Message from Peter Bond, Interim BNL Director, RegardingTomorrow's Montel Williams Show

[Andy Hull <hull@mail.sep.bnl.gov>]

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>Subject: Message from Peter Bond, Interim BNL Director, Regarding
Tomorrow's Montel Williams Show
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>-------------
>
>To:     All BNL Employees
>
>From:   Peter Bond, Interim BNL Director
>
>As you have been notified in the Brookhaven Bulletin and by Labwide e-mail,
>BNL and cancer on Long Island will be the subject of the Montel Williams
>Show to be broadcast tomorrow, January 9, at 2 p.m., on WOR-TV, channel 9.
>
>We at the Lab have not yet seen this broadcast, but the promotional teaser
>that aired today and comments by Liz Smith in her column in Newsday today
>indicate that the show is likely to be very unbalanced in its coverage of
>these important issues.
>
>I am very disappointed that a nationally televised program seems to be
>giving credence to unsubstantiated claims of a relationship between the Lab
>and cancer on Long Island. This is fear-mongering, and it is unfair to
>those who are being misled, as well as those who work at the Lab.
>
>The facts are:
>
>* Several independent studies show NO increased cancer rates around BNL.
>
>* The Laboratory is NOT secretive; we are engaged in open and honest
>dialogue with our neighbors and provide information freely.
>
>* There is NO pathway by which anyone, either on or off the Lab site, could
>have been exposed to radiation from the tritium leak from the spent-fuel
>pool at the High Flux Beam Reactor.
>
>Please compare these facts to the information presented in the teaser for
>the Montel Williams Show, which is transcribed below, and in Liz Smith's
>column, which is reprinted below also.
>
>I expect this program to be very disturbing for all of us, and for it to
>raise questions with some of you and your family, friends and neighbors.
>Please don't hesitate to ask questions yourself and get the facts. Ask your
>supervisor; call the Public Affairs Office, Ext. 2345; or call the Rumor
>Hotline at ASK1 (Ext. 2751). Or call me at Ext. 2772. And look for answers
>to these questions in next week's Bulletin.
>
>Remember: It's bad news that makes news, even if it's not accurate.  You
>work at a world-respected institution that is doing a great deal of good
>for Long Island, the nation and the world each and every day. Most people
>understand that. Good news, and the truth, may not always be good press,
>but they must prevail in the end.
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Teaser for the Montel Williams Show:
>
>On screen: Actor Alec Baldwin in color, split screen with boy in black &
white
>
>Alec Baldwin: "The reason I'm here today is because of something like this."
>
>On screen: High Flux Beam Reactor at BNL, "Nuclear Labs" in ragged typeface.
>
>Announcer: "On the next Montel Williams Show, Alec Baldwin speaks out about
>nuclear labs and high rates of cancer."
>
>Alec Baldwin: (on screen) "These people are not voluntarily going to cough
>up all the information we want - we have to take it from them."
>
>Announcer: "Alec Baldwin speaks out - is cancer hiding in your community?
>On the next Montel."
>
>--------------------
>
>>From Liz Smith's column:
>
>BRAVO TO Alec Baldwin, who spends an hour Friday in an exclusive interview
>on the Montel Williams show discussing his latest cause, STAR - Standing
>for Truth About Radiation. This organization explores nuclear research
>centers such as Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island for possible
>connections between labs and remarkable cancer clusters. The latter have
>especially been found on Long Island.
>
>Baldwin, an LI native, appears on the show with children who have rare
>forms of cancer. He and other experts believe they are victims of radiation
>leakage from Brookhaven National Laboratory.
>
>Says Baldwin: "Nothing would make me happier than to have a private,
>independent investigative team who went to Brookhaven come out from their
>research and say to me, 'You are wrong, and there is no threat of cancer
>from this laboratory.' Nothing would make me happier. We feel they owe us
>an answer."
>
>
>
>