Re: Ra, 25 mrem/y

["Jerry Cohen" <jjcohen@prodigy.net>]

    I found your comment to be  interesting and thought provoking. Assuming
the dose recipient is "nonconsensual" (which is almost always the case),
should that dose be limited to zero, de minimis, or what? How can a
regulator responsible for protecting public health determine how much of any
hazardous agent is too much for a nonconsensual recipient?
    To cite an extreme example-- in each breath you take, you convert some
vital oxygen to potentially harmful carbon dioxide thereby depleting the
oxygen supply and increasing CO2 levels for all other (nonconsensual)
recipients on the planet. I'm sure that you would agree that the effect ,
although not zero, is so trivial as to be of no rational concern. Could
anyone explain why a  radiation dose of 25mrem/yr., or the EPA's 15mrem/yr,
or the 1.0 mrem/yr (which the NRC rejected for BRC purposes)  all small
fractions  of the variation in  natural background dose, should not be
similarly regarded.                jjcohen@prodigy.net

-----Original Message-----
From: KDA2921@aol.com <KDA2921@aol.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu>
Date: Friday, December 10, 1999 3:24 PM
Subject: Re: Ra, 25 mrem/y


>I would agree with Professor Raabe's assertions related to the exposure and
>residual Ra-226 contamination. However, with all due respect to Professor
>Raabe, my only question is:  what is a reasonable dose to which a future,
>nonconsensual, inhabitant may be subjected?  Although the limit set by EPA
>may not be scientifically based, the proposed limit appears to attempt to
>significantly reduce the nonconsensual exposure to the general public and
>future inhabitants.  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?
>
>Keith D. Anderson, CHP
>ECC
>kda2921@aol.com
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