Re: Fw: Stop the madness

[RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]

In a message dated 2/3/02 11:00:30 PM Mountain Standard Time, jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET writes:



> To have any chance, I think we need to level the playing field before
>
> getting in the game. The key to doing so would be to convince the media
>
> (PBS, etc.) as to the error of their ways and the harm they have done
>
> - no easy task.


Not easy all, but possible.  One thing that makes it harder is that most of us are employed, and our employers don't want us talking to the press, even as ourselves, with disclaimers.  I got roundly castigated for saying in a public talk that the projected "latent fatal cancers" in DOE documents was calculated by just multiplying dose by a linear conversion factor (0.0005), and I said DOE should just report doses.  This was repeated (by the reporter who attended the talk) to Ed Lyman, who promptly reported it to the press as "Dr. Weiner says radiation doesn't cause cancer."  I work for a DOE contractor who was understandably disturbed by the press report.


Here are a couple of suggestions (DOE people on here please take note):

1.  DOE should recognize (by now!) that the press distorts what people say, and should be more open about public statements by its contractors as long as they include a disclaimer in their public utterances (as I did).

2.  When hearings on the WIPP were held, George Dials, the director of DOE/CAO, ENCOURAGED DOE, Westinghouse, Sandians, and other contractor employees to speak at the hearings.. The WIPP is open.  The anti-WIPP crowd did NOT prevail.  I wish more DOE managers would encourage their employees and contractors as George did.

3.  We need to continually recognize publicly that representing an environmental group in a public statement carries as strong a bias as working for a DOE  contractor, and stop the fiction that the anti-nuke groups are "independent" and only DOE contractors are "biased."


Clearly these are only my own opinions, do not in any way reflect my current or past employers, and for all I know are not shared by anyone else.




Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

ruthweiner@aol.com