Re[2]: FiestaWare -Reply

[LASKV@ccmail.ceco.com]

     Mark, Don and Fellow Radsafers,
     Again this is not intended to be a criticism of anyone but of the 
     direction an philosophy of our "safety" concerns.  A few questions.
     
     What impression do we leave with someone when we 
     "confiscate"dinnerware?  Are we raising more concern and stress and 
     their accompanying health risks than we are saving?  
     
     What are we spending to clean up the low level superfund sites?
     
     What is the cost of a mammogram, pap smear or prostrate examination?
     
     How many lives will be saved when we clean up the superfund sites.
     
     How many lives would be saved if we spent that money on the above 
     examinations?
     
     Where is the greater benefit? 
     
     We do have limited resources.  Are we going to spend them in a prudent 
     manner?
     
     Yes I do have something of an agenda here. In the last 7 years 4 
     friends or family members have detected cancer early thanks to the 
     tests and are alive today. But then we could afford them.
     
     John Van Horn
     Training/Health Physics
     LASKV@CECO.com
     
     
     (By the way if you don't want the plate, send it to me for 
     demonstration use in training/public education).
     
     *** My opinion only. Use at your own risk. No warranties real or *** 
     *** implied. Void where prohibited by law. Your mileage may vary.*** 
     *** My boss has already disavowed all knowledge of my actions....*** 
     *** My department can't find an action to disavow but it does anyway**
     
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: FiestaWare -Reply
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at INTERNET 
Date:    6/6/96 6:28 PM
     
     
Mark, there is absolutely no intent of personal criticism in my comments 
here.  My comment is purely generic.  It was just your note that finally 
caused me to want to reply.  In my, not so humble opinion, this nearly 
universal reaction to low level radiation speaks more to the over concern 
for superfund sites than to the presence of any real health risk.  Perhaps 
Grand Central Station in New York City should be a superfund site.  How 
about Denver?  
     
Peace,
     
Don
     
At 03:02 PM 6/6/96 -0500, you wrote:
>The primary radioactive contributor to fiestaware is uranium.  The uranium 
is a component of the glaze which
>gives it the bright orange color. 
>
>Your health concerns are valid.  I would not eat off of the plate.  Also 
vinegar in Italian salad dressing can
>cause some of it to leach out into your food.  I was recently out to my 
fathers house in MN and confiscated
>one of the plates.  (I didn't think my little brother and sister should 
have been eating off of it.)
>
>When I got back to my office it read 0.2 mrem/h.  Most of the dirt at my 
Superfund sites read lower than that.
>
>Mark Winslow - US EPA - Region II
>
>
>
>
Donald A. McClure
 E-Mail: DAMcClure@lanl.gov 
 Voice: 505/667-3243
 FAX: 505/665-3359
 Los Alamos National Laboratory
 MS: P940
 Los Alamos, NM 87544