Re: Ra, 25 mrem/y

[Bernard L Cohen <blc+@pitt.edu>]

On Fri, 10 Dec 1999 KDA2921@aol.com wrote:

  Many of the arguments against the proposed limits seem 
> to infer that there is an inherent right to subject future inhabitants to a 
> contributing dose.  Where does the power to subject future inhabitants to 
> such a dose originate?

	--Every activity of our Society subjects future (from very near
future -- a few minutes in the future -- to very far future) inhabitants
to all sorts of non-consensual "doses". For example, air pollution is
probably killing tens of thousands of Americans per year, and the chemical
carcinogens released into the ground from coal burning will eventually
kill a comparable number as shown in my paper in Health Physics
42:753ff;1982. More important, we are burning up all the fossil fuels -
coal, oil, gas, etc at a trmendous rate, denying their use to future
generations. The same applies to many mineral resources -- copper, tin,
silver, etc, etc.
	Our ethical right to do this stems from the fact that we are
compensating these injured people by providing them with infrastructure
and technology that allows them to thrive more than would be possible
without these present Societal activities.  

> 
Bernard L. Cohen
Physics Dept.
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Tel: (412)624-9245
Fax: (412)624-9163
e-mail: blc+@pitt.edu


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