[ RadSafe ] News from the Onion...

[Gerry Blackwood]

This is exactly why I get my news from the cartoon
channel............. 

--- parthasarathy k s <ksparth at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Friends,
>  
> The terse comments of  Cal Salters, a TV producer,
> on Dr. Canton's well reasoned and factual arguments
> on nuclear power remind me of my mortifying
> experience with a well known TV journalist Mr Karan
> Thapar in 1991. He interviewed me for a popular TV
> programme "Eye Witness".Mr Thapar asked me 40
> questions in 10 minutes. He tried his best to bias
> my views towards his opinion on the impact of
> Rajasthan Atomic Power Station on the villagers
> living in the neighbourhood. He was somewhat
> successful.  The biassed editing of the script was
> evident to me as I had taped the entire interview.
>  
> I had no other way but to explain the entire story
> by a series of letters to the editor in many multi
> edition news papers. In the ensuing controversy, I
> stated the well known scientific fact no genetic
> effects were found among the thousands of children
> born to the atomic bomb survivors at Hiroshima and
> Nagasaki. Mr Thapar unhesitatingly contested my
> statement as "inexplicable"; "where did Dr.
> Parthasarathy form the impression that no genetic
> effects were found among the thousands of children
> of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?" he countered,"the
> opposite is not just a fact, it is the truth", he
> asserted. My impotent rage notwithstanding, the TV
> interview led to a stormy discussion in the Indian
> Parliament.
>  
> I was not in the least surprised at the
> scientifically unsupported conviction of the
> interviewer, as misgivings and myths about the
> effects of radiation have been rampant even among
> technologists, social scientists and other highly
> qualified experts.
>  
> After the recording of the interview, I had a heart
> to heart discussion with the interviewer. I see a
> surprisingly refreshing similarity with his views
> and those of Mr Cal Salters.He expected an agreeable
> nod from me indicating that the allegation of birth
> defects in children  is due to the impact of the
> nuclear power station. My seasoned statement that
> the dose due radioactive releases from the power
> station is too trivial did not satisfy him! he
> expected that the impact is too high!
>  
>  I protested against his using telling visuals of
> polio affected children in the programme. He implied
>  that it is due to the nuclear power station. I told
> him that it is "criminal" to create such suspicions
> in the mind sof innocent villagers; "It is no more
> an entertainment", I told himm. He argued that TV is
> for entertainment.
>  
> Mr Thapar could not wish me away, as I was facing
> him in response to his demand to the then Prime
> Minister to send a scientist to answer his queries
> on camera. The difference between Mr Cal Salters and
> Mr Karan Thapar is that  the latter wanted to thrive
> on the  controversy. He won as the item kept me busy
> for several days answering  questions from national
> news papers and international news agencies such as
> the BBC.
>  
> Regards
> K.S.Parthasarathy
> 
> 
> 
> 		
> ---------------------------------
> Save time, find those important emails with search
> capabilities for scanning your inbox and folders.
> Get Yahoo! Mail

"Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality."