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[GWL]: Irradiation of Seeds and Plants

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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