[gardeners] Fwd: [GWL]: Irradiation of Seeds and Plants
Margaret Lauterbach (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 30 Oct 2001 13:59:08 -0700
From another list:
>I have been doing some follow up on the potential risk of damage to
>seeds and plants caused by the proposed irradiation of mail.
>
>First, I think it is important to clear up a point of confusion. There
>are several types of radiation that can be used to sterilize items such
>as medical equipment and food. The most common are gamma radiation,
>from a cobalt 60 source, and electron beam radiation, generated by an
>accelerator. It is the latter that is contemplated (or already
>installed!) at the USPS.
>
>This afternoon I spoke to a technician at Titan Scan Technologies
>(www.titanscan.com), one of the leading suppliers of electron beam
>equipment. He said that because anthrax spores are particularly
>resistant to sterilization, the dose needed is among the highest used in
>industrial and medical sterilization -- 42 kilograys. At this dose, he
>said, there is no question that seeds (and hence plants) will be killed.
>
>A lower dose (probably 1 kilogray) is typically used for sterilizing
>produce from South America, but he couldn't say whether that dose would
>or would not affect seeds. However, this lower dose could not be used
>for anthrax. And even if it could, he guessed that some damage to seeds
>would still occur at the lower dose.
>
>After my conversation with the fellow from Titan Scan, I checked the FDA
>standards for foods to help me understand how the anthrax dose compares
>with food irradiation. Here are the approved standards for various
>foods:
>
>http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/1998/398_rad.html#table
>
>The limits are between 30 kilograys (to destroy microorganisms and
>insects in dried spices) down to 1 kilogray (to delay ripening in
>produce).
>
>For plants and seeds in the mail, it ain't looking good...
>
>Conrad Richter
>
>RICHTERS HERBS | Info: info@richters.com *
>Goodwood, ON L0C 1A0, Canada | Catalogs: catalog@richters.com *
>Tel +1-905-640-6677 Fax 640-6641 | Website: http://www.richters.com *
>
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