you know why it scares me? not because i'm worried about residual radiation, that's easy to test for (even by motivated consumers), it's the fact that you are using ionizing radiation, precisely because it is ionizing and randomly severs chemical bonds, some of those happen to be in the genes of any organisms. however, most of the molecules don't happen to be genes, and in both cases, you now have 2 molecule "pieces" that are not chemically stable, in a soup of other random fragments, aren't you going to get an awful lot of exotic molecules? doesn't it seem likely that some of those might be bad? i mean i'm sure some might be good, you might make some penicillin or even cipro from the beef tissue, but your going to be making a lot of very interesting molecules, each in small quantity so they are very, very hard to identify and study even if you can extract "similar" compounds out as a group for testing. just think about that stupid chemistry experiment for a while! not to mention, these stupid things typically use a cesium source! talk about a terrorist target! sure, the workers don't have easy access, typically parcels go through a slot on a belt, but it's pretty damn easy to design a thermite package to go through the slot and go off when the radiation level gets high! then you've got the metal around the source and eventually the source burning producing a huge radioactive cloud, some spots very hot, some spots not, and who knows where the wind blew it and how fast the rain washed it down. how's that for terror? p.s., i'm hardly saying anything the stupid and insane can't figure out by themselves, technology is easy to attack with relatively primitive weapons. after all, most buildings come with all you need to blow them up (think gas main..., gas explosions in large spaces are far worse then a high explosive charge). again, to those who think i've let the lion out of the bag, it's hardly anything that isn't known and easy to find. fortunately the truly violent are usually, usually not very competent, usually... honest folks, if anyone wants to blow up your town, it's not that hard, and it's not much harder than it was pre 9/11. only removing motivation by removing frustration will really help, and that's cheap by comparison, just not politically exciting. Denny Esterline wrote: > > > Pardon my outburst but: > > > > DAMN STRAIGHT! > > > > Faster, cheaper, more more more is NOT better when it comes to food. > > Automation and industrialization and shipping are great for just about > > anything else, but NOT FOR FOOD! . > > This is actually my main argument *against* irradiation of food. When they > have a way to sterilize the food after packaging there will be no incentive > to use care in processing. -------- -- proof that the U.S. media is now state controlled! Ask your' local tv station why the hell they aren't airing the news any more! Our system of government requires an informed public, with their eyes open. -- http://www.piclist.com hint: To leave the PICList mailto:piclist-unsubscribe-request@mitvma.mit.edu