Re: Newspaper article on Plutonium

[Muckerheide <muckerheide@mediaone.net>]

Brian Gaulke wrote:
> 
> It's my understanding that the incidence rates of many types of cancer
> have increased significantly over the last few decades.  To my knowledge 
> no satisfactory explanations have been found. 

Since my recollection is that this is not true, do you have a reference? If
there's a small increase in total cancer incidence its likely more than due to
lung cancer/smoking (age-adjusted of course, with lower mortality due to
better treatment), with slightly lower cancer in other.
 
> Under these circumstances how meaningful is it to say "no increase 
> in stochastic effects have ever been
> detected or reported among the peoples of the world from this event"?
> How can a contribution from fallout, including plutonium, be ruled out?

Because people studied who have received moderately large doses don't have
higher cancer, it's not reasonable that people with hundreds or thousands of
times lower exposure had an increase. And this is within a few percent of the
variation in natural background, within which no excess cancer is found either.

Thanks.

Regards, Jim Muckerheide
jmuckerheide@delphi.com 


> I happen to be a supporter of things nuclear, but I don't see that it
> helps the nuclear cause to make statements like this.
> 
> StevenFrey @ aol.com
> 97/09/12 21:28
> 
> To: radsafe @ romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (Multiple recipients of list) @
> INET
> cc:  (bcc: Brian Gaulke)
> Subject: Re: Newspaper article on Plutonium
> 
> Another atmospheric event involving Pu-238 occurred during the 1970
> Apollo 13
> mission. The mission carried a sizeable quantity of the radionuclide
> (a
> hundred pounds or more) to power instrumentation intended to be left
> on the
> lunar surface. Due to the in-flight emergency, the Pu-238 never made
> it to
> the lunar surface. It instead returned to Earth still aboard the Lunar
> Module
> whereupon it entered the atmosphere at unchecked  velocity. Presumably
> some
> or all of the plutonium source burned up and was released to the
> atmosphere.
> Yet no increase in stochastic effects have ever been detected or
> reported
> among the peoples of the world from this event to my knowledge. So
> much for
> "deadly" Cassini mission!