Radiant cuisine the commercial fate of food irradiation in the united states

Technology and Culture

Volumn 45, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 740-763

  Spiller, James ^a  

^a STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 11144303427     PISSN: 0040165X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/tech.2004.0206     Document Type: Review

References (127)

1. Wegmans Food Markets, Irradiated Fresh Ground Beef(2002).
2. The organization Public Citizen leveled these criticisms in a pamphlet, Food Irradiation Means Filthy Food (n.d. [2003?]), which argues that irradiators are poorly regulated and dangerous and that irradiated foods have not been proven safe. The pamphlet's cover picture, a mushroom cloud rising over a farm, also implies an insidious link between the nuclear weapons complex and food irradiation.
3. By examining how these many factors affected food irradiation, this article rejects technological determinism and follows the lead of numerous recent scholars who argue that technologies are influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural as well as technical factors. See, for example, Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch, eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, Mass., 1987); Wiebe Bijker and John Law, eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, Mass., 1992); Meinolf Dierkes and Ute Hoffmann, eds., New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations (Boulder, Colo., 1992); Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, eds., Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); and Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology (New York, 1997).
4. By examining how these many factors affected food irradiation, this article rejects technological determinism and follows the lead of numerous recent scholars who argue that technologies are influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural as well as technical factors. See, for example, Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch, eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, Mass., 1987); Wiebe Bijker and John Law, eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, Mass., 1992); Meinolf Dierkes and Ute Hoffmann, eds., New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations (Boulder, Colo., 1992); Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, eds., Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); and Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology (New York, 1997).
5. By examining how these many factors affected food irradiation, this article rejects technological determinism and follows the lead of numerous recent scholars who argue that technologies are influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural as well as technical factors. See, for example, Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch, eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, Mass., 1987); Wiebe Bijker and John Law, eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, Mass., 1992); Meinolf Dierkes and Ute Hoffmann, eds., New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations (Boulder, Colo., 1992); Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, eds., Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); and Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology (New York, 1997).
6. By examining how these many factors affected food irradiation, this article rejects technological determinism and follows the lead of numerous recent scholars who argue that technologies are influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural as well as technical factors. See, for example, Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch, eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, Mass., 1987); Wiebe Bijker and John Law, eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, Mass., 1992); Meinolf Dierkes and Ute Hoffmann, eds., New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations (Boulder, Colo., 1992); Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, eds., Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); and Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology (New York, 1997).
7. By examining how these many factors affected food irradiation, this article rejects technological determinism and follows the lead of numerous recent scholars who argue that technologies are influenced by social, political, economic, and cultural as well as technical factors. See, for example, Wiebe E. Bijker, Thomas P. Hughes, and Trevor Pinch, eds., The Social Construction of Technological Systems: New Directions in the Sociology and History of Technology (Cambridge, Mass., 1987); Wiebe Bijker and John Law, eds., Shaping Technology/Building Society: Studies in Sociotechnical Change (Cambridge, Mass., 1992); Meinolf Dierkes and Ute Hoffmann, eds., New Technology at the Outset: Social Forces in the Shaping of Technological Innovations (Boulder, Colo., 1992); Merritt Roe Smith and Leo Marx, eds., Does Technology Drive History? The Dilemma of Technological Determinism (Cambridge, Mass., 1994); and Robert Pool, Beyond Engineering: How Society Shapes Technology (New York, 1997).
8. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
9. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
10. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
11. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
12. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
13. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
14. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
15. Publications with a technical bent include National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council, Radiation Preservation of Foods (Washington, D.C., 1965); E. Josephson and M. Peterson, eds., Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982); and Rosanna Mentzer Morrison and Tanya Roberts, Food Irradiation, New Perspectives on a Controversial Technology: A Review of Technical, Public Health, and Economic Considerations (Washington, D.C., 1985). Books that cover the history of food irradiation and embrace it include Walter Urbain, Food Irradiation (Orlando, Fla., 1986); Morton Satin, Food Irradiation: A Guidebook (Lancaster, Pa., 1993); and Michael Fumento, Science Under Siege: Balancing Technology and the Environment (New York, 1993). Critiques of food irradiation include Tony Webb and Tim Lang, Food Irradiation: The Myth and the Reality (London, 1990); and Michael Colby, Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, D.C., 2002). Three dissertations have been written on market research and public education concerning food irradiation: Christine Margaret Mattson Bruhn, "Consumer Attitudes toward Food Irradiation" (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Davis, 1986); Diane Elizabeth Hastings, "Factors Associated with the Emergence and Acceptance of Food Irradiation in the United States" (Ed.D. diss., Columbia University Teachers College, 1995); and Wipon Sae Aiew, "Willingness to Pay for Irradiated Ground Beef: A Non-Hypothetical Market Experiment" (Ph.D. diss., Texas A&M University, 2003).
16. Paul Boyer, By the Bomb's Early Light: American Thought and Culture at the Dawn of the Atomic Age (New York, 1985;
17. reprint, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1994), and Fallout: A Historian Reflects on America's Half-Century Encounter with Nuclear Weapons (Columbus, Ohio, 1998).
18. Civil Defense Office, Survival under Atomic Attack (Washington, D.C., 1950); Laura McEnaney, Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton, N.J., 2000).
19. Civil Defense Office, Survival under Atomic Attack (Washington, D.C., 1950); Laura McEnaney, Civil Defense Begins at Home: Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties (Princeton, N.J., 2000).
20. Arch N. Booth, "For Human Betterment" (speech to the 44th Annual Meeting, Chamber of Commerce of the United States, 30 April-1 May 1956), series 1, box 25, Hagley Archives, Wilmington, Delaware.
21. Edward Samuel Josephson, "An Historical Review of Food Irradiation," Journal of Food Safety 5 (1983): 163-65.
22. Richard G. Hewlett and Oscar E. Anderson Jr., The New World, 1939/1946, vol. 1 of A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission (University Park, Pa., 1962), 714.
23. David Fisher, History of the International Atomic Energy Agency: The First Forty years (Vienna, Va., 1997).
24. Those applications included "electricity generated at virtually no cost, cars and planes and ships fueled by an inexhaustible energy source, and isotopes readily available for industrial and medical use"; Allan W. Winkler, Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom (New York, 1993), 136-37. On government promotion of atomic power, see also Spencer Weart, Nuclear Fear. A History of Images (Cambridge, Mass., 1988), 15569; Steven Del Sesto, "Wasn't the Future of Nuclear Engineering Wonderful?" in Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology, and the American Future, ed. Joseph Corn (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 58-76; and Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom," in Government and Environmental Politics, ed. Michael Lacey (Baltimore, 1991), 233-62.
25. Those applications included "electricity generated at virtually no cost, cars and planes and ships fueled by an inexhaustible energy source, and isotopes readily available for industrial and medical use"; Allan W. Winkler, Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom (New York, 1993), 136-37. On government promotion of atomic power, see also Spencer Weart, Nuclear Fear. A History of Images (Cambridge, Mass., 1988), 15569; Steven Del Sesto, "Wasn't the Future of Nuclear Engineering Wonderful?" in Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology, and the American Future, ed. Joseph Corn (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 58-76; and Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom," in Government and Environmental Politics, ed. Michael Lacey (Baltimore, 1991), 233-62.
26. Those applications included "electricity generated at virtually no cost, cars and planes and ships fueled by an inexhaustible energy source, and isotopes readily available for industrial and medical use"; Allan W. Winkler, Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom (New York, 1993), 136-37. On government promotion of atomic power, see also Spencer Weart, Nuclear Fear. A History of Images (Cambridge, Mass., 1988), 15569; Steven Del Sesto, "Wasn't the Future of Nuclear Engineering Wonderful?" in Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology, and the American Future, ed. Joseph Corn (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 58-76; and Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom," in Government and Environmental Politics, ed. Michael Lacey (Baltimore, 1991), 233-62.
