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From: mvs@meccts.UUCP (Michael V. Stein)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: "zillion fatal doses of Plutonium"
Message-ID: <316@meccts.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 7-Mar-86 00:16:52 EST
Article-I.D.: meccts.316
Posted: Fri Mar  7 00:16:52 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 10-Mar-86 00:13:41 EST
References: <221@bu-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: mvs@meccts.UUCP (Michael V. Stein)
Organization: MECC Technical Services, St.Paul, MN
Lines: 37
Summary: 

In article <221@bu-cs.UUCP> bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) writes:
>Perhaps, but surely you've seen the several articles on towns near the
>test sites in Nevada where the incidence of leukemia and other cancers
>is alarmingly high and attributed to exposures caused by the early tests.
>They are certainly not all dead, but I am not sure I envy them.
>
>There seems to be a lot of agreement among the medical community that
>there is NO SUCH THING as a safe level of exposure. Why do you flail
>against this 'safe' assumption so? It took us 30+ years to accept that
>(and still not universally.)
>
>	-Barry Shein, Boston University

I would greatly like to read any reputable articles on these cancers.
If they are truely as massive and epidemic as you imply, this should
be publizied more since it is in direct violation of all major 
radiation tests done for about the last 30 years.  

As far as no safe level, the reason scientists use the straight line
linear hypothesis is that it will assume the maximum possible danger.
There has been quite a bit of debate among researchers as to whether 
this is too stringent of a criteria.  Even assuming it is true, the
amount of cosmic radiation hitting people every year (about 44
millirems at sea level) is far greater then the 4 millirems reaching
people from the world's weapon testing fallout.  What are far more
dangerous and common are the high levels of radon gas found in many 
homes.   Depending on the amount of ventilation and geography these
radiation levels sometimes reach many times the level 
allowed as an occupational risk.  I recall seeing a reference 
that up to 10,000 lung cancer deaths a year may be caused by 
indoor radiation.
-- 

Michael V. Stein
Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation - Technical Services

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