RE: Radioprotection of plants & animals

["Pollan, Paul B." <PBPOLLAN@southernco.com>]

Please, Gentlemen.  Let us remember that the Study of Health Physics
involves more than just health effects and protection from ionizing
radiation, but also involves the effects of microwaves, effects of an ozone
layer, or loss thereof and the increased radiation (both ionizing and
non-ionizing) effects on life on this earth.  

There are as many ways to die as there are people, animals, and plants, but
our Field is worthy of note in that we are able to 
 - allow nuclear plants to operate safely without fear of fatally exposing
the workers and public, 
 - create better "nuke" ovens and better seals around the doors, 
 - determine how much dose it will take to kill a tumor, 
 - what the skin exposure would be at certain times of day based on the
available "natural   
   shielding" from cosmic radiation,
 and recommend safety measures to minimize the effects of the various types
of radiation that people, other animals, and - yes, even plants.   Try
putting your favorite orchid in the sun on a summer day at noon and see what
happens - even if the plant is kept in a container in a controlled
temperature to it's "liking".

Environmentalists also need to listen to what Health Physics personnel say.
When it comes to protecting the environment, we are the source of knowledge,
both from manmade as well as natural radiation, both from the earth and from
the cosmos.  They all have a cumulative effect on us, them, and whatever
else can be affected, both in a positive and negative manner.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Bernard L Cohen [SMTP:blc+@pitt.edu]
> Sent:	Wednesday, January 03, 2001 11:02 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	Re: Radioprotection of plants & animals
> 
> 
> On Tue, 2 Jan 2001, Bjorn Cedervall wrote:
> 
> > I have read a draft report that deals with radioprotection of other
> species. 
> > It is easy to reject all this as "crazy" and stop right here but I think
> 
> > that it is time to look at what's going on. After all people in more
> than 20 
> > countries are involved already. It is time to sort out the central
> issues 
> > and ask questions.
> 
> 	--This sounds completely phony to me. All effects of radiation
> that I can envision would kill only a small fraction of the animals
> involved, so it would not affect the population as a whole. If one is
> sympathetic about killing individual animals, he should be much more
> concerned with the number of cattle, pigs, chickens, etc we kill for food,
> or the mice, rats, etc we kill in our research studies or fumigation
> programs, or the way some animals kill others. Any conceivable radiation
> effects would be trivial by comparison.
> 
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html