Re: One pound of Plutonium

[Ray Russ <rruss@stanford.edu>]

According to the top authority in the world, Dr. Helen Caldecott states
that it is *NOT* one pound but one GRAM which will cause cancer in every
person on the planet.                    ^^^^

I just don't understand why you people insist on trying to manipulate the
numbers to show otherwise.

Ray Russ



>Although this proves the statement regarding plutonium is the most
>deadly substance known to man or 1 pound killing everyone on earth.
>Do you really think telling people that it is ONLY going to kill
>800,000 is going to make people feel any better?
>
>People in the general public (non-science trained) react to topics
>such as those regarding radiation and things nuclear emotionally
>and not logically (otherwise the pr battles would be easy to win)
>and unfortunately, journalists feed off that emotional response.
>So by telling people this, we would be "scientifically" correct
>(LNT debate ignored at the moment as you requested) but we would
>still be losing in the public image arena.  So where is the benefit
>in doing these calculations?
>
>Mike Baker
>
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>Michael C. Baker, Ph.D.            Safeguards Science and Technology
>                                   Nonproliferation and International
>                                           Security Division
>email:  mcbaker@lanl.gov             Los Alamos National Laboratory
>Phone:  (505) 667-7334               P.O. Box 1663, Mail Stop E540
>Fax:    (505) 665-4433                 Los Alamos, NM 87545 (USA)
>---------------------------------------------------------------------


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				Ray Russ
		   SLAC Operational Health Physics Group

	"If we are ashamed of shoddy houses and shabby furniture,let us
	 be even more ashamed of shoddy ideas and shabby beliefs."
							- A. Einstein
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