A Press Release Worth Posting – Benefits of Low Dose Radiation Hormesis

I have been getting more and more press releases as organizations begin to figure out that bloggers are valid media contacts. Normally, I do not simply take those releases and republish them, but occasionally I will make an exception. On this date, March 28, 2009, thirty years to the day after the events at a new reactor built near Harrisburg, PA followed closely on the heels of the theater release of a movie designed to cause fear and doubt about the people that operate large nuclear power plants, I received the following:

Report: Time to Lose Irrational Fear of Nukes
“On the thirtieth anniversary of Three Mile Island, end the scare stories”

Posted: Friday, March 27, 2009

PRESS RELEASE
Publication Date: March 27, 2009

New York, NY — March 27, 2009. The end of this month marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Three Mile Island nuclear accident — and for too long, the tiny handful of such mishaps have been used to exaggerate the dangers of nuclear power.

A report called “Nuclear Energy and Health, And the Benefits of Low-Dose Radiation Hormesis,” commissioned by the American Council on Science and Health (ACSH) and published this month in the journal Dose-Response (Volume 7, Issue 1), dispels some of the most common fears about nuclear energy.

There has recently been a renewed global interest in using nuclear energy to address the environmental concerns that accompany our continued combustion of coal, oil, and gas to sustain our standard of living. However, new construction of nuclear plants is impeded by powerful anti-nuclear political activists — and by media reporters who communicate unwarranted fears about small doses of radiation.

In this publication, nuclear engineering expert Jerry M. Cuttler, D.Sc., P.Eng. (past president of the Canadian Nuclear Society) and Myron Pollycove, M.D. (formerly of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission) present important biological realities and scientific explanations that are being ignored. On the thirtieth anniversary of Three Mile Island, end the scare stories about nuclear energy, suggests this report, so that a safe and highly efficient source of energy can be utilized for the benefit of humanity at a time when energy production is a top priority.

The American Council on Science and Health is a public health, consumer-education consortium of over 350 scientists and physicians, experts who serve on ACSH’s scientific advisory panel. ACSH publishes reports on issues pertaining to the environment, nutrition, pharmaceuticals, and tobacco and helps the public deal with the real health risks productively. SEE ALSO: ACSH’s short brochure on nuclear energy and health, available as PDF file and in hard copy.