As loads of you seem to be in awe of the sience establishment, I thought perhaps you are interested in these reports on its management, I forward these in the future if there is interest. Eva ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 26 Feb 1999 16:56:27 -0500 (EST) From: What's New <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: What's New for Feb 26, 1999 WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 26 Feb 99 Washington, DC 1. NMD: WHO SAYS CONGRESS ISN'T DOING THE PEOPLES BUSINESS? We can all sleep better tonight. By an overwhelming 50-3, the House Armed Services Committee yesterday approved the National Missile Defense Act: "It is the policy of the United States to deploy a national missile defense" (WN 5 Feb 99). There is no mention of when, what it might cost, whether it should work, or the White House promise of a veto in its present form (12 Feb 99). 2. BROOKHAVEN: NO SIGNIFICANT SAFETY ISSUES FOUND AT HFBR. At the request of DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducted a six-week on-site assessment of safety issues at the High Flux Beam Reactor. The NRC report concludes that: "Actions taken to characterize and control the tritium plume were conservative, and this plume does not represent a radiological hazard to public health or safety." Uh, does it mean that the decision to shutdown HFBR and terminate the Associated Universities contract was premature (WN 2 May 97)? Of course, we won't know for sure until the STAR panel completes its safety review (WN 12 Feb 98). 3. RADON: EFFECT OF SINGLE ALPHA PARTICLE IS STUDIED DIRECTLY. Just one year ago, a NRC report on residential radon risk (BIER- VI) relied on the dubious linear-no-threshold extrapolation from data on uranium miners to evaluate residential radon risk (WN 20 Feb 98). Using a charged particle microbeam system, however, researchers at Columbia's Center for Radiological Research have directly studied cell damage from multiple alpha traversals, which are experienced by miners, down to single alpha traversals in a lifetime, that result at residential levels. They found no difference between single traversals and zero. While the studies were done using mouse cells, they indicate that the linear-no- threshold model strongly overestimates residential radon risks. The new technique may also offer a way to evaluate the risk from high-energy, high-Z radiation in space travel (WN 20 Dec 96). 4. CIRCULAR A-110: EARMARK HAS UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. The APS Executive Board on Saturday affirmed the position of the APS that scientists have an ethical obligation to make public the data on which their findings are based. The proposed revision of OMB circular A-110, however, which requires that all data resulting from federal funding be publicly available under the Freedom of Information Act (WN 12 Feb 99), is overly broad. The law could force premature release of data. It was slipped into the omnibus appropriations bill under the cover of darkness by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL). At a meeting at the AAAS this morning, a staffer for Sen. Shelby confirmed that the target was the EPA, which had taken actions based on data that was not in the public domain. However, using an appropriations earmark to legislate, thus avoiding debate or hearings, commits the same sin. In a war between Shelby and the EPA, science was an innocent bystander. THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY (Note: Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the APS, but they should be.) ----- End of forwarded message from gj bart -----
