[ RadSafe ] Franz's question on psychological/psychiatric research on anti-nuclear activists

[Peter Crane]

Maybe the reason that no one has picked up on this question, Franz, is out of politeness, so as not to have to say directly that this is an idea with little to recommend it. The world is full of people with non-mainstream or eccentric ideas on other scientific subjects, such as that vaccines cause autism, that HIV does not cause AIDS, that global warming is beneficial, that evolution is a hoax, that the earth is 6000 years old, etc., etc. So why focus exclusively on the supposed mental health problems of the anti-nuclear activists? Why not the others too? I would respectfully suggest that the best way to win scientific and policy debates is not to try to paint your adversaries as mentally ill, but to explain, in civil and reasoned terms, why their views, and I stress the word "views," are in error.  

-- Peter Crane, Seattle
NRC Counsel for Special Projects (retired)