Editorials
Monday, July 13, 1998

Big Island should OK
irradiation of fruit

BIG Island opponents of food irradiation are gathering signatures on a petition to put the issue on the November ballot and appear to have a good chance of amassing enough to meet the legal requirement. It would be a needless setback for the island economy if they succeeded in winning approval of a ban.

Last week Deputy County Clerk Alan Konishi rejected as invalid 3,174 signatures of 10,050 that were submitted, leaving the opponents 470 short of the required 7,346. However, they still had time to make up the difference.

A legal question could be an obstacle. Mayor Stephen Yamashiro complained that the clerk should have rejected even more signatures because the accompanying addresses were not current. The mayor said there might be an attempt to obtain a court order to block acceptance of the disputed signatures.

Yamashiro is a supporter of a plan to establish a commercial irradiator near Hilo Airport to treat the Big Island's papayas and exotic fruits for export to the mainland and Asia. This is important because the fruits are subject to infestation by fruit flies, which makes them unacceptable for export without treatment.

Some Hawaii fruit is currently being irradiated at a mainland facility, but having a treatment plant on the Big Island would mean wider use of the process and probably expanded production, strengthening the island economy. Papayas are currently being treated with hot air to kill the fruit flies, but no other fruits have had treatments approved for them except irradiation.

Irradiation makes no changes in the fruit except for killing the fly larvae and retarding spoilage. It has been approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the World Health Organization and is used in dozens of countries with no ill effects.

Opponents have made baseless claims that the irradiation process makes food unhealthy. They also claim that the island's vulnerability to earthquakes and tsunamis make it dangerous to use the irradiators' nuclear materials, although they are used safely in many parts of the world. Wildly irresponsible comparisons have been made with nuclear energy and even nuclear weapons.

Big Island residents should not be swayed by the opponents' scare tactics and irrational arguments. If the issue comes to a vote, they should approve irradiation.

Elections in Cambodia

GENERAL elections are coming up July 26 in Cambodia, but the campaign has been marred by violence and government propaganda. The current leader, Hun Sen, a former member of the Khmer Rouge who sided with the Vietnamese against his former comrades, needs the elections to gain the sanction of the international community.

After Hun Sen staged a coup a year ago against his co-premier, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, foreign aid was cut off in protest. That was a major setback because the aid formed half of the national budget. In addition, the United Nations says that Cambodia's U.N. seat still belongs to Ranariddh. Winning the elections would restore these benefits for Hun Sen.

The 1993 elections, held under United Nations auspices at a staggering cost, were won by Ranariddh, defeating Hun Sen's party, which had been installed in power by Hanoi in 1979. Ranariddh and Hun Sen then formed a coalition government -- Hun Sen had threatened to refuse to relinquish power unless this arrangement was accepted.

The government's actions leading up to the elections are disturbing. The Cambodian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said several dozen new cases of human rights abuses -- killings and beatings -- committed by the ruling party have been compiled in recent weeks. The victims were members of the parties of Ranariddh and former finance minister Sam Rainsy. Hun Sen's party runs the local and national election commissions. His propaganda dominates the media except for a five-minute daily message permitted each opposition group.

Despite these conditions, the opposition has decided not to boycott the election, in part due to pressure to participate from the European Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and other international groups. The EU and Japan have largely financed voter registration and campaign infrastructure. The Clinton administration declined to contribute.

Under current conditions, the likelihood of free and fair balloting is dim. The international community should be pressing for a postponement to provide time to seek improvements. Otherwise the elections are likely to be a sham, providing Hun Sen with a respectability he does not deserve and in effect ratifying his forcible seizure of power.

A harmonious request

NOW is the time for all good music lovers to come to the aid of their orchestra. The Honolulu Symphony needs to drum up about $100,000 by Wednesday to receive a generous $500,000 matching gift from a private donor.

The group has already raised more than $400,000 through more than 2,600 pledges. If the deadline is met on June 15, the total $1 million -- $500,000 from the anonymous benefactor and the half a million bucks from the public -- will make the symphony debt free for the first time in more than a decade. What sweet music that would be.

Matching gifts for the campaign may be made by calling the Honolulu Symphony Development Office at 524-0815, extension 227. This very do-able challenge should motivate all music lovers in Hawaii, especially fans of the symphony, to make contributions -- no strings attached!

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John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher

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Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors

A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor