Radiation hysteria - who's guilty?

["Michael Stabin" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

> Were it not for the prevalent hysteria, a lot of radsafe

> people would need to seek employment in other areas.



Yes, absolutely. This is a fact that the antinukes don't seem to appreciate.

They think that HPs are anti-radiation hysteria because this will lead to

more use of nuclear power, and thus more jobs for HPs. In fact, the vast

majority of HPs are responsible scientists and engineers who are simply

pro-accurate information and anti-disinformation, which should lead to

*fewer* jobs for HPs. I have a cartoon that appeared in the HP Newsletter

some years back of a little guy with a butterfly net chasing a single

radioactive atom, which (sadly) depicts much of what daily life is for many

HPs, because of LNT. If LNT were to go away, many of these silly analyses

could be done away with, and only the real concerns would remain. You had

better be scared of a 10 Ci Cs-137 source, like you had better be scared of

touching a high voltage line, and you better get a good HP to help you (with

the former). There is no need to be scared of a 10 mrem exposure, but WHO is

saying that you should be? This is disingenuous use of misinformation to

achieve a political end, which HPs are NOT guilty of, but many antinukes

are. Any HP who tries to scare people about 10 mrem exposures so that their

consulting firm can go on characterizing trivial doses to large populations

for big bucks would be equally guilty, but that's not what I hear.



Mike



Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP

Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences

Vanderbilt University

1161 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37232-2675

Phone (615) 343-0068

Fax   (615) 322-3764

e-mail  michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu





************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,

send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the text "unsubscribe

radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/