LNT and Public Fear

[MarkH@MAIL.KIDS.USYD.EDU.AU]

Friends, 

I feel that Dave Scherer's thoughts are on the right track.   

As in the case of hazardous chemicals and/or carcinogens, a "threshold"
will be determined from epidemiological observations (i.e. of populations).
The risk threshold therefore applies to the population, and cannot directly
be applied to the individual. How many members of the public will
appreciate this subtlety ? 

I suspect that, were a threshold introduced, many members of the public
would still reason along the lines : "if 20 units is not safe, then can 10 units
be completely safe ?".  (I guess this might not be the case if there were
orders of magnitude of difference between the threshold and the typical
exposure.) 

The real solution lies in educating the public.


Mark Hanlon,
Radiation Safety Officer,
The New Children's Hospital,
P.O. Box 3515,
PARRAMATTA, NSW, 2124
Australia