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4 Hawaii currently has two distinct advantages over the Philippines and other countries that want to ship tropical fruits to the U.S. One, the ARS laboratory at Hilo is concentrating on developing irradiation treatments for fruits, vegetables, and ornamental crops grown in Hawaii. Other countries do not have research units of this caliber at their disposal. Second, the irradiation protocol mostly lists treatment dosages for U.S. pests, including the fruit flies found in Hawaii. It does not cover many pests from foreign countries, which means that foreign countries that want to export using an irradiation treatment will have to do research to develop treatment dosages for their pests. Radiation is perceived to be something foreign to most people, but in reality it is not. From medical equipment to the containers that hold cream on airplanes, people come in contact with the beneficial effects of radiation every day. Although there are currently relatively few agricultural uses for radiation, that is changing rapidly. I will be meeting with industry representatives in Miami later this month to discuss their plans to build an irradiator at the Miami port to treat commodities coming into the U.S. from South America and the Caribbean for quarantine pests. The U.S. has approved the irradiation of meat to prevent disease. And, I know from my service on the UNEP Methyl Bromide Technical Options Committee that many countries are planning to utilize radiation for many of their current postharvest methyl bromide uses. I believe it is critical that Hawaii takes advantage of this window of opportunity by beginning to export commodities to the Mainland using irradiation quarantine treatments in order to develop Mainland markets. After so much hard work by so many people on behalf of farmers in Hawaii, this is clearly the time to move forward and seize the opportunity that has presented itself. It certainly is not the time to turn away from the very technology that can rejuvenate Hawaiian agriculture and make agriculture diversification a reality. Thank you very much for consideration of these remarks.