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Thank you DCQ, this is well written and well reasoned! I'd like to point out some of the things science did not know sufficiently when it was generally thought that small amounts of pollution are ok: (a) bio-accumulation. If the water has barely measurable or unmeasurable levels of pollution, fish living in it can still be highly polluted. Once the radioactivity is in the ocean, its effect on humans is determined by a race between how quickly it decays and how quickly it bio-accumulates. Some of the more long-lived isotopes, whose effects are right now masked by the more short-lived isotopes, may cumulatively be the more damaging ones for humans. (b) effects on unborns. Today's babies are born pre-polluted by the pollution ingested by their mothers. There are timeseries showing a correlation between nuclear testing in the USA and lowered IQ levels of babies born at that time. (c) Time lag of regulation. The gravity of the effects of air pollution have only be discovered in the last 15 years or so. Regulation is years or decades behind the quickly advancing science. There is so much we don't know that it is prudent to avoid levels of pollution which are "safe" according to the regulations. Hans. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
