Re: Linear Hypothesis IS the Cause of Public Fear of Radiation

[Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 11:15 10.10.1996 -0500, you wrote:
>>Somehow this logic does not survive when it comes to radiation (or some
>>other nasties that they're scared to death of).
>
>At Los Alamos, there is a fruit tree on the site of the original (wartime)
>technical area.  The fuit of this tree contains detectable amounts of Pu,
>though eating all the fruit from this tree would result in less than 1 mrem
>CEDE.  I ask myself: knowing everything that I know, how would I feel about
>eating the fruit from this tree?  In considering this question I have come
>to realise that I am not 100% rational.
>
>"Shlala gashle" (Zulu greeting, meaning "Stay safe")
>mike (mcnaught@LANL.GOV)
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Mike,

It depends on the circumstances, how you feel. During the aftermath of the
Chernobyl accident a collegue came to me and asked for some nanoCuries of a
Cs-137 standard for calibration of a detector. I filled it into a small
bottle and suddenly started to laugh. I told the collegue: A month ago I
would have handled such a quantity of Cs-137 with protective gloves and
glasses, now we drink it in milk. I did it in fact - adding I-131 of course,
as well as the entire population did, simply because no uncontaminated milk
was available in this time. We received lots of food like lamb, mushrooms,
beef ...... to check. I didnīt bother to eat for instance mushrooms -
whether they exceeded the limit or not, whether I knew about it or not. My
thought was - and is: If we tell other people that they need not be worried
about the contamination - why should we worry, who have all information? It
would not be ok. 

Maybe I am too rational? There are so many unhealthy things in our food -
toxins, heavy metals, pesticides etc..... 

Why do we always treat radionuclides and radiation as a very special kind of
contamination and hazard? Yes, we really should go beyond ionizing radiation
- there are many other risks in life - higher risks. If it was not the risk
to spoil the apples during the long time it takes them to come to Austria I
would gladly accept and taste a sample of your plutonium apples!

Best regards,

Franz
Schoenhofer
Habichergasse 31/7
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