HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0212.004 1996-1998 April 14, 1997
Aaron Chung
County Council 4th District
Dear Mr. Chung,
I wanted to attend the Finance Committee meeting on April 24th and testify
about my concerns regarding county funding of an irradiation facility, but
I will be on the mainland during that week, so I am submitting this letter
to be read into public testimony.
TESTIMONY
I Jesse Wolf Dawn of 489 Ocean View Drive, Hilo, am strongly against
any county funding or county approval of an irradiation facility on the
Big Island because:
1. Despite numerous claims of irradiation "safety", evidence shows that the
irradiation industry is rife with dangerous incidents of leakage. In
fact, due to a radiation leakage at the Radiation Sterilizers facility in
Decatur, Georgia, radiation contamination was found throughout the facility
and in plant workers homes and cars (as reported in the February 1997 issue
of Environment Hawaii), whereby clean-up costs exceeded $47 million. Such
inherent risks and costs are something that this county cannot afford.
2. The fact that this island is inherently prone to earthquakes, tsunamis
and volcanic eruptions, makes radiation leakage dangers even more probable.
3. $2 million spent on such a risky business, while basic human needs are
unmet, is a form of corporate welfare that this island will not publically
accept.
4. If put here, irradiation, already banned in Japan, will severely damage
international confidence in Big Island's fruit produce.
5. Irradiation substitutes a dangerous process for clean processing altern-
natives such as vapor heat, cold treatment, canning, freezing or drying.
6. Irradiation not only destroys the vitamins in fruit, which is why people
buy fruit in the first places, but inadequate studies of the process
fail to prove that changing the molecular structure of fruit through
irradiation does not cause cancer through intake of damaged chromosomes.
7. Such a facility will make the Sig Isle an accomplice to the deadly
nuclear industry, whose disposal of toxic wastes, an inherent part of
the irradiation industry, is tantamount to scandal and enormous liability.
N Q U
l N ~~Q
~.I ~ J ~/II/ ~ rC./
r u-~ - ~ i
I~ ~ OZ
H'lle i(o. FNV~C/P
Itef. To: FC
ztet. llate_APR-
1_~~