Why is it that Vegans, Vegetarians, and other diet driven folks find it necessary to also be evangelists? Meat producers, on the other hand, have a live and let live philosophy that allows people to eat whatever they want. In this clash of cultures the evangelists will always win out because they are bombastic, outrageous, and attention seeking individuals. Scientists are not. Perhaps we need more evangelists on our side.

Amen, Brother Mies, Amen!

John: I am not a scientist and I truly cannot comment on the efficacy or the safety of irradiated meats. However, I am an agricultural business person and I can tell you with complete confidence that consumers do not want irradiated meat products. If they ARE LABELED, then consumers would certainly avoid them. If they are NOT LABELED, then wise meat marketers will stick with non-irradiated meats and actively label them as non-irradiated. John, in today's world consumers are continually voting with their dollars and they have and will continue to vote against irradiated meats. This is much like the bovine growth hormone in milk issue. Consumers have been communicating to the suppliers they don't want their milk to come from cows given the hormone. And guess what? The national suppliers are moving away from the use of the hormone. John, consumers are motivated by the perception of quality and safety and they don't trust irradiated meats. This is a fact of life.

Tom -You make some excellent points. You make me think of how much trouble beef exporters have suffered since late 2003, insisting that our international customers accept our notion of "sound science". Perhaps if we acknowledged that the customer is always right the tough task of winning back foreign demand would be much easier. Yet the problem he is that consumers want conflicting things--more e.coli safeguards on one hand and apparently non-irradiated beef on the other. Is irradiation a complete non-starter? Maybe you're right. But a pretty sure its the cheapest and most effective way for a processor to minimize e.coli. Thanks for your comments. JH