The Local News said you were also Testing Grass. Are you?
I'm concerned about both kids playing on lawns and me breathing a concentrated amount of dust particles when cutting the lawn. It seems to me that lawns can really trap dust particles easily since there is so much surface area to volume in a blade of grass. I've heard a lot about Japanese contamination with leafy vegetables and it seems to me that grass would be just as bad and obviously contributes to milk contamination. I welcome UCB researchers and other experts to respond. Thanks.
I have instructed my
I have instructed my students to collect grass, spinach, and kale. The grass is primarily because this is close to what the cows are eating and we can try and quantify the amounts before it enters the bovine pathway. The amounts we are talking about are all quite low, but if you are concerned, do not eat these for a few weeks. Playing on grass should not pose an increased risk.
Mr. Chivers, you said you are NOT health physiciists yet...
you cdontinue to aedvise people that the risks are minimal and that children playing in grass "should not pose an increased risk".
As with the milk, tap water, rainwater and air samples, there is always the potential risk for increased levels of harm - especially to children who may absorb additional radiation through their skin.
As I have posted repeatedly, there ARE health physicists who disagree with the risk models you are utilizing.
It is simply too facile and actually false to compare a cross country flight with INGESTION or absorption of radionuclides into the body where they will collect in thyroids, soft tissues, organs and may be far more harmful to children than you may believe.
PLEASE get a health physicist to respond when the media and public asks whether there is any risk.
I know many physicists, doctors and epidemiologists who have worked on these issues for many years who say you are dead wrong --- that there is a strong likelihood of increased risk from any increase in exposure but ESPECIALLY when one absorbs or ingests additional man made radioistopes from the nuclear fuel cycle which is completely UNLIKE radiation from flying cross country which your own FAQ says is not a proper comparison:
FAQ #7
"The dose from an X-ray or plane flight is different in that it is all-body or large-area dose, and the specific type of radiation may differ from radioactive isotopes."
You (the project) also make this unsupportbale claim in the FAQ (#7):
" Even with this correction to organ-specific dose, we are still extremely far below what one would consider a threshold for heath effects."
Since all credible international scientifically accepted (which excludes hormesis, a fringe perspective with little support in most scientific quarters) risk assessment models say there is NO threshold below which there is damaging health effects, it is simply facile and false to assert that you are extremely far below that threshhold (which health physicists say does not exist in the vast majority of models of risk).
IF ANY radiocesium or radioiodine is ingested or absorbed there is the possibility of harm and risk to infants, pregnant women and their fetuses, children and adults.
Since you have stated you are not qualified to actually address the risks, it totally undemrines the credibility of the entire project for you to make such broad assertions and comparisos when it actually is contrary to prevailing scientific consensus that there is NO threshold for risk of harm and that INGESTING certain isotopes is NOT comparable to cross country airtrips as your FAQ makes clear.
The credibility of the entire project depends on you resisting the urge to assure us we are safe with facile and false comparisons and false assertions that there is a threshold below which the levels are harmless or risk-free. There is no sound scientific basis for your assertions and actually scientific consensus that these assertions are incorrect.
In my opinion, the risk is
In my opinion, the risk is minimal. If you don't believe me email or call a health physicist, report our numbers and ask his opinion. This is just my opinion. My kids played on the grass today, I have no problem with this. If you feel given all you have read that you wish to keep your kids away from the grass, then by all means do so.
Appreciation
Dr. Chivers, I appreciate your qualified statements, "I don't believe so," not the monolithic "there is no danger" we're getting from "the authorities."
I am of the opinion that the "safe" level of fission products is zero, but that's just my opinion. I respect yours, since you don't dish it out as "gospel."
I also very much appreciate all the work you and your crew are doing to get us REAL data.
Well put...
Perhaps when compared to everything else that's out there this doesn't merit the amount of concern I've had. I'd sure feel better if the reactors were brought under control and we weren't subjected to additional fallout.
Are you going to refrain from eating leafy vegetables until...
Mr. Chivers,
First, thanks so much for making your findings public and for your quick reply. I'm sure you and your students are putting in some serious hours and I really appreciate it. I don't want to put you on the spot, but I would like to know if you are refraining from or reducing your consumption of leafy vegetables until you examine your findings? Thanks.