Pamela Gillis Watson Responds to NASA JSC

[EASlavin@aol.com]

Subj:    [downwinders] Re: [CHE-OAKRIDGE] NASA JSC Says "This has gotten out 
of hand" -- any responses?  
Date:   04/07/2000 5:07:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time
From:   pambo1@aol.com
Reply-to:   downwinders@egroups.com
To: CHE-OAKRIDGE@egroups.com, che-oakridge@onelist.com, 
downwinders@onelist.com
CC: easlavin@aol.com

Dear Ed,

Please post my response to the NASA JSC on the RADSAFE list:

Dear Sir,

I'm dismayed by your attack on the legal profession and your assumption that 
Mr. Slavin doesn't know what he's talking about because he isn't a scientist. 
 Unfortunately, I know from personal experience that scientists are sometimes 
merely highly schooled bigots who know very little outside their area of 
expertise.  And as for your smug assertion that Mr. Slavin says what his 
clients pay him to say, who do you think is paying him to say what he said on 
the RADSAFE email list?  Who do you think paid him to say what he said to the 
U.S. Senate?  Who do you think pays him for all the letters he writes to 
email lists and newspaper editors and all the DOE public meetings he attends? 
 And what makes you think that an attorney who helps whistleblowers and sick 
workers sue for compensation is any more a whore than a scientist who works 
for NASA or DOE?
 
My opinion is that Mr. Slavin does what he does for a number of reasons 
(human motivations are never a simple thing), including his desire for 
justice, his appreciation of the workers, his belief that our beautiful 
Appalachian environment should be protected, and his love of a good fight.  
But even if he were paid for every single thing he does or if he just likes 
to argue (which I consider to be quite an admirable quality), it wouldn't 
mean that what he says isn't true or that what he is accomplishing doesn't 
need to be accomplished.
 
Over the course of my 10 years of work as a technical writer/editor and 
webmaster on the DOE Oak Ridge Reservation, I've worked with a number of 
scientists and managers who initially assumed that I knew nothing about their 
work because my 4-year degree is in English, or that I wasn't as smart as 
they were because I didn't have a Ph.D.  They were wrong.  I have a very 
strong science and technology background (for example, 4.5 years in U.S. Air 
Force telecommunications electronics with the number one promotion score Air 
Force-wide in my career field, recipient of Air Force Commendation Medal and 
several other decorations).  I was a summa cum laude graduate of the 
University of Tennessee (Phi Beta Kappa, 3.94 GPA).  My parents didn't 
finance my education at all--I worked two part-time jobs and was in the Navy 
Reserve while I attended college full time on scholarships, grants, and 
loans.  When I graduated, I sent out only one resume--to Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory (ORNL).  I wan!
ted a job as a technical writer/editor at ORNL because I saw that as the 
perfect marriage of my two great loves: reading/writing and science.

Apparently, you are like many other scientists and managers I've worked with 
in Oak Ridge who don't respect anyone's opinion or contribution except people 
who meet your narrow definition of "expert." Therefore, may I suggest the 
following reading material for you:

1. Dead Reckoning: A Critical Review of the Dept. of Energy's Epidemiologic 
Research, Physicians for Social Responsibility's Physicians Task Force (1992).
2. Nuclear Wastelands: A Global Guide to Nuclear Weapons Production and Its 
Health and Environmental Effects, International Physicians for the Prevention 
of Nuclear War and Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (1995).
3. PSR Health Research Bulletin, quarterly publication of Physicians for 
Social Responsibility. (Includes summaries of health impacts investigations 
at DOE sites.)
4. Radioactive Heaven and Earth: The Health and Environmental Effects of 
Nuclear Weapons Testing In, On and Above the Earth, International Physicians 
for the Prevention of Nuclear War and Institute for Energy and Environmental 
Research (1991).
5. Hazards Ahead: Managing Cleanup Worker Health and Safety at the Nuclear 
Weapons Complex, Office of Technology Assessment (February 1993) (on the web 
at http://www.ota.nap.edu/pdf/data/1993/9326.PDF).
6. Complex Cleanup: The Environmental Legacy of Nuclear Weapons Production, 
Office of Technology Assessment (February 1991) (on the web at 
http://www.ota.nap.edu/pdf/data/1991/9113.PDF).

Sincerely,
Pamela Gillis Watson

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