AW: [ RadSafe ] Myth Busters and Irradiated Cockroaches - Jan 30

[Franz Schönhofer]

Ward,

I remember very well that in the late 60's or early 70's there were
publications on the (minimal negative) influence of radiation on insects
compared to other animals and humans and I definitely remember the
cockroaches because I had to look up this terminus technicus in the
dictionary. Therefore it was concluded that insects would survive humans in
the case of widespread and really deadly nuclear contamination. Those who
are old enough to remember these times will know, that in those years the
hysteria about anything nuclear did not exist, though the fallout from
atmospheric nuclear testing was several orders of magnitude higher than
nowadays, even after a catastrophic nuclear accident like in Chernobyl.
Therefore I tend to believe that serious experiments had been made and that
the results presented in those publications are likely to have a correct and
serious background. 

Why these experiments have to be repeated again, to be advertised months
beforehand and intensively shortly before broadcasting is probably only
explainable by TV's aggressive and sensational sales promotion. For the
average TV consumer this might be a nice "show" to create some chill, but
nothing more. This is a clear hint that "radioactivity" is just a topic for
shows on TV. 

Btw, I admit that I have cruelly killed a few cockroaches in French
Polynesia after I spent a week on an atoll after three weeks of sampling on
Mururoa and Fangataufa, the places where the French conducted most of their
nuclear bomb tests. They were much bigger than any ones I had seen before -
maybe a mutation caused by the deadly fallout (copyright Greenpeace)? The
nice lizards which were running in and out in my hut were obviously not able
to eat them all! 

Best regards,

Franz

Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA


-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von Brunkow, Ward
Gesendet: Dienstag, 08. Jänner 2008 15:07
An: Flanigan, Floyd; Flood, John; Jeff Leavey; Radsafe
Betreff: RE: [ RadSafe ] Myth Busters and Irradiated Cockroaches - Jan 30

Well, we've always known this. The insects and reptiles will inherit the
world in a full scale nuclear exchange. This is a classic thought in the
Army's "Biological Effects of Nuclear Weapons" Manual, as I used in the
NBC Officers course. Any Jr. Health Physicist knows the "graded
approach" with radiation exposure or contamination and the effect it has
on a living organism. Us humans are about as "perishable" as it gets. I
guess the layperson on the street would find this interesting, that is
what the show is designed for I guess, not us rad geeks.

W. G. (Ward) Brunkow
DOE WIPP