Re: dirty bomb -- doctors at Society of Nuclear Medicine's annualmeeting

[Muckerheide <muckerheide@attbi.com>]

on 7/5/02 5:18 PM, Carol S. Marcus at csmarcus@ucla.edu wrote:



> At 02:04 PM 7/5/02 -0400, Ted Rockwell wrote:

>>> They've got all the facts right (or almost--e.g. the delayed deaths

>> after Chernobyl), but the dead-wrong conclusion.  We should tell people

>> these facts, without the conclusion, and then conclude "therefore,

>> there's no need to panic."

>> 

>> Why keep telling them they should panic??!

>> 

>> Ted Rockwell

> 

> 

> Dear Radsafers:

> 

> I was at the SNM meeting referred to above.  I do not recall anyone saying

> that there were delayed deaths from Cernobyl.  I did ask Henry Royal if

> there had been any deaths among the children with thyroid cancer, and he

> said that he thought there had been 5-6, but that they died from

> complications of surgery, not the cancer itself.  A complication rate like

> this is incredibly high; it would not happen here.

> 

> As far as the public panic question goes, the speakers pointed out the

> probable panic that would ensue, and stressed the importance of feeding the

> public useful, truthful information to try to stop the panic.

> 

> It was a superb session.

> 

> Carol S. Marcus, Ph.D., M.D.

> <csmarcus@ucla.edu>



Hi Carol, Group,



Interesting. Can you check with Royal about saying it? Or whether someone

else did? I'd like to target the reporter if it's denied.



And check where he thinks 5-6 died from complications of surgery. We know of

one, and that was reported by the Russian medical investigators who looked

into the supposed cases of deaths from thyroid cancer, as a failure by

alcoholic parents to provide medication to the child. (Two others were

removed from the list because they were no in the Chernobyl exposure area.

 

(Royal has often said some pretty unfounded nonsense about radiation

effects; is this another case?)



More importantly, was this actually useful? Was there any interest in an

initiative to produce statements or take positions that would put some

context to/correct the fear-mongering statements about nuclear terrorism.



We have an effort in Mass. to get some corrective statements developed

through the Adv Council on Rad Protection to counter fear-mongering

statements by the ignorant, including a letter sent from ALL the

Congressional delegation.



Please send every substantive statement you see from knowledgeable people,

based on credible content (not just polemics unless it speaks from high

authority with implications to the use of actual knowledge - not stuff like

"there were 5 or 6 killed from complications of surgery" - which by the way

would in fact be a Chernobyl radiation-related death - presuming they had

any exposure, but we've heard that many children who got surgery by the

happy-knife crowd did not have any Chernobyl-related exposure - screening a

little wide? :-)



Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide



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