Re[2]: Russian space probe hysteria!

[Ron_Dobey_at_MU-EHS-PO1@ext.missouri.edu]

        One hopes that we are writing editorials to the popular press outlets in
our local papers to help set the record straight and end the ceaseless cesspool 
of disinformation or misinformation.  As someone previously noted on Radsafe, to
paraphrase, "We are preaching to the choir"... if we only confine our comments 
to this medium, i.e. radsafe.

        As always, just glad to be alive and see good exchange of information 
and viewpoints on radsafe.

Ron Dobey, CHP
University of Missouri-Columbia
EHSRON@MUCCMAIL.MISSOURI.EDU

Standard disclaimers...yak, yak, yak!
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: Russian space probe hysteria!
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at internet-ext
Date:    11/20/96 10:57 AM


Hi Gang -
     
At the risk of beating this dead horse all the way into 
Big Macs, how about this tidbit: Prime Minister Howard
of Australia, upon learning of the possibility that plutonium 
might fall on his country, mobilized the military and the 
national civil defense and warned the Australian people in effect
to prepare for the worst ! This action was reported in yesterday's 
Los Angeles Times, a prominent newspaper in Southern California. 
Worse, the alert was moot. It came a day after Mars96 had already 
splashed down elsewhere in the world, missing Australia entirely.
     
One wonders how stress was generated and how much time and 
money was lost in Australia as a result. Moreover, similar 
overreaction can easily happen anywhere. We have to find 
better ways as a profession to prevent same. One way may be to point out 
that the plutonium in the space probe is the same kind which has powered 
cardiac pacemakers inside the human body, benefitting human health for 
many years.
     
Steve Frey, CHP
Stevenfrey@aol.com
Phone: (800) 888-7008 (office)
          : (714) 646-4631 (home)