[ RadSafe ] Helen Caldicott

[Otto G. Raabe]

At 11:44 AM 3/21/2007, Jeff Terry wrote:
>Could someone give me some background information on Helen Caldicott?
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March 21, 2007

Helen Caldicott, whom I have met personally and heard speak at an 
antinuclear event, has dedicated her life to attacking all nuclear 
technology. In her autobiography ("A Desperate Passion"), which I 
have read, she says she was frightened by a book called "On the 
Beach" by Neville Shute which she read when a teenager, and her whole 
career has been an extension that experience. Although she obtained a 
medical degree in Australia in her youth, she only attempted to 
practice medicine for a short time before embarking on her personal 
lifetime career to rid the world of all things nuclear. (She is about 
70 years old.) She will twist any issue and exaggerate any risk to 
accomplish her purpose. But she has no training in and only very 
limited knowledge of radiobiology, radiation safety, nuclear physics, 
radiochemistry, or environmental biology. She claims that radiation 
risk is a medical issue and she can speak about it because she has a 
medical degree. I believe that HER REAL PURPOSE IS TO GET ATTENTION 
FOR HER ANTI-NUCLEAR CAUSE BY ANY MEANS POSSIBLE!  She will go to any 
extreme, make any scary claim, and pretend any authority of knowledge 
to accomplish her purpose. I do not believe that she is a reliable 
source of information about radiation risks or  the possible medical 
effects of radiation.

Otto


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Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
Center for Health & the Environment
University of California
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616
E-Mail: ograabe at ucdavis.edu
Phone: (530) 752-7754   FAX: (530) 758-6140
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