Does a virus survive vacuum?

[Diana Rae]

In article <3osap9$cit at news3.digex.net>, 
The LightKeeper <litekepr at cpcug.org> wrote: 
>wfields at dekalb.dc.peachnet.edu (William M Fields,NB234  LRC 
>,551-3059,8) muttered: 
> 
> 
>>I appreciate the iniatives toward food sterilization technology, but what
 
>>has happened to radiation?  Has it proven to be unsatifactory? It  
>>certainly seems to knock the bases right off their sugars. 
 
A real concern is the what becomes of metallic minerals (i.e. iron) that
have been subjected to ionizing radiation.  Whereas the soft tissue and
vegetable matter may not itself become radioactive, the metallic ions will.
 Thus, small accumulative doses of radioactive particles will accumulate in
the body of the person who eats them. 
 
> 
>>People tend to go nutso when told the food they are about to eat 
>>was nuked.  (Never mind the fact that they probably popped it in 
>>the microwave 20 seconds before. . .) 
 
>>Uh-huh. Not the same thing at all. There's a great difference between 
>>ionising radiation and microwaves. Not that I would mind eating
irradiated 
>>food, but the flavours all go to hell. Also, what about the accumulation 
>>of free radicals?  
 
>> I guess they think they'll get cancer. . . better immagined cancer 
>> than real E. coli or some nasty virus.   (Marburg, anyone?) 
 
Just remember where E. coli got its name.  And if you have any awareness at
all of how meat is processed in the plant, and that these  conditions are
not likely to change (when not under *direct* supervision by regulatory
authorities), remember that s**t on meat after irradiation is still s**t on
meat.