27. Those applications included "electricity generated at virtually no cost, cars and planes and ships fueled by an inexhaustible energy source, and isotopes readily available for industrial and medical use"; Allan W. Winkler, Life Under a Cloud: American Anxiety About the Atom (New York, 1993), 136-37. On government promotion of atomic power, see also Spencer Weart, Nuclear Fear. A History of Images (Cambridge, Mass., 1988), 15569; Steven Del Sesto, "Wasn't the Future of Nuclear Engineering Wonderful?" in Imagining Tomorrow: History, Technology, and the American Future, ed. Joseph Corn (Cambridge, Mass., 1986), 58-76; and Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom," in Government and Environmental Politics, ed. Michael Lacey (Baltimore, 1991), 233-62.
28. Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, 1953-1961 (Berkeley, Calif., 1989), 239; "Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, New York City, December 8, 1953," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953 (Washington, D.C., 1960), 813-22.
29. Richard G. Hewlett and Jack M. Holl, Atoms for Peace and War, 1953-1961 (Berkeley, Calif., 1989), 239; "Address Before the General Assembly of the United Nations on Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, New York City, December 8, 1953," Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953 (Washington, D.C., 1960), 813-22.
30. While popular magazines like National Geographic described promising attempts to use atomic material in medicine, industry, agriculture, and energy production, AEC officials and publications often predicted far more ambitious applications of nuclear power. In its 1957 comic-book-style brochure The Atomic Revolution, the AEC envisioned nuclear-powered saltwater distillation plants, synthetic-food factories, and interplanetary space ships, and cities heated by atomic power in the frozen Antarctic. Allan C. Fisher Jr., "You and the Obedient Atom," National Geographic, September 1958, 303-53; Atomic Energy Commission, The Atomic Revolution (Washington, D.C., 1957).
31. While popular magazines like National Geographic described promising attempts to use atomic material in medicine, industry, agriculture, and energy production, AEC officials and publications often predicted far more ambitious applications of nuclear power. In its 1957 comic-book-style brochure The Atomic Revolution, the AEC envisioned nuclear-powered saltwater distillation plants, synthetic-food factories, and interplanetary space ships, and cities heated by atomic power in the frozen Antarctic. Allan C. Fisher Jr., "You and the Obedient Atom," National Geographic, September 1958, 303-53; Atomic Energy Commission, The Atomic Revolution (Washington, D.C., 1957).
32. James T. Patterson, Grand Expectations: The United States, 1945-1974 (New York, 1996), 317.
33. "Man of the Year, Twenty Five and Under," Time, 6 January 1967, 18.
34. Columbia Broadcasting System, The 21st Century, "The Mighty Atom," 14 May 1967, Library of Congress Television and Film Archives.
35. Such doomsday books flourished in the 1970s, but earlier examples include Fairfield Osborn, Our Plundered Planet (Boston, 1948); William Vogt, The Road to Survival (New York, 1948); William Paddock, Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive? (Boston, 1967); Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet: The Modern World at the Edge of Famine (New York, 1967); and Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York, 1968).
36. Such doomsday books flourished in the 1970s, but earlier examples include Fairfield Osborn, Our Plundered Planet (Boston, 1948); William Vogt, The Road to Survival (New York, 1948); William Paddock, Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive? (Boston, 1967); Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet: The Modern World at the Edge of Famine (New York, 1967); and Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York, 1968).
37. Such doomsday books flourished in the 1970s, but earlier examples include Fairfield Osborn, Our Plundered Planet (Boston, 1948); William Vogt, The Road to Survival (New York, 1948); William Paddock, Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive? (Boston, 1967); Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet: The Modern World at the Edge of Famine (New York, 1967); and Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York, 1968).
38. Such doomsday books flourished in the 1970s, but earlier examples include Fairfield Osborn, Our Plundered Planet (Boston, 1948); William Vogt, The Road to Survival (New York, 1948); William Paddock, Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive? (Boston, 1967); Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet: The Modern World at the Edge of Famine (New York, 1967); and Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York, 1968).
39. Such doomsday books flourished in the 1970s, but earlier examples include Fairfield Osborn, Our Plundered Planet (Boston, 1948); William Vogt, The Road to Survival (New York, 1948); William Paddock, Famine 1975! America's Decision: Who Will Survive? (Boston, 1967); Georg Borgstrom, The Hungry Planet: The Modern World at the Edge of Famine (New York, 1967); and Paul Ehrlich, The Population Bomb (New York, 1968).
40. Army Scientific Advisory Panel, Ad Hoc Group for Irradiated Food Program, The U.S. Army's Radiation Preservation of Food Program (Washington, D.C., 1972), 6.
41. Harry Goresline, "Historical Aspects of the Radiation Preservation of Food," in Preservation of Food by Ionizing Radiation, ed. E. Josephson and M. Peterson (Boca Raton, Fia., 1982), 3.
42. Technical progress reports of the Quartermaster Corps' food irradiation research program during the 1950s and 1960s are archived in Record Group (RG) 338, Records of the U.S. Army Commands, Status and Progress Reports of Research and Development Projects, 1944-74, U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
43. Typically using radiation from cobalt 60 or cesium 137, or sometimes from electron-beam or x-ray machines, high-dose irradiation exposes edibles to enough ionizing energy-in the range of 2 to 4.5 million rads (Mrads)-to sterilize foods for long-term storage by killing food-spoiling and disease-causing bacteria. The typical medium dose of 200 to 500 kilorads can reduce spoilage organisms and insect infestation and thereby extend the shelf life of stored grains, fruits, herbs, and vegetables. A low dose of 4 to 10 kilorads can retard the ripening of fruit and the sprouting of potatoes and onions. A rad is the "quantity of ionizing radiation which results in the absorption of 100 ergs of energy per gram of irradiated material." Ten rads is considered a threshold dose of radiation for people, above which their risk of cancer begins to increase. Grace Urrows, Food Preservation by Irradiation (Washington, D.C., 1967), 9; Army Scientific Advisory Panel, appendix.
44. "Atom-Fresh Meals Coming?" U.S. News and World Report, 16 September 1955, 72.
45. Kevin Shea, executive secretary of the ICRPF, memorandum to committee members, "Radiation Preservation of Food Policy," 16 May 1957, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3, U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C. The eight agencies were the Department of State, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the Department of the Army, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Department of Commerce, and the Small Business Administration.
46. Press release, 31 July 1958, and Kevin Shea to ICRPF committee members, 24 September 1958, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 1.
47. Signaling increased academic and private sector interest in food irradiation, several food processing corporations, nuclear technology companies, and research institutes formed a venture called Irradiated Products to build the army's irradiator. Department of Defense press releases, "Production Planning Contract Awarded for Army Ionizing Radiation Center," 4 November 1957, and " Plans Announced for Building Gamma Food Irradiator in California," 11 April 1958, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3.
48. Signaling increased academic and private sector interest in food irradiation, several food processing corporations, nuclear technology companies, and research institutes formed a venture called Irradiated Products to build the army's irradiator. Department of Defense press releases, "Production Planning Contract Awarded for Army Ionizing Radiation Center," 4 November 1957, and " Plans Announced for Building Gamma Food Irradiator in California," 11 April 1958, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3.
49. "Soon: Irradiated Foods!" Science Digest, December 1957, 1.
50. "FDA food additive requirements," FDA Papers (May 1967): 26. It is not clear why Congress treated radiation as a food preservative in 1958. The Comptroller General of the United States suggested in 1978 that it did so out of "concern that irradiated food might be harmful." Since scientists had not identified any unhealthful characteristics of irradiated foods, a more likely explanation was offered by the American Council on Science and Health in 1988: "Congress apparently grouped irradiation with food additives in order to ensure that irradiation would have to meet the same high standards of safety that new food additives must meet." United States General Accounting Office, The Department of the Army's Food Irradiation Program-Is It Worth Continuing? (Washington, D.C., 1978), 10-11; American Council on Science and Health, Irradiated Foods (New York, 1988), 22.
51. "FDA food additive requirements," FDA Papers (May 1967): 26. It is not clear why Congress treated radiation as a food preservative in 1958. The Comptroller General of the United States suggested in 1978 that it did so out of "concern that irradiated food might be harmful." Since scientists had not identified any unhealthful characteristics of irradiated foods, a more likely explanation was offered by the American Council on Science and Health in 1988: "Congress apparently grouped irradiation with food additives in order to ensure that irradiation would have to meet the same high standards of safety that new food additives must meet." United States General Accounting Office, The Department of the Army's Food Irradiation Program-Is It Worth Continuing? (Washington, D.C., 1978), 10-11; American Council on Science and Health, Irradiated Foods (New York, 1988), 22.
