Hi Jim and All 

> Yes, one could use MASSIVE amounts of radiation and 
> break down pesticides, but this would only be possible 
> at several THOUSAND times the exposure levels used in 
> the CCD-related experiment cited. 

From my reading (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) a typical dose of food gamma irradiation would be of the order of 10kGy (kilo Grays). Was that what they used in the CCD experiment? 

The paper I cited (1) says that 100 kGy removed dioxins in solution so that liquid wastes did not exhibit dioxin toxicity. It is not just the photons themselves that break chemical bonds, but radicals generated from the solvent also cause an effect, amplifying the decay. 

So are you sure that it would take several thousand times the exposure level in the CCD experiments to make much impact on the level of pesticides present? From my reading of the topic (which is limited, I'll admit) the medium in which the compound finds itself is crucial to the decay characteristics. I can't see anyone knowing exactly how compounds will behave in or on comb until they try it out and measure the result. 

all the best 

Gavin 

(1) http://tinyurl.com/2ytbua

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