[ RadSafe ] Urgent need for whole-body scanners at salad bars?

[Steven Dapra]

Dec. 24

         I think a lot of this is the terrorist 
tail wagging the dog of the US "superpower."  As 
Saul Alinsky said, "The action is in the 
reaction."  According to the food poisoning 
article (below) an intelligence insider said the 
plot was "credible."  The authorities reacted to 
a plot that supposedly was credible.  No one 
thought about how likely it was.  (How much do 
you suppose this ostensible insider actually knew about the poisoning plot?)

         It is my firm belief that the post 
September 11th paranoia has gotten entirely out of hand.

Steven Dapra


At 03:36 PM 12/21/2010, you wrote:
>Clayton and to all those RADSAFErs, who have not yet been infected by the
>"terrorist virus" paranoia,
>
>I came back home from more than three months in France and Spain and reading
>the mails on RADSAFE I can only conclude, that some kind of paranoia must
>have stricken the US authorities and their massmedia. (This was not the case
>in Spanish or French newspapers nor Austrians, because the latter ones are
>almost fully tied up with "incredible", but reasonable corruption claims
>against politicians, prime players in economy and most of all the former
>Minister of Finance. So Terry, there is no reason, to "monitor" me again.
>This clearly is a US problem, not known to probably most of the world.)
>
>So, what is going on on RADSAFE? First the endless discussions about the
>naken scanners - which are in the "rest of the world" in spite of their
>undisputable illigality according to radiation protection legislation not
>discussed because of their dose, but because of their presentation of
>passengers naked and much much more because of the "padding". Nobody, n o b
>o d y  is entitled to touch the private parts of somebody, who is not in a
>very close and intimate relation or a doctor on health reasons!!!!! I
>remember some years ago, when I was assaulted in Seoul, South Korea at a
>underground station by an obvious homosexual, touching my private parts. I
>felt like vomiting for several hours.
>
>After the scanners we had the alarms by something that has anyway not been
>confirmed, what it was. I only make one very short comment on this: Having
>not to much experience with such (which?) monitors I seriously doubt that
>K-40 or any other NORM might be detected. One should not comment before all
>information is available, which I expect will never be.
>
>Now we have ricin and cyanide. In spite of having attended a course in
>forensic chemistry I have no idea about ricin, because those decades ago
>Ricin was not common as a poison, but cyanide was. The "expert", who claims
>that cyanide poisoning would look like food poisoning should be stripped of
>his academic degree and at best be allowed to start his studies all over. As
>soon as one would add vinegar to ones salad (most people do!) the cyanide
>would liberate hydrogene cyanide, which has a very characteristic smell,
>which would stop anybody from eating the salade.
>
>Again: What is going on in the paranoia of terrorist attacks in the USA?
>Nobody reasonable to answer this serious question?
>
>Best regards,
>
>Franz
>
>Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
>MinRat i.R.
>Habicherg. 31/7
>A-1160 Wien/Vienna
>AUSTRIA
>
>
>-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
>Von: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
>[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] Im Auftrag von Clayton J Bradt
>Gesendet: Dienstag, 21. Dezember 2010 20:48
>An: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
>Betreff: [ RadSafe ] Urgent need for whole-body scanners at salad bars?
>
>Report: Terrorists Seek to Poison Food at U.S. Restaurants, Hotels
>Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2010
>
>The U.S. Homeland Security Department in 2010 identified a terrorist plan
>to contaminate salad bars and buffets at restaurants and hotels with
>lethal materials, CBS News reported yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 6, 2005).
>
>The strikes involving ricin and cyanide would have occurred during one
>weekend at a significant number of establishments. The plot was
>"credible," according to one intelligence insider. The would-be poisoners
>are suspected of having connections to the extremist group al-Qaeda in the
>Arabian Peninsula, which has been tied to a number of plots against the
>United States (see GSN, Dec. 20).
>
>A handful of security personnel from the hotel and restaurant sectors have
>received information on the plot from Homeland Security, Agriculture
>Department and Food and Drug Administration officials.
>
>Just 250 milligrams of cyanide could be lethal, an expert told CBS News.
>
>"Initially it would look very much like food poisoning," said Susan Ford,
>a pharmaceutical sciences professor at St. John's University in New York.
>
>The Homeland Security Department yesterday declined to discuss the
>reported plot.
>
>"We are not going to comment on reports of specific terrorist planning.
>However, the counterterrorism and homeland security communities have
>engaged in extensive efforts for many years to guard against all types of
>terrorist attacks, including unconventional attacks using chemical,
>biological, radiological, and nuclear materials," said spokesman Sean
>Smith. "Indeed, al-Qaeda has publicly stated its intention to try to carry
>out unconventional attacks for well over a decade, and AQAP propaganda in
>the past year has made similar reference.
>
>"Finally, we get reports about the different kinds of attacks terrorists
>would like to carry out that frequently are beyond their assessed
>capability," he added (Armen Keteyian, CBS News, Dec. 20).
>**********************************
>Clayton J. Bradt
>dutchbradt at hughes.net
>
>IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential
>or sensitive information which is, or may be, legally privileged or
>otherwise protected by law from further disclosure. It is intended only for
>the addressee. If you received this in error or from someone who was not
>authorized to send it to you, please do not distribute, copy or use it or
>any attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by reply e-mail and
>delete this from your system. Thank you for your cooperation.