Re: Commenting on USNRC Environmental Impact Statements

[Carol Marcus <csmarcus@ucla.edu>]

At 05:28 PM 2/26/03 -0800, Jerry Cohen wrote:

>    
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> Nice try Milton, but it ain't going to happen.
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>                                                                
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> Jerry Cohen
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>  


Dear Radsafers, including Jerry:


Truth can win over an entrenched false paradigm, but it

takes many people writing and speaking to many non-professional people

(including bureaucrats) over a goodly amount of time.  There's an

old Chinese proverb that says something like "The start of a long

journey begins with the first step."  Let's start. 


If 100 separate letters come into the NRC against the LNT assumption, and

copies of those letters go to the right Congressional people, the

Secretaries of Energy, EPA, and Homeland Security, and media---even

hopeless media (e.g. National Public Radio)---and this continues

for several years, maybe even as much as a decade, we will finally

win.  


We have actually started.  The HPS position was an excellent

beginning.  The Society of Nuclear Medicine and the American College

of Nuclear Medicine unanimously voted to support that statement when it

came out.  Myron Pollycove, in his 10 years as "Visiting

Medical Fellow" at NRC, made "hormesis" a legitimate

word; before that, professionals really hesitated to use it

publicly.  NCRP had a terrible time with Report #136, but as one

needs to pass the "LNT Test" to get to be a member of NCRP,

it's not surprising that the report limped out supporting LNT. 

After all, if you are funded by government, and government bureaucrats

need LNT to keep their jobs, it is not surprising that NCRP keeps up its

funding by continuing to support a defunct assumption.  It's

shameful, but we need to point this out publicly.


Don't just give up and let the liars win.  If there is any nuclear

terrorism in the United States, it would be a great disservice to our

nation if people were led to believe that they were in mortal peril when

in fact their likely doses are immaterial.  The government

bureaucrats are supporting hysteria.  We have to do otherwise.



The Emperor has no clothes.  Now, let's say it over and over again,

loudly, in large numbers, for the next several years.  Let's stop

the National Cancer Institute from listing medical x-rays as a

carcinogen.  Let's stop the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiologic

Health from inventing a nonexistent crisis (CT exams) in order to get

themselves funding and importance that is undeserved.  Every letter

counts.  It's not just one HPS letter, but 100 or more short letters

(or long ones!) from members of HPS, and AAPM, and other radiation

professional groups.


We have all the credentials.  We should not be bashful, embarassed,

or lazy.  Let the letters flow.  That's how democracy

works.


Ciao, Carol


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

<csmarcus@ucla.edu>