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Re: AARST Radon Scientist Claim Nation's Policy a Failure-Inflammatory Claims of Harm



Stewart,

    A good argument could also be made  that the risk is less than zero

 (i.e. negative risk), or benefit. We fans of hormesis would have no trouble

with such an idea.  Hopefully, some day the rest of the world will also see

the light.  Jerry





----- Original Message -----

From: Stewart Farber <farbersa@optonline.net>

To: Richard L. Hess <lists@richardhess.com>; Radsafe

<radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2003 6:22 PM

Subject: Re: AARST Radon Scientist Claim Nation's Policy a

Failure-Inflammatory Claims of Harm





> Hi Richard:

>

> To respond to your comment.

>

> The issue of the estimate of 20,000 deaths per year from indoor radon

being upper

> bound estimates is only one [small] point about my posting vs. the AARST

and EPA

> claims of harm. The actual risk may be zero but it is probably something

above

> zero but far less than approximately 20,000 lung cancer deaths per year.

>

> My major point of my post is that take the dose and [upper bound] risk

claims at

> face value for indoor radon as a starting point. How do we as a society

spend our

> radiation protection resources to reduce radiation risk in some optimal

way from

> all sources of radiation exposure and risk?

>

> Do we spend extra hundreds of $$billions just on nuclear power plant waste

> disposal only to avoid trivial doses 10,000 years in the future or clean

up minor

> contamination at former nuclear defense sites to some near background

level? Or

> should we do sensible things in the present to operate nuclear power

plants

> safely at reasonable cost, dispose of waste in ways that make sense on

achieving

> minimal exposure at reasonable cost, and spend sensible sums of $ [thus

saved] on

> radiation reduction in medical diagnosis and treatment [avoiding millions

of

> person rems per year of useless and unnecessary radiation exposure vs. a

few

> hundred person rem in operating 60+ nuclear plants  (aggregate) as well as

from

> nuclear waste disposal] and other contributors to population radiation

exposure

> like indoor radon from soil gas infiltration or radon entrained in well

water

> [levels as high as many millions of pCi/liter in some parts of New

England].

>

>

> I find it droll to consider the granite kitchen counters in the kitchens

of the

> "rich and famous". Would Barbra Streisandand , Cindy Crawford, Alec

Baldwin of

> the Tooth Fairy Project or other celebs who I'd bet have tons of granite

kitchen

> counters in their huge kitchens be so terrified and phobic about nuclear

power

> radiation expousre alone, if they knew their granite counters are in

essence

> radioactive waste resulting in direct gamma radiation and radon emission

sources

> lung dose risks to them and their families far exceeding that which they

might

> receive if living on top of or near a nuclear waste dump from the buried

waste?

>

> These are not facetious questions.  They deserve consideration by those

both pro

> and anti-nuclear in making choices about what our society does to minimize

> [sometimes theoretical] risks.

>

> Stewart Farber, MS Public Health

> ===============

> 1/9/03 1:56:59 PM, "Richard L. Hess" <lists@richardhess.com> wrote:

>

> >At 01:01 PM 01/09/2003 -0800, Stewart Farber wrote:

> >>Subject: Fwd: AARST Radon Scientist Claim Nation's Policy a Failure -

E-Wire

> >>Environmental Press Release Distribution

> >>Date: 1/9/03

> >

> >In case you think it's only folks songs that cause people like me to

worry

> >about ionizing radiation...it's articles like these from "experts" that

> >cause the folk singers to write the songs <smile>.

> >

> >Stewart, of course, said something cogent in his posting about upper

> >bounds...but gosh, you know the people reading this don't know that kind

of

> >stuff and don't want to learn it. Here's a scientist from a professional

> >organization charged with knowing about this and he says there will be

more

> >deaths from this.

> >

> >Cheers,

> >

> >Richard

> >

> >

>

>

>

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