ABSTRACT
The word “consumer” is in quotation marks because there are, in fact, two distinctly different advocacy groups that claim to represent the consumer. The first type is the traditional consumer advocacy group which very clearly has the consumer as their one and only priority. The second group is very different indeed. New Wave advocacy groups are very different from the traditional consumer advocates, and so are their techniques. Distorted perspectives result in controversy and it is the maintenance of public controversy that keeps New Wave advocates in business. When analyzing the New Wavers’ complaints about the process of food irradiation, it is interesting to note the similarity to early complaints about pasteurization. Since there is a confusion of irradiated foods with radioactive materials, there is a built-in fear that these foods could cause genetic mutations. Most of the environmental concerns apply only to food irradiation facilities which use Co60 as a source of ionizing radiation.