52. "FDA food additive requirements," FDA Papers (May 1967): 26. It is not clear why Congress treated radiation as a food preservative in 1958. The Comptroller General of the United States suggested in 1978 that it did so out of "concern that irradiated food might be harmful." Since scientists had not identified any unhealthful characteristics of irradiated foods, a more likely explanation was offered by the American Council on Science and Health in 1988: "Congress apparently grouped irradiation with food additives in order to ensure that irradiation would have to meet the same high standards of safety that new food additives must meet." United States General Accounting Office, The Department of the Army's Food Irradiation Program-Is It Worth Continuing? (Washington, D.C., 1978), 10-11; American Council on Science and Health, Irradiated Foods (New York, 1988), 22.
53. John L. Harvey, deputy commissioner, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, to Colonel Richard H. Oliver, U.S. Army, 14 May 1959, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3.
54. Department of Defense press release, "Army Defers Plans for Construction of Irradiated Food Plant in California," 22 October 1959, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3.
55. W. J. Nungester, M.D., University of Michigan Medical School, to Dr. John L. Schwab, Department of the Army, 30 December 1959, RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3.
56. "Back to the Laboratory," Time, 2 November 1959, 37.
57. Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, National Food Irradiation Research Program: Hearing before the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy, 86th Cong., 2nd sess., 14-15 January 1960, statement of Richard S. Morse, director, Army Research and Development, 66-68.
58. Department of the Army memorandum, "Ninth Meeting of the Interdepartmental Committee on Irradiation Preservation of Food," 25 November 1959, and Interdepartmental Committee on Radiation Preservation of Food, press release, "Government Increases Research on Radiation Processing of Foods," RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3
59. Department of the Army memorandum, "Ninth Meeting of the Interdepartmental Committee on Irradiation Preservation of Food," 25 November 1959, and Interdepartmental Committee on Radiation Preservation of Food, press release, "Government Increases Research on Radiation Processing of Foods," RG 335, Secretary of the Army, Correspondence Relating to Food Irradiation, 1957-61, box 3
60. E. E. Fowler, director, AEC Division of Isotopes Development, "United States Program for Radiation Preservation of Food" (speech before the 48th Annual Convention of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Honolulu, 21 November 1966), RG 326, Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, E-24 Copies of Speeches of AEC Officials, 1947-1974, box 11, file "AEC Speeches, 1966, part 1," U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
61. E. E. Fowler, director, AEC Division of Isotopes Development, "United States Program for Radiation Preservation of Food" (speech before the 48th Annual Convention of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, Honolulu, 21 November 1966), RG 326, Records of the Atomic Energy Commission, E-24 Copies of Speeches of AEC Officials, 1947-1974, box 11, file "AEC Speeches, 1966, part 1," U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
62. Glenn Seaborg, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, biweekly reports to President Lyndon B. Johnson: 23 May 1967, box 109, file "Atomic Energy Commission," and 22 March 1966, box 108, file "Atomic Energy Commission," Papers of Lyndon Baines Johnson, President, 1963-1969, National Security File, Agency File, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, Texas.
63. "Building a Hotter Fire Under Irradiated Foods," Business Week, 8 April 1967, 92; General Accounting Office (n. 27 above), 6.
64. For an account of the effect that the thalidomide episode had on FDA procedures, see Philip J. Hilts, Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation (New York, 2003), 144-65.
65. Josephson, "Historical Review of Food Irradiation" (n. 8 above), 169.
66. General Accounting Office, 6.
67. Samuel P. Hays, "Three Decades of Environmental Politics: The Historical Context," in Lacey (n. 11 above), 22, 26. Also see Samuel P. Hays, Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States, 1955-1985 (New York, 1987).
68. Samuel P. Hays, "Three Decades of Environmental Politics: The Historical Context," in Lacey (n. 11 above), 22, 26. Also see Samuel P. Hays, Beauty, Health, and Permanence: Environmental Politics in the United States, 1955-1985 (New York, 1987).
69. Steven Del Sesto, Science, Politics, and Controversy: Civilian Nuclear Power in the United States, 1946-1974 (Boulder, Colo., 1979), 193.
70. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston, 1962), 1-13.
71. Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom" (n. 11 above), 255.
72. Boyer, Bomb's Early Light (n. 5 above), 360.
73. Pool (n. 3 above), 195.
74. Michael Smith, "Advertising the Atom," 257.
75. Warren J. Belasco, Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry, 1966-1986 (New York, 1989), 28, 37. On the changing politics of food production at the time, see also Robert Gottlieb, Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), 227-72. Liberal pundit and future Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower exemplified this perspective; his 1975 screed against agribusiness accused it of undermining food quality, increasing the price of groceries, and choking off environmentally friendly forms of small-scale agriculture in the United States. Jim Hightower, Eat Your Heart Out: Food Profiteering in America (New York, 1975).
76. Warren J. Belasco, Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry, 1966-1986 (New York, 1989), 28, 37. On the changing politics of food production at the time, see also Robert Gottlieb, Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), 227-72. Liberal pundit and future Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower exemplified this perspective; his 1975 screed against agribusiness accused it of undermining food quality, increasing the price of groceries, and choking off environmentally friendly forms of small-scale agriculture in the United States. Jim Hightower, Eat Your Heart Out: Food Profiteering in America (New York, 1975).
77. Warren J. Belasco, Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry, 1966-1986 (New York, 1989), 28, 37. On the changing politics of food production at the time, see also Robert Gottlieb, Environmentalism Unbound: Exploring New Pathways for Change (Cambridge, Mass., 2001), 227-72. Liberal pundit and future Texas agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower exemplified this perspective; his 1975 screed against agribusiness accused it of undermining food quality, increasing the price of groceries, and choking off environmentally friendly forms of small-scale agriculture in the United States. Jim Hightower, Eat Your Heart Out: Food Profiteering in America (New York, 1975).
78. Belasco, 73, 107.
79. Harry Schrieber, "The Impact of Technology on American Legal Development, 1790-1985," in Technology, the Economy, and Society: The American Experience, ed. Joel Colton and Stuart Bruchy (New York, 1987), 103, 107.
80. The formation of the federal Council on Environmental Quality (1969), Environmental Protection Agency (1970), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (1972) signaled Washington's growing attention to the social and environmental consequences of industrial production and consumption. Historical accounts of these federal organizations and environmental politics at the time of their founding include J. Brooks Flippen, Nixon and the Environment (Albuquerque, N.M., 2000); Hays, "Three Decades of Environmental Politics" (n. 40 above), 19-79; Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Washington, D.C., 1993), 117-161; and Richard N. L Andrews, Managing the Environment, Managing Ourselves: A History of American Environmental Policy (New Haven, Conn., 1999), 227-54.
81. The formation of the federal Council on Environmental Quality (1969), Environmental Protection Agency (1970), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (1972) signaled Washington's growing attention to the social and environmental consequences of industrial production and consumption. Historical accounts of these federal organizations and environmental politics at the time of their founding include J. Brooks Flippen, Nixon and the Environment (Albuquerque, N.M., 2000); Hays, "Three Decades of Environmental Politics" (n. 40 above), 19-79; Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Washington, D.C., 1993), 117-161; and Richard N. L Andrews, Managing the Environment, Managing Ourselves: A History of American Environmental Policy (New Haven, Conn., 1999), 227-54.
82. The formation of the federal Council on Environmental Quality (1969), Environmental Protection Agency (1970), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (1970), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (1972) signaled Washington's growing attention to the social and environmental consequences of industrial production and consumption. Historical accounts of these federal organizations and environmental politics at the time of their founding include J. Brooks Flippen, Nixon and the Environment (Albuquerque, N.M., 2000); Hays, "Three Decades of Environmental Politics" (n. 40 above), 19-79; Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Washington, D.C., 1993), 117-161; and Richard N. L Andrews, Managing the Environment, Managing Ourselves: A History of American Environmental Policy (New Haven, Conn., 1999), 227-54.
