RADSAFE! My Heroes!

["Mike Bohan" <mike.bohan@yale.edu>]

Dear RadSafe Community,

Thanks again for all the info, keep it coming, I might as well make a file of these references for future use!  I just wanted to give you all this little gem I found on my own in Radiology 101:703-704, Dec 1971:

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Statement by the President and Past Presidents of the Health Physics Society with Regard to Presentation by Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass, July 14, 1971.

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Statement (Read by Dade W. Moeller immediately after Dr, Sternglass' presentation at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Health Physics Society, held in New York, New York July 14, 1971)

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On the third such occasion since 1968, Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass, at an annual meeting of the Health Physics Society, has presented a paper in which he associates an increase in infant mortality with low levels of radiation exposure.  The material contained in Dr. Sternglass' paper has also been presented publicly at other occasions in various parts of the country.  His allegations made in several forms have in each instance been analyzed by scientists, physicians and biostatisticans in the Federal government, in individual states that have been involved in his reports, and by qualified scientists in other countries.

Without exception, these agencies and scientists have concluded that Dr. Sternglass' arguments are not substantiated by the data he presents.  The United States Public Health Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the States of New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Illinois have issued formal reports in rebuttal of Dr. Sternglass' arguments.  We, the President and Past Presidents of the Health Physics Society, do not agree with the claim of Dr. Sternglass that he has shown that radiation exposure from nuclear power operations has resulted in an increase in infant mortality.

Signed by:

H.L. Andrews, Univ. of Rochester
W.D. Claus (Retired)
F.P. Cowan, Brookhaven Nat. Labs.
Merrill Eisenbud, New York Univ.
W.T. Hamm, Jr., Univ. of Virginia
John R. Horan, USAEC.
Wright H. Langham, LASL
J.S. Laughlin, Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital
K.Z. Morgan, ORNL
Claire C. Palmiter, USEPA
C.M. Patterson, Savannah River Lab.
Walter S. Snyder, ORNL
J. Newell Stannard, Univ. of Rochester
L.S. Taylor, NCRP

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NOTE: This is a pretty distinguished list in my book; I guess this was before K.Z. Morgan had his change of heart!  %^)  I just wish I was there to here this statement!  Unfortunately for me, at that time, I was a teenager probably out fishing or hanging out on Hammonasset beach during my summer vacation!  Maybe this and similar "historic" statements should be published along with the other "Official Position Statements of the HPS" in the HPS Handbook.

Thanks again, everyone who responded to my plea,

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Michael J. Bohan, RSO   |  e-mail: mike.bohan@yale.edu
Yale-New Haven Hospital |    Tele: (203) 688-2950
Radiological Physics    |     FAX: (203) 737-4252
20 York St. - WWW 204   |    As usual, everything I say may be plausibly
New Haven, CT    06504  |    denied at my employer's convenience ...
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