In Cornwall, where I used to live there was a big farm that grew potatoes. On the other side of the road was a big Safeway Superstore. The farmer sold all his potatoes under contract to safeways. they went off in a fleet of lorries alll the way to Birmingham, 350 miles away, to be sorted and packed. No doubt some of them found their way back. Others would be scattered all over the british isles. Some of the ones that made it back to Penzance probably found themselves sharing shelf space with spuds from Wales and Scotland.
This is big business. The potatoes are packed in clear plastic bags. There is a 'problem' with potatoes going green and sprouting. So the solution is to spray them with toxic substances and get genetic engineers to meddle with them (billions of dollars!). The real problem of course is not the potatoes but the distribution and storage system. Potatoes only go green when exposed to light. So the stupid gits put them in clear plastic bags! This is an example I know about. It illustrates a principle, which is equally relevant to irradiation.
(the 'you' in this is really 'one' but that sounds pompous.)
Irradiation saves no lives at all. All it does is enable the food adulteration industry to keep things longer and thus to increase the scale of their operation and save money by 'downsizing' the workforce, so they can increase profits while keeping prices much the same. it's well known fact that unemployment is a major cause of suicide, so irradiation is contributing to this.
My main point here is that if you believe in the food production and distribution system as it is, if you think it is a perfectly rational way of doing things, irradiation will seem a perfectly appropriate technology. If you look very closely at each individual bit of the system in isolation, you will keep fixing little bits that seem not to be working properly. Each individual bit will make sense and you will be able to win arguments by catching the opposition in petty debates over minor issues such as irradiation. And you will get a job working for the food adulteration industry very easily.
If on the other hand you take a step back and look at the whole thing, you will see madness.
And you will not get a job.
To Earth First! Homepage | Henry's Homepage | Rants | Photo Gallery