are one of the frequent anti nuclear bogeys. In what must be one of the most grandiose projects in the history of science, the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, a non profit private institution with almost 600 full time employees, funded equally by the US and Japan, has been (among other activities) meticulously searching for genetic effects among the children of people exposed to the A bomb radiation in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Though these people were exposed to more than a hundred million times the intensity of routine emissions from nuclear plants, though thousands of people have been regularly examined for the last 33 years, even at the molecular level (chromosomes examined by electron microscopy), no evidence of genetic mutations has been found in this intensive search.
On the contrary, a team of researchers at the U. of Calif. at Davis has recently identified mutagens in coal fly ash. ("Mutagenicity of Filtrates from Respirable Coal Fly Ash," Science, 1/6/1978, pp.73 75). Although this is probably not terribly alarming, it does once again show that nuclear power, far from causing genetic mutations, can effectively curb them by replacing less safe forms of power generation.
The genetic bogey is waved not only by unqualified ignorants, but also by some irresponsible physicians who ought to know better. Their oath of Hippocrates? It binds them to do their best for the sick. They never swore to prevent damage to the healthy.
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Vol. 5, No. 8
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Volume 5 Issue/No.: Vol. 5, No. 8 Date: April 01, 1978 03:14 PM Title: Clammy Logic
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