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Re: If you do Science, use the Scientific Method!



This may seem silly, but is it possible that the EPA

people who drafted the NESHAPS did not understand that

the LNT was a regulatory "tool" and not scientific

fact?



--- Steven Dapra <sjd@swcp.com> wrote:

> Sept. 24

> 

> 	This is written to answer one of Bill Lipton's

> postings of the 24th

> (reproduced below).

> 

> 	Kjell Johansen wrote:

> 

> 	"Back in the early '90s, the EPA's NESHAPS analyses

> for regulating

> airborne radionuclides was published in the Federal

> Register.  The opening

> paragraphs made it clear that the analyses was based

> on LNT.  It was

> presented as being the truth.  There was no hint

> that it was merely a

> prudent approach to regulation."  

> 

> 	Bill wanted to know what Kjell's point was, and I

> wrote:

> 

> 	"My guess is that Kjell's point is that LNT was

> 'presented as being the

> truth,' despite the fact that LNT has not been

> proven to be true.  I would

> say that NESHAPS was being deceitful by presenting

> LNT as the truth,

> instead of stipulating that it was merely a prudent

> approach to regulation.

> 

> 	Bill Lipton wrote:

> 

> 	"While I welcome your opinions, I get very

> suspicious when one party

> claims that anyone who disagrees with his point of

> view is 'deceitful.'

> Perhaps, it would be useful to post what, exactly,

> about NESHAPS you

> consider 'deceitful.' "

> 

> 	Bill, if you will read the above-quoted portion of

> my posting your

> question will be answered.  To reiterate, it was

> "deceitful" of NESHAPS to

> present LNT as the truth instead of stipulating that

> it was merely a

> prudent approach to regulation.  To go further, it

> was "deceitful" of

> NESHAPS to present LNT as being true when LNT has

> not been proven to be true.

> 

> 	 To be deceitful means 'having a tendency or

> disposition to cause to

> accept as true or valid what is false or invalid.' 

> Synonyms are

> "deceptive," "misleading," or "dishonest."  (This

> definition is derived

> from Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary; 1974.)

> 

> 	LNT is not true.  You might choose to split hairs

> and say it isn't false

> either, and technically you might be correct.  The

> fact remains that LNT

> has not been proven true, therefore it was deceitful

> of NESHAPS to behave

> as though it is true.

> 

> Steven Dapra

> sjd@swcp.com





=====

"Crime is contagious.  If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for the law."

Louis D. Brandeis, Supreme Court decision in Olmstead v. U.S., 1928



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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