RE: Love Canal - AP and Study

["Stabin, Michael" <michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu>]

> Sorry -- I cannot keep silence.

> Science is not done by consensus.

> On the "jury still out" basis, perhaps phlogiston exists, Darwin was

wrong, DNA is a fiction, and the sun revolves around the earth. Oh, and

Newton's Second Law doesn't hold, we can build a perpetual motion

machine, and tomatoes are poisonous. Ruth





Bravo, and we can all be thankful for those who do not keep silent and

have the courage to correct bad information when it may be unpopular,

but correct to do so. I'm not weighing in per se on anything to do with

the Love Canal discussion. But I continue to be appalled at the notion

that opinion polls can override logic and science. When something is

shown to be false, by clear demonstration of scientific principle and

inescapable logic, that is it, regardless of what the last Fox News poll

showed. My favorite example is Pasteur's (public) debunking of

spontaneous generation theory. We have a long way to go to have such a

clear understanding of low levels of radiation dose and risk, but we do

know an awful lot that debunks what the Hollywood actors and the

irresponsible anti-nuke activists say, and we should all have the guts

to step up to the microphone and say so. There are many responsible

anti-nuke activists, I'm not painting them all with one brush, but the

charlatans (we know who they are and THEY know who they are) must never

be allowed to go unanswered. 



Mike





Michael G. Stabin, PhD, CHP

Assistant Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences 

Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences 

Vanderbilt University 

1161 21st Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37232-2675 

Phone (615) 343-0068

Fax   (615) 322-3764

Pager (615) 835-5153

e-mail     michael.g.stabin@vanderbilt.edu 

internet   www.doseinfo-radar.com



 

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