Re: Rad. induced heart attacks

["Ron L. Kathren" <rkathren@beta.tricity.wsu.edu>]

Jim --

Thanks for your interesting note.  As a quick comment on the value of a 
person-rem, note that the $1000 figure has not been escaled since its 
inception about 20 years ago -- $3000 might be a better number today.  We 
seem to have lost sight of what the enginers used to call benefit/cost 
ratio (the social scientists turned it around to the now used cost:benefit
ratio).  Of course as health physicists we must not forget that our 
primary mission is protection, which regrettably gets obscured on 
occasion.  But enough philosophy; now to the meat:  Many thanks for your 
kind invitation to present a paper in Philadelphia; the meeting is so far 
in the future that I might actually have time to prepare something half 
way decent!  In any event, I may just do that.

Regards,

Ron