HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0212.371 1996-1998 To: Hawaii County Council
Re: Food Irradiation Proposal IL~Ct~~
From: Lesley Patton
Date: May 15, 1997
Good Morning Council Members.
My name is Lesley Patton, and I live in Halawa, N. Kohala. Thank you for coming
all the way over to Kona to hear us speak from our hearts regarding the proposed
County funding of an irradiation plant on our very special island.
I must speak in opposition to both these ideas - an irradiation plant in the first
place, and county financing in the second. I believe that this country, and this
state and county with it, are in serious moral and political trouble when they
choose to continue cutting real services to their "real people" constituents, because
of economic hard times, but go right an funding "Corporate Welfare" as if there were
no tomorroca. The proposed plant, which would benefit only particular private enter-
prises, should be paid for by those same private enterprises, as a normal business
expense; and if there is anywhere near as much market support for the product as has
been claimed for it in this debate already, that private financing should be easy to
come by. Most definitely, it should NOT be taken from our limited public funds,
especially when the "public" has so much genuine concern for the wisdom and safety
of the project.
I am, as you can see, one of those "baby boomers" whose lifetime corresponds with
that of the nuclear industry in this country. So far, the track record of both the
scientists and the politicians associated with that industry is abysmal - from their
early claims that it was perfectly safe for our men in uniform to stand fully exposed
at short range to witness atomic bomb tests, through their subsequent claims that
atomic energy would be "too cheap to meter", to their later claims that we have no
real nuclear waste problem. History has consistently proven these "experts" to be
either liars or woefully ignorant, all at the public's expense; and that same history
warns me against ever taking their word on nuclear safety again. I now cannot believe
them as to the safety of either the plant itself or the product - irradiated food.
Likewise the argument that I, or any other consumer, am free to not purchase the
product if I am so opposed to it, contradicts my real-life experiences. In the
1970's and 80's, when the United Farm Workers called for boycotts on table grapes
and lettuce not bearing the UFWOC label, I learned very quickly the dishonest lengths
that nearly all grocers were willing to go to to move their grapes and lettuce, in-
cluding even repacking Teamster produce in UFWOC crates in the warehouse, using those
crates over and over again. Ultimately, the only way to be sure you weren't getting
the undesireable product was to give up those foods altogether. I have no reason to
' believe that human nature has changed so radically for the better in the meantime, that
the same thing wouldn't happen again with irradiated food.
Therefore, since all the so-called "safe-guards" in the marketplace, in the nuclear
industry, and in the scientific community have already proven unreliable, I must oppose
this plant. I don't want or trust this technology; I really don't want it on this
island; and I am totally opposed to ANY public funding for it.
A significant decision regarding our safety and econpmic well-being on this island
lies in your hands. I encourage you to keep in mind the astronomical and incalculable
costs and damages the nuclear industry has already inflicted on this planet. It is
doubtful we will ever be able to clean it up. Please err, if you must err, on the side
of extreme caution. History shouts the wisdom of that position. Thank you for listening.
(:o,~. ?io, 212•__
Lesley Patton; Box 1065, Kapaau, HI 96755 808-889-5002 P91e I(o.FND/CI P
Hef. 70: PresenfedCjQN~~
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Het. I~te MAY 1 5 1997