Re: Nucwaste -Dinner Party and Pellegrino

[Stewart Farber <farbersa@optonline.net>]

Hi Ruth & Happy Holidays to all:



As you're well aware, people  have been ingesting [radioactive] mineral waters, 

deliberately breathing radon in spas, and soaking in radioactive muds in spas for 

millenia. Julius Caesar himself was a devotee of spas because he and millions of 

average users claimed to feel better as a result. Pellegrino is not Peligrosa to 

coin a mixed Italian & Spanish phrase.



My simple interest in doing the 1979 study [shortly after the TMI accident] was 

to get some good data for Ra-226 and Ra-228 in popular commercial mineral waters 

to compare to the dose from nuclear plant operations since mineral waters were 

growing so in popularity at that time.  I felt the comparative ingestion doses 

raised interesting questions for the general public to think about. If nuclear 

plant radioactive liquid discharges were a concern why would not all mineral 

waters be restricted for general use given their higher radioactivity content and 

higher resultant doses than drinking nuclear plant discharge waters? 





In effect, awareness of the natural radioactivity present in mineral waters might 

stimulate people to think about our radioactive environment and the concept of de 

minimus ["the law does not concern itself with trifles"] and make up their own 

minds as to whether trivial levels of radioactivity were worth changing their own 

habits. There's no doubt the mineral water industry would strongly argue that 

radium in mineral waters presented a zero health risk!



Stewart Farber

=====================

12/24/02 7:37:23 PM, RuthWeiner@aol.com wrote:



>

>

>

>  Date:   Tue, 24 Dec 2002 22:37:23 -0500 (EST)

>  From:   RuthWeiner@aol.com

>  Subject:Re: Nucwaste -Dinner Party and Pellegrino

>  To:     farbersa@optonline.net

>

>

>

>  Oh dear!  I really like Pellegrino!  well maybe that's good because of

>  hormesis.

>

>  Cheers!

>

>  Ruth

>

>  Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.

>  ruthweiner@aol.com







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