let us forsake that story for what may be a partial substitute for EDB.

Among other applications, EDB was used as a pesticide in food processing, and in this capacity it can be replaced by gamma radiation. As previously described [Apr. 80], ionizing radiation can be used to kill rot-causing bacteria and other organisms without making the irradiated food radioactive. This is once again not something that is claimed, believed, or hoped for, but a simple consequence of natural laws, in this case, of the quantization of energy: A single neutron may have enough energy to penetrate into a nucleus and split it, i.e., cause its radioactive disintegration, and flour could be made radioactive if exposed to a strong neutron beam. But gamma radiation is unable to do this: no matter how strong one makes it, only the number of gamma photons, but not their individual energy, is increased. They will be unable to penetrate the nuclei (of the atoms of the molecules of the compounds whose mix makes up flour): there is no way of making food radioactive by gamma radiation.

But what strong gamma radiation will do is kill insects and their larvae, as well as microorganisms that cause rot, mould and other food spoilage. Had California's ex-governor Jerry Medfly been a genuine environmentalist, he could have avoided the disaster of his state's orange crop four years ago.

Most of this has been previously described [AtE Apr 80, Apr 81, Oct 81, Jan 83], and is used in the world's advanced countries; however, in the US such things are not limited by natural laws, but by the FDA, and the news is that earlier this year the FDA, which had previously only allowed limited use of radiation on wheat, flour and potatoes (to prevent sprouting), now proposes to permit irradiation of fresh produce with up to 100 kilorads for killing insects and prolonging shelf life, and up to 3 megarads on spices, including dried onion and garlic.

The food, on racks, in pouches, baskets, cartons, etc. is passed through a chamber, shielded to protect the operators, where it is exposed to a strong dose of gamma radiation, most often from cobalt 60. The method is superior to chemical disinfestation: Battelle Northwest, for example, has successfully used it on apples exported to Japan, improving the effectiveness of disinfestation while avoiding the degradation in quality encountered with chemical methods. Ralph Nader and Judge Sirica permitting, it could yet save most of the Florida citrus crop.

The technical aspect is thus straightforward, but there is also some social justice (pardon the expression) associated with it. In electric power generation, Sen. Markey, Comissioner Asselstine and Tom Brokaw, each in his little way, help to bestow some measure of bronchitis, emphysema and lung cancer on all of their fellow citizens, for the electric fuel cycle is simply not divisible down to individuals. But irradiated food will be labeled as such, allowing individual choice. Most readers would doubtlessly choose the irradiated food; and just as doubtlessly, they would be charitable enough not to begrudge Sen. Markey a few worms and maggots in his apples.

[More: EDB and Irradiated Foods, $2 each, both from Amer. Council on Sci. & Health, 47 Maple St., Summit, NJ 07901.]