83. The army made progress on high-dose irradiation of meat, despite losing reams of data when a private affiliate defaulted on a multimillion-dollar research contract. The Department of Energy, which replaced the recently disbanded AEC in 1977, sponsored low-dose tests on fruits and grains, while the Department of Commerce funded feasibility studies for low-dose irradiation of fish. The Interdepartmental Committee on Food Irradiation continued to plan for the commercialization of the process. Morrison and Roberts (n. 4 above), X-1-X-5.
84. General Accounting Office (n. 27 above), ii.
85. Secretary of the Army Howard Callaway to FDA Commissioner Alexander Schmidt, 11 December 1974, and Chairman of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy to Schmidt, 22 November 1974, RG 88, Food and Drug Administration, General Subject Files, 1938-74, box 5009, file 493.3, U.S. National Archives, Washington, D.C.
86. Food and Drug Administration, Radiation Preservation of Foods (1970), RG 88, Food and Drug Administration, General Subject Files, 1938-74, box 5009, file 493.3.
87. House Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Energy Re-search and Production, The Status of the Technical Infrastructure to Support Domestic Food Irradiation: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Energy Research and Production, 98th Cong., 2nd sess., 26 July 1984, testimony of Dr. Sanford Miller, 77.
88. The Joint Expert Committee and then the BFIFC endorsed the concept of "chemiclearance," meaning "that the texicological wholesomeness of an irradiated food can be judged on the basis of the nature of radiolytic products present after irradiation." Chemiclearance reduces the technical challenge of testing irradiated foods, for it holds that all foods exposed to a particular dose of gamma radiation have similar radiolytic products. Once feeding studies demonstrate the wholesomeness of one of those foods, the others are deemed safe as well. Urbain (n. 4 above), 273.
89. Miller, 93.
90. Food and Drug Administration, "Policy for Irradiated Foods: Advance Notice of Proposed Procedures for the Regulation of Irradiated Foods for Human Consumption," Federal Register, vol. 46, no. 59, 27 March 1981, 18992-93.
91. Richard Thompson, "Purifying Food Via Irradiation," FDA Consumer (October 1981): 25-27.
92. Cass Peterson,"FDA Proposes Radiation Use as Fruit, Vegetable Pesticide," Washington Post, 15 February 1984.
93. Tom Alexander, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Stock Market," Fortune, 19 March 1984, 68; Francesca Lunzer, "Atomic Lunch," Forbes, 9 September 1985, 119-20.
94. Tom Alexander, "The Effect of Gamma Rays on the Stock Market," Fortune, 19 March 1984, 68; Francesca Lunzer, "Atomic Lunch," Forbes, 9 September 1985, 119-20.
95. "Food Irradiation," Mother Earth News, September/October 1984, 102-3.
96. Peterson, "FDA Proposes Radiation Use as Fruit, Vegetable Pesticide."
97. Richard Thompson, "Speaking Up about FDA Regulations," FDA Consumer (July/August 1985): 24-26.
98. Rep. Sid Morrison (R-Wash.) initiated the hearing to boost the prospects of his bill, which was probably popular among his constituents at the Hanford nuclear complex. These workers presumably would have benefited if commercial food irradiation created a steady demand for the fissile materials they manufactured. House Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, Federal Food Irradiation Development and Control Act of 1985: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, 99th Cong., 1st sess., 18 November 1985, 20-21.
99. House Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, 344.
100. Department of Health and Human Services Food Additives Evaluation Branch memorandum to acting associate director for regulatory affairs, "Final Report of the Task Group for the Review of Toxicology Data on Irradiated Foods," 9 April 1982, reprinted in Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, Federal Food Irradiation Development and Control Act of 1985, 281-83.
101. House Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture, 445.
102. Ibid., 483.
103. Ibid., 70-72.
104. CH2M Hill Company, Technology Update and Future Initiatives, Byproducts Utilization Program (Albuquerque, n.d.), 8.
105. House Subcommittee on Department Operations, Research, and Foreign Agriculture (n. 65 above), 1183.
106. Webb and Lang (n. 4 above), 80.
107. General Accounting Office, Food Irradiation (Washington, D.C., 1990), 3-4.
108. "No Fried Food in New Jersey," Progressive, September 1987,25.
