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SUBIECT- Courted Resole(ion 71-97 and Bill ~o. 62 Uear Councllinan Ray 'this is to uree. your support for the subject Council Resolution and 13111 Fls a member of the team that prepared the 1983 I Inrsaii Comnux;ities Irradiation Facility Environnten[nl Impact S[aTeinenL I am ~aefl aware oi'thc tact. of iadiauon risk; avo~iated wish the use of cobalt-60 as a radiation sou res for the treatment and starilizatlon of tbcd and medical supplies As indicated in the 1958 Final Environmental Impact Stntemen[ isae .Appendix G.2. External E. ants Risk Assessment, page 2-1), the usefulness of this manmade isotope in indicated be d:c tact that over 30 million curries of cobalt-60 are being used around [he stiorld for gamma proses>'mg. Similarly, as norod in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, cobalt-60 does not fission, emn nautrons. ethlhit i apld power excursions, or activate (make radioactive) other materials. This isotope simply decays or disi ntegra teS at a constam rate Finally, as indicated in the 6mironmemal Impact Statemen( Ri>k Assessment, the risks of radiation ~~_sc;t; e~eposure to workers or the public due to e~~tcrnal events aReeting [he food irradiation facilhy ere cxucmcly low. c.,p~ cia'Iv gi e t da• axu~emcl low qusntiuea of the material requited for the treeune~nt .~;1€' ~ (ecililr I uree you ro re~dic e-thy Ig38 H i vebi Commo~hdea Irradiation Faeil'rty Final Euviconmental ~ linpaot St ntement. if' con hace not alreadp done so. for credible information regarding the treatment process, clhect on fixxlstut};, sod nsks associated a;hh thnt vealment The questions, concerns, and misinlbrmation that are arising loda~ are [he same ac those raised in 1985, and just as in 1988, there is na credible sclenlllle basis for the opposition claims It' Flau~ail in ueneral. and specifically the Big lsla ud, ore to lmpro~e and increase their diversified agriatltural opponunitics, the necessar, inirasinicuu e_ includ hr~ treatment and markctingidistributlon systems, must be in place Just a> a carpenter ur doctor must hace the necessary tools to do theirjobs properly, so must larmers Irradiation treatmeni_ alone with all of[he other means of treating foodstuff's, must be made availably for all of us to benelit from an impmyed and increased diversited agrioulumal industry. Slnularh~, the monies required to deg: dop and pronxrce Hawaii's agricultural products iu a wide variety of forei~m and domestic markets nevi; be made available The continued Ios> of over 5300 million annually to our agriailuue Industn beanise oFthe flack appropriate treannent facilities cannot be allo~ced to cor~tinuc P.O Box 383723 ~ VJalkcloa, Hawaii 56738 Tel. [808) 883-9861 • Pax (80&) 8&3-0012