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Carol,
I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I
don't believe you can knock over a brick wall with snowballs, no matter how many
you throw. I think that most radsafe professionals like things just the way they
are, even though they may believe LNT is nonsense. Actually, the group that
would benefit most from overthrow of LNT and its derivative policies would be
the general public, the vast majority of whom have been indoctrinated to believe
that any radiation exposure is deadly. Attempting to influence EPA or NRC is
futile given their sensitivity to public opinion as opposed to
scientific information.[I have lots of letters to NRC, most of which were not
even acknowledged, and none of which included a cogent response to critical
comments].
If progress is to be made, it must be
done at a higher level such as the Congress who controls funding of federal
agencies. Influencing congress takes lots of $$$$, and political skill,
neither of which I see among those of us who advocate rational radiation
policies. I haven't completely given up, but I am not optimistic. Truth and
virtue may not always win out in the end. Jerry
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 7:30
PM
Subject: Re: Commenting on USNRC
Environmental Impact Statements
At 05:28 PM 2/26/03 -0800, Jerry Cohen wrote:
Nice try Milton, but it ain't going to happen.
Jerry Cohen
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>
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