109. General Accounting Office, Food Irradiation, 5.
110. The states were Alaska, California, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Vermont.
111. House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, Food Irradiation: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment, 100th Cong., 1st sess., 19 June 1987.
112. Donald Pszczola, "Food Irradiation: Countering the Tactics and Claims of Opponents," Food Technology (June 1990): 92.
113. Webb and Lang (n. 4 above), 17.
114. Morrison and Roberts (n. 4 above), VII-5.
115. Janita Poe, "Radiation Plant Hearing Heated," St. Petersburg Times, 5 November 1991; Food and Water, "Radiation-Exposed Food," text of national radio announcement, 1990, copy in author's possession.
116. General Accounting Office, Food Irradiation: Available Research Indicates that Benefits Outweigh Risks (Washington, D.C., 2000), 11.
117. American Broadcasting Company, 20/20, "The Power of Fear," 13 December 1991.
118. Editorial, "Food Safety through Irradiation," New York Times, 3 December 1997.
119. "Position of the American Dietetic Association: Food Irradiation," Journal of the American Dietetic Association (January 1996): 69-73.
120. Colby (n. 4 above).
121. Public Citizen, Food Irradiation Means Filthy Food (n. 2 above).
122. Christine M. Bruhn et al., "Attitude Change toward Food Irradiation Among Conventional and Alternative Consumers," Food Technology (January 1986): 86-91; Christine M. Bruhn and Howard G. Schutz, "Consumer Awareness and Outlook for Acceptance of Food Irradiation," Food Technology (July 1989): 93-94; David Wellman, "Irradiation: A Future in Food?" Supermarket Business (April 1998): 13-17; and Laurie Freeman, "'Irradiation' Designation May Finally Become a Sales Pitch," Marketing News, 14 September 1998, 1-4.
123. Christine M. Bruhn et al., "Attitude Change toward Food Irradiation Among Conventional and Alternative Consumers," Food Technology (January 1986): 86-91; Christine M. Bruhn and Howard G. Schutz, "Consumer Awareness and Outlook for Acceptance of Food Irradiation," Food Technology (July 1989): 93-94; David Wellman, "Irradiation: A Future in Food?" Supermarket Business (April 1998): 13-17; and Laurie Freeman, "'Irradiation' Designation May Finally Become a Sales Pitch," Marketing News, 14 September 1998, 1-4.
124. Christine M. Bruhn et al., "Attitude Change toward Food Irradiation Among Conventional and Alternative Consumers," Food Technology (January 1986): 86-91; Christine M. Bruhn and Howard G. Schutz, "Consumer Awareness and Outlook for Acceptance of Food Irradiation," Food Technology (July 1989): 93-94; David Wellman, "Irradiation: A Future in Food?" Supermarket Business (April 1998): 13-17; and Laurie Freeman, "'Irradiation' Designation May Finally Become a Sales Pitch," Marketing News, 14 September 1998, 1-4.
125. Christine M. Bruhn et al., "Attitude Change toward Food Irradiation Among Conventional and Alternative Consumers," Food Technology (January 1986): 86-91; Christine M. Bruhn and Howard G. Schutz, "Consumer Awareness and Outlook for Acceptance of Food Irradiation," Food Technology (July 1989): 93-94; David Wellman, "Irradiation: A Future in Food?" Supermarket Business (April 1998): 13-17; and Laurie Freeman, "'Irradiation' Designation May Finally Become a Sales Pitch," Marketing News, 14 September 1998, 1-4.
126. That resistance may disappear if electron-beam machines become cost-effective alternatives to radioactive materials. These machines already exist, and Wegmans Food Markets uses them to irradiate the ground beef it sells. That meat is more expensive than it would be if exposed to gamma radiation from cobalt 60, but it has enabled Wegmans to avoid bad press whipped up by activists concerned primarily with the proliferation of nuclear materials.
127. Hughes discusses his influential concept of technological momentum in Net-works of Power: Electrification in Western Society, 1880-1930 (Baltimore, 1983), and "The Evolution of Large Technological Systems," in Bijker,