Re: Absolutely, Positively, 100% Safe

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Tue, 2 Sep 1997 Mike.Ashland@gsbsc.gensig.com wrote:

>      To all,
>      
>      Within the recent "threshold" thread, I have seen a couple of messages 
>      where the author asserts that the public wants to be assured that low 
>      levels of radiation are absolutely "safe" (or something to that effect).
>      
>      Speaking strictly as a member of that public, how do you arrive at 
>      that conclusion?
>      
>      Most thinking members of the public will agree that airline travel is 
>      statistically safer than travel via private automobile. Most agree 
>      that wearing a seatbelt is safer than not. Most agree that playing 
>      football is more likely to lead to serious injury than playing golf. 
>      In other words, in most human endeavors, G. Public "knows" the 
>      relative risk associated with various activities. They may be 
>      misinformed, they may not know the real (read "calculated by 
>      knowledgeable experts", if you will) risks, but they do, quite 
>      successfully within their own contexts, make nearly continuous 
>      judgments concerning the relative safety or degree of risk associated 
>      with various activities.
>      
>      The point being that most individuals will admit, as mortal beings, 
>      that there is no such thing as an absolutely safe activity or 
>      practice. To propose to meet such a standard stops all progress, all 
>      education, and all hope for a better world. As one person observed, 
>      the anti's won't be happy until we stop using electricity altogether.
>      
>      As I see it, our ultimate mission as radiation safety professionals is 
>      public education, so that some day, hopefully in my lifetime, the 
>      "average" member of the public understands how radiation fits into the 
>      complex scheme of risks that he or she encounters daily. The myth of 
>      "absolute safety" has no place here.

	--Very well stated. I believe this should be included in the
statement of objectives and purposes of Health Physics Society -- Article
II of the By-Laws.