Re: What to do ? ? ?

["Richard L. Hess" <lists@richardhess.com>]

Hi, Ruth,



I appreciate the response from you and others--in fact, I've been kept 

quite busy tonight replying to some very generous and kind responses.



I've seen you talk about threshold effects before on this list and it is 

interesting--especially in light of the recent studies another responder 

referred to about BETTER health among some groups of nuclear workers.



At 11:27 PM 08/11/2002 -0400, RuthWeiner@aol.com wrote:



>The "dirty bomb" would most likely require cleanup, but it is hard to see how

>it would actually cause any health effects.  All of these putative health

>effects are based on the theory that there is no threshold for radiation

>damage, and that the cancer induced is derectly proportional to the 

>radiation dose.  This theory has never nbeen verified experimentally, but 

>the existence of thresholds is being seen more and more.  In other words, 

>we don't know that there would be any health effects.



If I recall correctly 0.5 REM/year is the guideline for the average 

population??? What would you consider a guideline for worrying? Getting all 

of that in a week? One day? 10x that in a week? Rough ideas would be helpful.



I wrote:

>  I understand the difference between controlled, scientific testing and

>  journalistic sensationalism, but I also believe at least to some degree,

>  "where there's smoke there's fire."

>Why?



How long did people suspect smoking was bad for you before the surgeon 

general came out advising against smoking? Why isn't smoking outlawed? I 

just don't always trust people who tell me "don't worry." This is certainly 

not a personal attack--I've been following your posts for several months 

and believe you to be a woman of integrity.



>Neither I-5 nor I-90 go anywhere near Hanford or INEEL, if that's what the

>concern is.  I have driven that route many times, and I see no basis for the

>suggestion.



Heck, he was a Montana native--what do I know? There are some reprocessing 

plants somewhere in that area, I believe. In fact both up and back there 

was one big spike near Idaho Falls, but I won't be able to easily pinpoint 

it--I don't think the GPS log and the time log in the HP100 were that well 

synced. I may try, but not tonight.



>Not surprising.  I would be surprised if you would get above background on

>the public highway that goes right through the Hanford reservation.    We

>couldn't get readings 10 meters from a known hot source.



That is good to know.



>  I realize the question is asked in good faith, but I will leave further

>responses to others.



I tried to ask in good faith as there are so many conflicting things out 

here--and most of my friends are anti-nuke. If anything, I think lurking on 

this list for two months has made me far less anti-nuke as I learn what you 

and others are doing and some small part of what you all know.



Thanks!



Richard



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