The news had the expected effect. The New York Times wrote about "controversial evidence that some say suggests that the radiation given off by the terminals can cause cancer, birth defects or miscarriages." The Slimes has not lost its touch: note that it's the evidence about miscarriages etc. that's controversial; the "radia-tion given off by the terminals" is being implanted in the reader's mind as cast in stone and as certain as that the sun will rise tomor-row
¾all the news printed to fit. In fairness, the Wall St. J. and the rest were not much better, confirming once again the suspicion that their hacks lack the intelligence to do these things on purpose; they are just duds at their jobs, and we must be thankful they did not become doctors, air controllers or elevator operators.As I pointed out earlier [AtE Jun 90], before 1970 VDTs emitted a very tiny amount of X-rays due to the deceleration of electrons hitting the screen and rectifier plate. It was then less than 1/200 of the background radiation and since then the introduction of semiconductors and increased screen sensitivities have reduced the amount to undetectable, so the dose (if any) is not only virtually zero, but incomparably smaller than VDT operators get from their own blood.
There is a low frequency electromagnetic field present (which does not radiate as a propagating wave) and is, in any case, less intense than the fields from other sources, such as blow-driers and shavers, to which the operators are exposed at home, albeit for not as long. (Could that mean something? Perhaps. But if you are serious about possible dangers, take the most plausible ones first..)
In formally omitting the "miscarriages by radiation," the San Francisco ordinance may go down in history as starting something that it did not start, so to speak; the next ones will include it. But it may be significant for another omission, the possible health effects of radiation: not ionizing radiation, but radiation of something else that propagates in waves (that's what radiation is): ultrasound.
|
|
Vol. 18, No. 6
Newsletter: Access to Energy Newsletter Archive Volume: Issues Issue/No.: Vol. 18, No. 6 Date: December 01, 2004 04:17 PM Title: The Hole Fillers
Copyright © 2004 - Access to Energy Newsletter Archive
|