Re: Nuclear radiation more dangerous than thought: scientist

[Franz Schoenhofer <schoenho@via.at>]

At 08:14 20.07.98 -0500, you wrote:
>5 rem doubling dose - how can a "scientist" come up with such hooey ?  What
>"studies" is he refering to?
>
>Franz, I'm confused.  What is your assessment of 50 mSv?  If you don't
>consider it "low level" exposure, what is it?  Certainly not "high level".
>Is it so low as to be 'insignificant'?
>
>Franz wrote:
>
>>Subject: RE: 
>
>...Seriously, I do not regard 50 mSv (the "doubling dose" of .....) as
>>low-level radiation.


Keith,

My reasoning is the following:

50 mSv/y (suppose that the annual dose is meant) is at the moment the
maximum permissible exposure of occupationally exposed persons in Austria,
implying that everything should be done, not to reach this exposure. For
the population the maximum permissible exposure is 1.7 mSv/y. The new
European directive, which will be implemented everywhere in the European
Union during the next two years, gives a maximum permissible exposure of 1
mSv/y. An annual dose rate exceeding the maximum permissible one by a
factor of 50 is in my opinion not "low-level". I do not think that any
authority would tolerate for instance lettuce to be sold, in which the
nitrate concentration is 50 times higher than the MPL or you would like to
drink water with a cadmium concentration 50 times higher than MPL?

This is why I made this remark - I did not imply and would not like
somebody else to interpret this in a way that I would regard 50 mSv as a
deadly threat. And I sure do not support the "findings" of these
"scientists". 

Franz


Franz Schoenhofer
Federal Institute for Food Control and Research
Department for Radiochemistry and Radioactivity of Food
Kinderspitalg. 15
A-1095 Vienna
AUSTRIA
tel.: +43-1-40491-520
fax.: +43-1-40491-540