NIH

[lnormandeau@Cirrus.medphys.mgh.mcgill.ca (Lysanne Normandeau)]

James Mallon is right,
Hazard communication is an issue here and lessons should be learned from
that. Poor health physics and risk knowledge obviously can lead to paranoia
or even brain disorder if you prefer. But the knowledge can't seek in after
an incident and risk perception has to be dealt with in the training
programm of isotope users. I am not in the U.S. and had no kwowledge of the
NIH incident but similar attitudes are present in research institutions at
a lower scale. 
When I started in this business I used to give radiation PROTECTION
courses. Today (20 years later) I have more and more to play
"pseudo-shrink" (I am sure I am not the only one) and calm paranoid young
researchers. We have to deal everyday with that unrational fear of
radiation and the job is becoming more and more difficult due to some media
coverage and also due to increased regulations and lower limits that
contribute to increase that perception of "danger".

L. P. Normandeau
Montreal General Hospital
1650 Cedar ave Montreal
Quebec, Canada H3G 1A4
lnormandeau@medphys.mgh.mcgill.ca

usual disclaimer.