I too attended the STAR conference. My attendance was limited to Saturday.
As a radiation protection professional, I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to Dr. Raabe for his willingness to attend and address what he knew would be a biased and hostile audience.
The following is "soap box time and if you are on a tight time schedule, I suggest that you may want to hit the "delete key".
The best observation that I can draw from the meeting is that a lack of respect and poor relational attitude between the parties of a discussion leads to poor understanding of the topic and a hostile response. I felt it was evident that some of the proponents of the STAR program felt that they have not been dealt with in a truthful, sincere and respectful manner. The attitude they in turn developed towards many of the professional radiation protection professionals has resulted in the perception by the current nuclear professionals that the proponents of STAR are not truthful, sincere or respectful.
The end result is that the nuclear professional may initially reject some data contrary to what is the current scientific belief and the proponent adopting the attitude of "what does he know about radiation" for those disagreeing with their position. Neither attitude will be beneficial for society. The radiation professional may alienate those he is tasked with protecting and the proponent may cause an undue societal burden.
Dr. Raabe certainly did his part to try to reduce this communication gap.
Clearly ... mine and mine alone ...
Thank you for the time and consideration ( of soap box time )
Ron LaVera
lavera.r@nypa.gov
-----Original Message-----
From: Otto G. Raabe [mailto:ograabe@ucdavis.edu]
Sent: Sunday, September 27, 1998 11:07 PM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: Re: Caldicott conference this weekend Sept. 26/27 1998
Sunday, September 27, 1998
This weekend I attended and represented the Health Physics Society at the
STAR (Standing for Truth About Radiation) Foundation Symposium "Recent
Studies of Low Level Radiation and Implications for Medicine and the
Nuclear Industry" held in rented space at the New York Academy of Medicine.
STAR is a Helen Caldicott antinuclear, anti-Brookhaven organization. There
were about 250 attendees. I was on the program as one of the speakers.
This was not a scientific symposium, but rather an anti-nuclear activist
meeting. Of the 26 speakers only 7 did not follow the STAR party line.
Alice Stewart (age 92) presented her view that the Atomic Bomb survivor
data underestimates the risk because many fetuses died in utero and weaker
people died of radiation effects from 1945 to 1950 before the biological
studies were begun by the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC). In the
opening session Helen Caldicott referred to the HPS as "dupes of the
nuclear industry" and claimed that children are being poisoned by Sr-90 and
plutonium emission from nuclear activities.
In my presentation I introduced the audience to the HPS, presented the HPS
Position on Radiation Risk in Perspective, and described basic information
about environmental radiation and some of the results of my own research on
radiation effects. I was somewhat outspoken during the discussion periods.
The reporters from the newspapers spent a lot of time with me.
This meeting honored Karl Z. Morgan (age 91), who gave a speech about the
history and importance of the field of Health Physics. At a special dinner
for speakers, K.Z. was give a "STAR" award, and he gave a very nice
acceptance speech emphasizing the importance of clean nuclear power. I
don't think Helen expected or especially appreciated these unexpected
contributions.
Fortunately, there were several members of the Greater New York Chapter,
Ralph Anderson of NEI, Jerry Puschin and Neil Nelson from EPA, some members
from Brookhaven, and several other HPS members present, many of whom asked
good questions and provided me with friendly faces in the audience and
important moral support. One of the "members of the Press" was Andy Hull
representing the HPS Newsletter. I really appreciated their presence and
support.
Otto
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