Helen Caldicott and Her Mistakes
Nuclear and Radiation Safety Issues
Letter of Dr. Michael Baker
(To the Los Angeles Times)
Dear Sirs:
Helen Caldicott's recent Op-Ed in your newspaper is a fine
example of sensationalistic journalism unsupported by the
scientific facts. When reading Ms. Caldicott's writings
one must keep in mind that she is not a radiation scientist
who has spent countless hours studying the effects of
radiation on man, but someone who has made a name for herself
by making unsubstantiated exaggerated claims regarding
nuclear power.
She claims to be concerned about public health but the clean
use of nuclear energy could prevent the thousands of deaths
caused by the burning of fossil fuels every year in this
country alone. She claims the release of Cesium, Plutonium,
and Strontium, will cause thousands if not billions of painful
deaths, but doesn't explain how these elements would be
released. Yes, they are contained in nuclear fuel, but that is
where they remain throughout the lifetime of the reactor and
that is where the remain when the spent fuel is disposed of
as waste.
Even if they were released would they cause the health
effects she claims? NO! All of these elements have been
released in substantial quatities to the atmosphere by
nuclear weapons testing. Matter of fact, orders of magnitude
more than one pound of plutonium has been released but yet
we are not all dying of cancer as she claims would happen.
During the early years of the nuclear weapons programs
many workers were exposed to plutonium and had measurable
amounts in their bodies. They are living longer than
comparable people unexposed to plutonium.
I hope the Los Angeles Times can make better use of their
editorial page in the future to educate people rather than
try to scare them with unsupported nonsense.
Michael C. Baker, Ph.D.
Los Alamos, NM
