Re[2]: Irradiated milk to be available in Feb 2000

[steve.rima@DOEGJPO.COM (Steven Rima)]

     I guess I don't see this the same way as some RADSAFERS. While the 
     term "cold pasteurization" sounds better than "irradiated" and will 
     certainly help with public acceptance, I don't see it as a way to 
     "trick the public" any more than lots of other similar examples. We 
     don't say that medical equipment or barber's shears are "exposed to 
     non-ionizing radiation" when they are sterilized with UV. We don't 
     address the specific process used in heat pasteurization, we just say 
     that it's pasteurized. Heck, if we're going to be this picky about not 
     "tricking the public," let's start calling it "injecting people with 
     radioactive material" instead of "nuclear medicine." ;-)
     
     How about it hospital RSO's, would you rather start calling it 
     "injecting people with radioactive material" and take the opportunity 
     to educate the masses who would question it, or continue saving lives 
     and calling it nuclear medicine?
     
     Tongue firmly in cheek.....
     
     Steven D. Rima, CHP, CSP
     Manager, Health Physics and Industrial Hygiene
     MACTEC-ERS, LLC
     steven.rima@doegjpo.com


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re:Irradiated milk to be available in Feb 2000
Author:  Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU> at Internet
Date:    11/9/99 1:06 PM


At 11:35 AM 11/9/1999 -0600, you wrote:
     
>Instead of using the opportunity to educate the public, industry again skirts 
>the issue by creative use of the English language in a deliberate attempt to 
>"trick" the public
     
Very true. This attempt to deceive the public isn't any better or nobler 
than the Tooth Fairy Project's attempts to deveive the public. And it seems 
likely to backfire - people will distrust someone who has been found to 
mislead them deliberately, and there's a strong probability that some 
radiation-hating individual will notice the linguistic slight of hand and 
contact the news media. Guess which news item will get more air time, the 
announcement about "cold pasteurization" or exposing the deception?
     
===================================
Bob Flood
Dosimetry Group Leader
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(650) 926-3793
bflood@slac.stanford.edu
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