Re: Re[2]: Bill in Congress

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

It will be very interesting to see how this legislation works out. 
There are many contradictory concepts being bantered. Epidemiology 
has always been an issue that has never been appropriately used in 
causation cases. The dose was always assumed to be the causal factor, 
and the defendants had to demonstrate that it wasn't, often in a 
hostile environment. The nuclear reactor world had been fortunate 
that jurys seemed to see beyond the BS bantered about by plantiff's 
attorneys (ambulance chasers) and have always found in favor of the 
utility as being not the cause of the plantiff's illness.

Dosimetry is not always the answer, although the pro-nuclear 
attorneys, such as Don Jose and Dave Wides, will tell you that it's 
hard to prove a negative, and it's therefore, better to have some 
data to support your claims. But that isn't the end catch all savior. 
In some cases external dosimetry isn't the only need you have to 
mitigate for. There's the case of airborne, internal and the 
previously used offense stating that hot particles were the cause of 
the illness, which the external dosimetry just wouldn't detect. The 
plantiff's take a truth and then expand beyond reason.

The power reactors are currently collecting a significant amount of 
data as part of an epidemiological study. It will be a major effort 
to prove that there has been no significant correlation between dose 
and illness at our operating plants. Unfortunately it will be 
dismissed by those who always dismiss, and used by those who always 
accept positive data.

If there is the day where no proof need be provided, it will be 
another sad day in our justice system. We already have too many short-
comings .. and this will be just one more. Truth and honesty will be 
a virtue of the past. We will all become victims of this new 
philosophy.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Division		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    
ICN Biomedicals, Inc.				E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          
Costa Mesa, CA 92626                                      

Personal Website:  http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com

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