(Above) Radioactive seeds from Oak Ridge, TN., 1960. Click on image for larger view.
(Above) Back of pack. Be sure and read. Click on image for larger view.OK. WHAA-AT THE HELL? WERE THERE NO CONSUMER GUIDELINES IN 1960? You have to read the back of this pack. Here, Oak Ridge Atom Industries took flower seeds and irradiated them with gamma rays from Cobalt 60. Tests showed “mutations” in size, color and shape—so yee-haa! They put them on the market!
On the back of the pack they said that Cobalt 60 irradiated seeds grew mutations of 120 tomatoes from a single plant, and eight ears of corn from a single root system. No need to mention what happened to the person who ATE the vegetables.
And today, scientists at bio-engineering firms all over the world are hard at work creating their own disease resistant plants, super-cows that produce more milk than nature intended, and other vegetables and fruits (like seedless watermelons) that have had their genetic patterns of DNA altered.
Something to think about.
Maybe I've mentioned this before, but I remember standing on an xray machine and looking at the bones in my feet in a shoe store as a kid in the mid 50's. Anyone else?
ReplyDeleteYeah, and it's all impossible to escape. Sometimes I think about how the populous at large is the real test subject.
ReplyDeleteA great artifact!
ReplyDeleteThat's just plain scary.
ReplyDeleteWow... where did you find those?
ReplyDeletexS
Hi...I'm a garden historian doing research into atomic gardens (recent post on the British aspect of their history here: http://gardenhistorygirl.blogspot.com
ReplyDeleteDo you still have the seed packet or know anything of its provenance?
Thanks!