latest study by Gofman published on the web

[Steven Dapra <sjd@iolnm.net>]

Nov. 24

RADSAFERS:

	Earlier today Tom Mohaupt asked, "Who is Egan O'Conner, the editor of Dr.
Gofman's digital essay?  Is Mr. O'Conner an x-ray tech, radiologist, healt
[sic] physicist? Or is he an environmentalist or wordsmith?"  ("Mr."
O'Connor appears to be a "Miss" as the first excerpt below shows.)

	She is an anti-nuker with a long history, going back to at least 1971,
when she participated in an attempt to derail an underground nuclear test
in Alaska, and appears to have been on the staff of Sen. Mike Gravel (of
Alaska) at one time.  (See excerpts from an article below.)

	The material below was found by doing a search on Alta Vista.  O'Connor's
name showed up on a number of anti-nuclear web sites.  These seemed to be
the most salient and representative examples.

Steven Dapra
sjd@iolnm.net

-----------------------------

	In an article "Nuclear Flashback: Report of a Greenpeace Scientific
Expedition to Amchitka Island, Alaska -- Site of the Largest Underground
Nuclear Test in U.S. History," we read, "In 1971, thousands of people
throughout the world were determined to stop the Atomic Energy Commission
(AEC) from detonating the largest underground nuclear explosion in U.S.
history. . . .

	"Strengthened in their resolve by a powerful grassroots movement and sound
scientific information, prominent politicians of the day strenuously
opposed the test. The Attorney General of Alaska, John Havelock, declared
before Congress that the AEC's environmental impact statement for Cannikin
"is little short of sham." [citation] Backed with exceptional research by
staffer Ms. Egan O'Connor, Senator Mike Gravel of Alaska led the
Congressional effort to stop the test. Congresswoman Patsy Mink of Hawaii,
Congressman Nick Begich of Alaska, and 31 other Congressional members filed
a suit in U.S. District Court seeking the release of secret Cannikin
documents."

This material will be found at
http://www.greenpeaceusa.org/media/publications/nucflash/
protesttext.htm

-----------------------------
More:

"What Is Humanity's Most Harmful Law?

"The Law of Concentrated Benefit over Diffuse Injury
by John W. Gofman and Egan O'Connor, November 1993

"The law of Concentrated Benefit over Diffuse Injury can be stated as
follows: A small, determined group, working energetically for its own
narrow interests, can almost always impose an injustice upon a vastly
larger group, provided that the larger group believes that the injury is
"hypothetical," or distant-in-the-future, or real-but-small relative to the
real-and-large cost of preventing it."

at:
http://www.gsenet.org/library/09gen/DEMINIMS.TXT

-----------------------------------

At 
<http://www.doh.wa.gov/hanford/publications/other/articles.html>,
these books are listed as co-authored by John Gofman and Egan O'Connor:

"The Bonds of Trust vs. Deceit by DOE: Some Enduring Measures for Your
Health and Safety.

"Suggests ingredients CNR views as essential for a system which would
produce believable information on health and safety issues. Involves issues
such as health effects from radiation and other pollutants, current and
proposed containment systems for various poisons, and control of radiation
databases.

"The Law of Concentrated Benefit over Diffuse Injury    [noted above]

"Explores some strategies in the environmental movement involving global
policy toward pollution. Emphasizes the problem of pollution at low levels.
Discusses CNR's view that there is no safe dose of radiation."

The CNR is the Committee for Nuclear Responsibility, founded by Gofman in
1971.  As of Jan. 1999 Egan O'Connor was its executive director.

This site is operated by the Hanford Health Information Network, and has a
large, detailed, and well-organized bibliography of refereed papers, and
articles from the popular press, about radiation.  It is worth visiting
this site just to see how well organized the anti-nuclear elements are.

END






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