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From'. Lois-ellin Datla Datla Analysts at' Hawaii County Council Page A o15 Vletlnpstlay. May O]. 199] L5059 PM To: Councilman James Arakaki 4 products have been irradiated and which have not. V\/ithin the United States, the Food and \Nater coalition has pervaded such large corporations as McDonalds, Kellogg's and Perdue not to use any irradiated products. Some of the "consumer education" costs could be reduced by strategies such as selling irradiated foods through the Los Alamos and Brookhaven supermarkets, and To marketing To areas wlTh high concentration of Asian immigrants longing for a taste of home. However, to penetrate more health- conscious markets, advertising costs could be what most of us would consider astronomical. $2 million might be a windfall for some local groups who might get those consumer education contracts but in terms of effectiveness with a wide range of marker sectors, it might be cheaper to guarantee repurchase of any unsold irradiated fruit to The distributors and retail marketers or sell only to easily penetrated markets . Apparently none of the "marketing studies" about which the Finance Committee was told was done under real ~~iorld conditions of a determined anti-irradiation campaign versus a determined pro- irradiation campaign in an adequate sample of diverse markets....or in a legal manner. Marcia Reynolds, the County Public Information Officer in the April 14, 1997 Hawaii Tribune Herald stated, "All fruit sold was labeled as 'Treated by the Food and Drug Administration," Thls is not only misleading because Isomedix, not Food and Drug treated the fruit, but possibly in non-compliance with the law. The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires that irradiated fruits be labeled individually with the radura ~a seal indicate irradiation) andlor in bins clearly showing the fruit has been irradiated. Pui an other way, the tobacco companies have deep pockets. Nonetheless, determined consumer grcups, backed by the courts, are effectively reducing U.S. markets for These products. V'?hatever you may think personally about the attractiveness of a nice juicy irradiated rambutan, it doesn't make advertising or °consumer education" any cheaper. Yet this what Mayor Yamashiro and the County Council Finance Committee have agreed that you and I should pay for: marketing and distribution. The Mayor giants The County----read your wallet and mine---to "even the playing field" by picking up the cost of marketing, distribution and consumer education--among other costs. The food irradiation facility could be the great deal for Hawaii County---read your wallet and mine-- thaT its advocates have proclaimed IF the happy face scenario came to pass: IF 100% throughput could be achieved without any additional direct and indirect subsidies, IF there were no accidents, losses or damages incurring County liability, IF the other fruit-producing nations don't take advantage of our paying The costs of advertising and then undercut us in price, knocking out our markets, IF consumer acceptance is quickly very high and/or marketing to low-resistance sectors can create all the money even the most ambitious of growers and nursery people could carry to the bank, IF enough money stays In Hawaii County instead of reaching Zurich the next day to have multiplier effects on the economy, IF a lot more land goes into agriculture and gets taxed aT higher rates than iT presently is, IF the possible increases in revenues from personal and business income taxes and from increased GTE Taxes come To pass and the County collects these vigorously, IF having our own irradiation facilities speed up agricultural research in ways giving Hawaii products a durable competitive advantage--- and afew other Ifs. Should these come to pass, for a fairly low price---$2 million---the County --read your wallet and mine---could have an economically viable and quite attractive package, from a fiscal perspective. The food irradiation facility could be the Hawaii WHOOPS, however, if the unhappy face warnings came To pass: IF through human error, bad luck and equipment failure, The Cobalt 60 rods got stuck in the up position out of the shielding pool of water at the same time that an earthquake cracked or destroyed the reinforced walls; IF the °consumer education" campaign not only fulled To make people prefer irradiated products but Tainted all Hawaii fruits as suspect; IF other fruit-producing countries sold Their Irradiated products at much lower costs than ours once we opened the markets; IF farmers encouraged to buy agricultural land and plant trees went bust in about five To Ten years and we had to pay direct and indirect casts of another Hamakua Sugar Plantation crisis for workers and growers: IF