Re: CSI Miami I-131 Episode

["Vincent King" <slavak@gj.net>]

It's interesting the number of head-in-the-sand responses that appear

whenever this topic comes around (but then some of the same people wonder

why "the public" has such a misunderstanding of radiation).  "It's just

fiction" is an oversimplification.  Parts of these programs are meant to

reflect real life, otherwise they would be on the cartoon network or the

sci-fi channel.



I (unfortunately) happened across this episode last night, and remembered

there was a Radsafe-advertised health physics link, so I watched a little.

I saw the ever-noble anti-nuclear crusader, fighting against the evil

nuclear "gang" and getting eliminated for it.  I didn't stick around long

enough to see if the four therapeutic doses of "I-one-three-one" really did

her in.



The factual inaccuracies didn't bother me too much - they were kind of funny

(like proving you had iodine in the orange juice with an eye dropper,

resulting in an ominous plume of smoke wafting out the top of the container;

if I remember hearing it correctly, one of the suspects was even a "nuclear

weapons company" - last time I looked, the only company in the U.S. that

makes nuclear weapons is the U.S. government).



What is troublesome is the matter-of-fact way in which all nuclear

industries are portrayed in such shows.  Sorry, the public gets an image

from that.  They may forget the details, but the overall view remains.  If

you don't think there are media industry people with an anti-nuclear agenda,

you need to get out of your office more.



And I see nothing wrong with professionals stating their objection to this

portrayal.  Anyone who tires of the discussion can skip the message thread.



Vincent King

Grand Junction, CO





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