Re: Ra, 25 mrem/y

[Neon John <johngd@bellsouth.net>]

Dan Burnstein wrote:
> 
> Lets leave out the natural risks and ask if the man-made risks are government
> supported through subsidies or government tolerated through regulation.  Then we are
> down to a more rational list where citizens would like to be educated and have a
> voice in the process - not to mention a responsibility to preserve the environment
> for later generations and for its own sake.

Since we are as much a part of nature as any other living creature,
I can't seem to separate the man-made risks from the natural ones. 
Beyond the philosophical perspective, there is a practical problem. 
One cannot define natural vs man-made.  Example:  The rattlesnake is
a natural risk but did the roadway and the sewer harboring rats
provide a favorable habitat so that the snake is present to become a
risk while walking?  Is the rotted-out tree about to fall on you as
you walk natural or or is it man-made because someone planted it 100
years ago.  Did you think about that risk and accept it?  You might
cite electrical wires as being purely man-made.  I'd cite lightning
as a counter example.  Did you get hit by lightning because it was a
natural effect or because the nearby city caused the island heating
effect which formed a local thunderhead that otherwise would not
have existed?  The logic simply doesn't work.  Even for radiation. 
Lacking instrumentation which most civilians don't have, one cannot
make a decision as to what radiation exposure he accepts because he
does not know where it is - natural or man-made.

You were speaking tongue-in-cheek about educating the public on
radiation risk, weren't you?  A public that can't add, subtract,
multiply and divide without a calculator is going to learn to
evaluate the various radiation risk model theories?  Oh, that was a
good one. Thank you. I needed the laugh.

John

-- 
John De Armond
johngdSPAMNOT@bellsouth.net
http://neonjohn.4mg.com
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