RE: "Chernobyl poppy" [was "Comment on Food irradiation paper"]

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

You wrote :



 - we had a scary newspaper story (first page - large 

headlines etc, 840 000 copies of "Avisen" littered parts of Sweden) ten days



ago. The message was that the heroin addicts in Stockholm are radioactive 

because the Papaver sp. - opium plants - may come from the Chernobyl area. 

This stuff was speculative right through _without any numbers or references 

given_. The article stated that a special fast- and large-growing "Chernobyl



poppy" resulted from the mutations and some scientist was quoted for saying 

that he didn't think that there was a danger to the public (due to 

irradiation from drug addicts...). Judging from searches on the Internet I 

conclude that the woman who wrote all this (and also some other same level 

nonsense) probably is a combined actress and journalist. These people hate 

numbers, statistics or any kind of perspective - their language is 

qualitative. You can't change the language of these individuals.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>



Comment :



Bjorn - these radiation mutation myths are not just propagated by actresses

and journalists. I can cite two specific cases where respected professional

chemists published, in newspapers, similar unsubstantiated claims w.r.t.

mutations in animals and even in humans (no doubt Radsafers can recall many

other instances...). 

Typically these are utterly obvious gaffes, like the one about equine

siamese twins ("octopus horse") -- which has nothing whatsoever to do with

mutation...  What's worse, when you point out the mistake, you will likely

be told that "that's beside the point," -- the point being to maintain the

diabolical radiation stereotype, regardless of facts.



Jaro

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