Re: Joint Commission Report - public he

[stabin@esper.com (Mike Stabin)]

Jim M. wrote

>> >  Omenn says, ``The public's in as good a position to debate as the
>> > experts. Common sense counts for a lot.''
>> 
>> Common sense counts when one has all the facts.  The public does not
>> always have any of the facts when the media, from which the public gets
>> the "facts" continues to present one sided information.  Alar, dioxin,
>> radiation come immediately to mind.  Remember, poverty is the biggest
>> killer of humans.  Does this proposal address that problem?
>
>The media isn't to blame for public misinformation, when EPA produces a
>political disinformation campaign on radon and dioxin, using NCRP and BEIR as
>proving all radiation is harmful. 

The media is not **solely** to blame, but they certainly deserve a share.
As do activist groups, devoted to misinforming the public and defeating
various technologies, due to their own misinformed fears.  As does the EPA
when it produces campaigns which exaggerate risks and spread fear, etc.  

What we have here, IMHO, is a failure of democracy.  Technology that is
needed for heating homes and preventing *real* deaths during deep winter
brown outs is defeated by referendum, based on fears of hypothetical deaths,
promulgated by various parties, but bought by a public which is in no way
equipped to separate fact from fantasy in many of these matters.  "Common
sense" is not often useful in court trials, either, except when it is
patently obvious that someone is lying.  Detecting the difference between
the claims and analysis of a Dr. Sternglass, who has a bona fide PhD and
many years of experience, and those of, say, a Dr. Poston, is quite doable
for most of those on this list, but not for the majority of folks in the
cross section of our culture.  I think perhaps the French model is to be
preferred in matters of high technology.

Mike Stabin
Oak Ridge, TN