Re: [CPEO-MEF] "Trust us: we're experts!" (Was: Birth Defectsand Nuclear Po

[marylia@earthlink.net]

Hi CPEO list serve. Our college outreach coordinator, Issac, a former
computer scientist at Livermore Lab, read the various postings by Stella
and Susan and formulated a response email that he was unable to post. I am
posting it for him. However, anyone wishing to converse with him on the
subject should send email directly to Issac at trotts@mit.edu.

---- %< -----


Here is what the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in Japan says about
its
funding:

"Funding RERF (formerly the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission) was established
in April 1975 as a private nonprofit Japanese foundation. Funds for
operation are to be provided equally by the governments of Japan, through
the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the United States, through
the Department of Energy and the National Academy of Sciences."

(http://www.rerf.or.jp/eigo/general/greeting.htm)

Half of their money comes from the DOE, so of course they will want to tell
people
not to worry much about nuclear weapons and energy.  Oak Ridge National Lab
has a conflict of interest as well, since they also receive substantial
funding from the DOE.

The Radiation Information Network people should know that it makes little
sense to average the dose over the entire population of the US, since
different people
receive different doses depending on the time and the place.  This
averaging of course
diverts our attention away from the high doses that various individuals
receive: a case of
"lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Issac Trotts


----- Original Message -----
From: "Susan Gawarecki" <loc@icx.net>
To: "cpeo-military" <cpeo-military@igc.topica.com>
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2001 8:24 AM
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Birth Defects and Nuclear Power


> I have seen Stella assert a couple of times now that nuclear power
> causes Down's Syndrome.  There is no evidence that this is true.  In
> fact, even acute exposures, such as the nuclear bomb survivors, show
> little if any cause/effect relationship with birth defects.  From the
> Radiation Effects Research Foundation at
> http://www.rerf.or.jp/eigo/radefx/genetics/birthdef.htm "There is no
> statistically demonstrable increase in major birth defects considered in
> total or in any specific type among the children of atomic-bomb
> survivors."
>
> The Radiation Information Network, on its Radiation and Risk page at
> http://www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/risk.htm gives the following
> information.  The average dose to the US public from all sources is 360
> mrem/year.  The allowable Occupational Exposure Limits for Fetus is 500
> mrem/year (based on the mother's exposure while pregnant and well within
> limits where harm is known to occur).  The Average Dose to US Public
> >From Nuclear Power is less than < 0.1 mrem/year [current data].
>
> Frankly, the US public gets a significantly higher radiation dose from
> uranium and thorium emitted from coal-burning power plants than
> emissions from nuclear power plants.  A study at Oak Ridge National Lab
> found "For comparison, according to NCRP [National Council on Radiation
> Protection] Reports No. 92 and No. 95, population exposure from
> operation of 1000-MWe nuclear and coal-fired power plants amounts to 490
> person-rem/year for coal plants and 4.8 person-rem/year for nuclear
> plants [1988 data].  Thus, the population effective dose equivalent from
> coal plants is 100 times that from nuclear plants."  See
> http://www.ornl.gov/ORNLReview/rev26-34/text/colmain.html for the entire
> article.
>
> If there is a cluster of Down's Syndrome cases, look to what is KNOWN to
> cause it, instead of making unsupportable claims to bolster an
> anti-nuclear agenda.
>
> My own opinion only,
>
> Susan Gawarecki
> --
>

Marylia Kelley
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94550

<http://www.igc.org/tvc/> - is our web site, please visit us there!

(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax

Working for peace, justice and a healthy environment since 1983, Tri-Valley
CAREs has been a member of the nation-wide Alliance for Nuclear
Accountability in the U.S. since 1989, and is a co-founding member of the
Abolition 2000 global network for the elimination of nuclear weapons, the
U.S. Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and the Back From the Brink
campaign to get nuclear weapons taken off hair-trigger alert.



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