OEPA , montel ramblings

[Chasmig <Chasmig@aol.com>]

Great testimony Andy!
Perhaps he should make an appearance on Montel!

Unfortunately, he would be made into the "bad guy". 

Anyone see the 60 minutes bit  on Clinton power station a few years ago? These
TV guys sure know how to distort the facts in the name of sensationalism.
(granted, that place has its problems....) Alec Baldwin's scientific
credentials are obviously beyond question... he WAS after all on board a
nuclear sub for a few days to film a movie. And Dr. Caldicott.... well she IS
a Doctor, after all, she should know. Nobody ever lies on TV. Those poor kids!
Of course Brookhaven is to blame! Its a Big, Bad, Secret Government NUCLEAR
lab! (The 'NUCLEAR' part says it all, right?) I wonder if the Pittsburg doc
could give a good estimate of the tritium dose the kid got? (or from whatever
other alleged radioactive waste is in the water) I wonder if the kid ever had
a chest x-ray. Wonder how that exposure compares to radwaste exposure....

I really feel for those people, but the way their sorrow is being used for
other's gain is even more tragic. 

I heard a woman who called in on NPR science Friday's discussion of cloning
yesterday. She said "we shouldnt do cloning research because look what
happened with nuclear power that was supposed to be such a wonderful thing
bringing us all kinds of benefits which never materialized but instead we have
Hiroshima, TMI , Chernobyl, and Nagasaki, killing millions of people, and now
we have the threat of nuclear terrorism and babies getting cancer from these
extremely dangerous nuclear plants still in this country..." 

This kind of ignorance makes me want to scream! When is the public going to
get it that nuclear weapons and nuclear power are not the same? Every gallon
of gasoline is not used to make napalm. 

If a utility ever wants to build another nuc unit in this country, there will
be a cadre of activists using the public's ignorance to make their political
careers. It is a an easy, no-lose situation for them... trot out some babies
with cancer and get a politically ambitious crackpot with some credentials
(like H.C.) to say "see, the nuc did it!"
If someone has cancer within a thousand miles of a nuc, obviously the nuc is
to blame. ("how else do you explain this poor, innocent person's illness?")

Ugh.

Charles Migliore
Chasmig@aol.com