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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!ihlpa!animal
From: animal@ihlpa.UUCP (D. Starr)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: "zillion fatal doses of Plutoni
Message-ID: <1186@ihlpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 6-Mar-86 16:32:57 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpa.1186
Posted: Thu Mar  6 16:32:57 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 8-Mar-86 03:22:45 EST
References: <221@bu-cs.UUCP> <15700058@uiucdcsb>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 29

[support your local librarian--find the references yourself!]


I found an interesting tidbit in the Chicago Tribune this morning,
courtesy of the N. Y. Times.  It said that officials of the federal
Energy Department do acknowledge that "a shuttle explosion on the 
launching pad could, under some circumstances, release a harmful
cloud of radioactive material.  

"But the officials said they could not describe during an open
session of Congress the health or environmental consequences of such
an accident because the damage estimates are classified." (quotes are
from the article as it appeared in the Trib)

So, it looks like the official line is that we'll just have to trust
that the government (DOD, NASA, whatever) does know what the hazards
are, and will take appropriate precautions.  Sleep well tonight, Florida.

* * * *

On this same topic, a while back I said that Utah, which is downwind of
the Nevada nuclear testing range, had an unusually high incidence of
cancer.  I got some mail about that observation, and stand corrected--
somewhat.  As a whole, the state has a lower than average cancer incidence,
attributed to its large Mormon population (Mormons do not use tobacco
or alcohol).  However, the southwestern corner of the state (the section
most immediately downwind of Nellis AFB/Nuclear Test Site) does have a
higher than usual incidence of leukemia.  According to the daily papers,
exposure to plutonium has been linked to this disease.