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.