Re: Dr.Gofman--I just wonder..

[Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com>]

May 31, 2003



RADSAFERs:



	Since NiagaraNet (NN) is wondering about John Gofman let's take a closer

look at him.



	NN begins by wondering:



	"And just HOW LONG has Dr. Gofman been involved with radioactive

materials?  Wasn't he a CO-discoverer of one or another of the isotopes of Pu?

Wasn't he one of the original Manhattan Engineering District (Project)

scientists?  Didn't he later go on to discover HDL/LDL?  And just WHO are

We to be taking pot shots at a career spanning five or six decades?"  (NN's

emphases).



	Do Gofman's years of experience with radioactive materials have anything

to do with the merits of his claims?  Do any of his listed accomplishments

have anything to do with the merits of his claims?  If NN were to examine

the pages of history he would probably find that they are replete with

examples of great men and women who made important discoveries or had great

accomplishments and then apostatized in some fashion.  I don't want to step

on anyone's toes so I won't give examples, but all of us can think of at

least one person who has 'gone bad.'  Again, the length of Gofman's career

has nothing to do with the merits of his claims.  



	NN writes, "Show me those references to his discredit--if you please."

(Cohen 1983), (McCracken 1982), (Musolino 2000) 



	As one example, in "The War Against the Atom" (p. 119) McCracken reports

that the BEIR I committee rejected the claims of Gofman and Tamplin,

writing that they had over-estimated the relative risk of solid tumor

induction following irradiation by a factor of 4-5 for people 0-9 years

old, and by a factor of 10 for all other ages.

 

	NN asks a rhetorical question about the 'hormesis proclamation,' but I am

unable to interpret his prose, nor do I know what he means when asking

about Atoms for Peace.



	NN says he has the citation for his claim that Niagara Falls was the "free

world's largest Uranium metal production center for the Manhattan A-bomb

Project and beyond."  Why don't you give the citation, NN, instead of

merely telling us you have it?



	It may very well be true (I don't know either way) that Niagara County, NY

has the "highest heart disease rate in the nation", but that does not

necessarily have anything to do with the "over one million pounds of U

buried there from past" Manhattan Project and Atomic Energy Commission work.



	It is true that Gofman has linked long term low level radiation exposure

to heart disease.  Can you, NN, provide citations to any scientific papers

Gofman may have had published in peer-reviewed journals showing a clear

cause and effect relationship between rad exposure and heart disease?  I

might be willing to give Gofman some credence if he could show high levels

of heart disease in uranium miners and mill workers (producing yellowcake),

and in workers in gaseous diffusion plants.  I suspect that these workers

were exposed to far more radioactivity than anyone has been exposed to from

<buried> uranium around Niagara Falls - or anywhere else, for that matter.



Steven Dapra

sjd@swcp.com





REFERENCES



Cohen, Bernard.  Before It's Too Late.  Plenum Press; 1983.  (See pp.

204-205 for Cohen's reports on Gofman's "hot particle" theory.  Cohen

writes that Gofman's paper on the theory "was severely critiqued by a

number of scientists."  "It has never gained any acceptance in the

scientific community and has been ignored by all committees of experts and

standard-setting groups.  I know of no scientist other than Gofman who uses

it in his work.")  Cohen gives a citation to his critique in Health Physics

(32, 359;1977.)  See also Cohen's citations to five additional critiques of

Gofman's hot particle theory.  Citations are on p. 214, (no. 26) and p.

215, (no. 36) of "Before."  



McCracken, Samuel.  The War Against the Atom.  Basic Books, 1982.



Musolini, Stephen.  Health Physics.  79(2):207-208; Aug. 2000.  (book

review of Radiation from Medical Procedures in the Pathogenesis of Cancer

and Ischemic Heart Disease:  Dose-Response Studies with Physicians per

100,000 Population, by John W. Gofman.)   







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