Re: newpaper classified add [sic] -Radiation Ruses

[RADPROJECT@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/18/99 9:06:26 PM Eastern Standard Time,
akaram@safety.rochester.edu writes:

<< Found in an unidentified newspaper recently (and e-mailed to me).  
 ---------------------------------------------
 
 Notice: to person or persons who took the large pumpkin on highway 87 near 
 southridge storage. Please return the pumpkin and be checked. Pumpkin may be 
 radioactive. All other plants in vincinity are dead.
  >>

Back in the mid- 1970s, a tractor trailer load of valuable mini-computer
components was hijacked in Massachusetts. The Mass. State Police put out a
false story that the components were contaminated with radioacitivity. The
trailer was found abandoned a short time later and it was reported in the
Boston Globe that the State Police story about contamination was a ruse.

The success of this  State Police deception shows how fearful people, even
criminals, are of radioactive contamination. It also highlights how little the
average criminal or member of the public knows about, or has access to
radiation monitoring capabilities even when a great deal of money is at stake.

Stewart Farber, MS Public Health
Consulting Scientist
Public Health Sciences
Director - Radium Experiment Assessment Project [REAP]
19 Stuart St.
Pawtucket, RI 02860

Phone/FAX: (401) 727-4947  E-mail: radproject@usa.net
            Web address: http://www.delphi.com/carsreap






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