COM 0212.318 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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And concerning research: this research would supposedly be necessary to establish the throughput. Currently the throughput is not available, and there is no evidence to show that any amount of research will help to establish the throughput. Enclosed is evidence that the list of throughput available com- piled by the County of Hawaii Dept. of Research and Development and included with Resolution 71 being proposed before the Finance Committee today, is not accurate. In a letter from Dr. Robert Paul, who conducted the studies on flowers and ginger root at Manoa, he states that "Ginger(root) is not an ideal crop for irradiation from the point of view of economics". The reason is that, contrary to claims previously made, irradiation so far has not been shown to inhibit sprouting. Enclosed also are results of his studies on the effects of irradiating flowers. According to those results (enclosed) and to what Dr. Paul told me over the phone, only red ginger flowers and green ti are viable candidates for irradiation. Apparently, the Dept. of Research and Development received this throughput list from the Tropical Fruit Growers Cooperative and then gave it to the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, who then distributed this list to all the participants at the public forum. No one bothered to check any references or studies to see if there were any benefits or damage from irradiation for the items on the list. In fact, the officials I talked to from the Dept, of Research and Development had never even heard of Dr. Paul. The Tropical Fruit Growers Cooperative, the group that gave the Dept, of Research and Development this throughput information is a very blatantly pro-irradiation group headed by Eric Weinert of Plant It Hawaii. And yet the forum, where this information was distributed by the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board, was supposed to have been neutral and informative. Even after officials of the Dept. of Research and Development and the mayor's Office of Information were informed of the mistakes and communicated with Dr. Paul, and even after an official with the USDA admitted that he had made a mistake in interpreting the data about the ginger root, the list was never changed. The County Council was never informed of the mistakes apparently, because Ms. Leithead-Todd included this bogus list with Resolution #71. Ginger root, for which irradiation has so far shcwn no economic benefit, accounts for 3.2 million pounds of throughput on this list. Besides ginger root, there are 12 other items amounting to 8,852,000 pounds (out of the claimed 10 million pounds indicated by the list) that are either highly questionable for exportation and marketing, or evidence shows severe damage and/or significantly reduced vase life, or there is already a treatment available. All references and evidence are enclosed. The inclusion of ginger root on the throughput list is the most important mistake; because without ginger root, economic feasibility is absolutely dependant upon papaya and there already is vapor heat treatment for papaya. Irradiating papaya would probably also necessitate the building of a packing house to compete with that wervice already offered by the existing treatment facilities. Who will pay for the packing house: