Re: Frontline Comment

[Lester.Slaback@nist.gov]

In <199704241342.IAA03904@dfw-ix11.ix.netcom.com>, on 04/24/97 
   at 08:50 AM, "Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@ix.netcom.com> said:

>Jonathan Dyer stated the following:

>> This show demonstrated the ignorance of the general public in regards to
>> radiation safety, and more importantly the POWER of that ignorance

>This is a very true statement. What concerns me even more is the same 
>"ignorance in regards to radiation safety, and more importantly the 
>POWER of that ignorance" displayed by many who ARE part of the  nuclear
>worker establishment, be it medical workers, industrial  workers, etc.,
>who have an inherent "FEAR" of radiation and do not  understand what a
>dose report is telling them. The dose could be 10  mreme or 5,000 mrem,
>it's all the same to them.  The most ludicrous  call I've received to
>date is one whereby an individual said they  were sending back the
>Control Badge that was sent to them, in a  separate plastic bag, because
>they did NOT want that thing near them  . WE could match up their
>personnel badge to the Control Badge when  we received it. It was obvious
>that this individual expected that the  Control Badge was in fact
>irradiating them .... how pathetic!!!

>If we, who are nuclear workers, can't understand what we are working 
>with, how do we expect the general public to?
 ************************
Sandy (and others):  While I am empathetic to this frustration I think the
point Ray Johnson and others make is that we must simply recognize
reality, and present things in a manner that elicts a positive response. 
An analogous point made on the program was attitudes towards underground
storage.  These attitudes changed if the program was presented as a
research project/temporary storage  (even if temporary is 1000 yrs)
accompanied by long term studies, even though  nothing was different in
terms of the way it was stored or the surveillance  programs and staff
that would be in place.

I think most 'scientists' object to this PR approach, i.e., putting a
different slant on the same set of facts, but that is the reality we live
in.  While educating the public is a nice objective the reality is
probably more that we have to find the positive aspect they will respond
to and emphasize that.  [Having said that, i.e., acknowledged it
intellectually, I still find myself reacting like Sandy - why that  crazy
reaction!]

-- 
the above are the personal musing of the author,
and do not represent any past, current, or future
position of NIST, the U.S. Government, or anyone else
who might think that they are in a position of authority.
NBSR Health Physics
NIST
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
301 975-5810
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Lester.Slaback@nist.gov
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