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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 19, 1981)
Nobelist denounces fears of radioactivity Physicist says radiation has medical benefits By MARIAN GREEN Of the Emerald Unfounded fear of low-level radioactive wastes only in creases the cost of medical radioactivity and inhibits the development of new cures, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist told a University audience Thursday. Rosalyn Yalow, winner of the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize in phy siology and medicine, lectured on the beneficial medical uses of radioactive materials as part of the Henry Failing Distin guished Lecture Series. Yalow said studies of areas known to have greater-than normal levels of radiation have failed to show higher incidence of cancer and other undesirable effects. Yalow is the senior medical investigator at the Veterans Ad ministration Medical Center in Bronx, N Y "How much more should we look?" she asked. "This is a time when we don’t have an abundance of anything — even scientific talent "Each time scientists must do negative experiments, they're not doing research that saves lives.” Yalow won the Nobel Prize for developing a laboratory process known as radioimmunoassay (RIA). RIA uses radioisotopes and immunologic methods for precise measurements of blood and other body fluids. The process enabled researchers to measure many substances in the body for the first time. Among its many current ap plications, RIA is used to iden tify Neo-Natal Hypothyroid — an underactive thyroid in an un born child. Without RIA, “the doctor can't tell until the child is three months old and is sluggish,” Valow said “As a con sequence, there is irreversible severe mental retardation.” But "radiology in medical use almost came to a halt” in 1979, Yalow said, when three nuclear power plants with low-level waste disposal sites were closed Yalow participated in one of the Nuclear Regulatory Com mission’s subcommittee hear ings after the plant closures. "Everybody was chicken ex cept me,” she said "I said ‘Let’s examine the level of the Photo by Steve Dykes Rosalyn Yalow wastes ’ ” But the NRC decided to pack and ship the wastes to medical facilities at a cost of $15 million for 400,000 gallons. Yalow said the amount of radioactivity in the wastes doesn’t warrant ex pensive packing and shipping procedures. People who live in Colorado receive twice the amount of radiation because they live in elevations higher than East and West coast residents, but peo ple aren't afraid to live there, Yalow argued. “Are they dying like flies from cancer? No, Colorado has one of the lowest cancer rates. It’s half that of New York. "Doubling the radiation ex posure has not had an obvious reaction on cancer rates.” Expert says Poles ’ effort winning freedoms By JANE DE VIRGILIO Ol the Emerald Polish workers are "sophis ticated and self-confident," qualities that give them a good chance of retaining their new found freedom, a Radio Free Europe official said Friday. RFE vice president William Buell said he doubts Polish workers will get everything they f want, specifically a recent demand for a five-day work week. Buell, a former state department official speaking on “The Workers’ Struggle in Poland,’’ said he believes Polish workers didn't want to over throw the political sustem dur ing the strikes. “I do know, however, that they want to work within the Communist system,” he added “Never once during the resis tance did a worker carry a sign saying ‘Down with Commun ism,' Their resistance was non violent. They understood their limits within the system." Those limits stretched sur prisingly far, Buell said. The re sults of the workers “national and well-disciplined'’ efforts won them acceptance of vir tually all their demands, he said. 1933 Franklin Blvd 484-4333 Special Events Nights -r Lounge Open 11:30 am -1:30 am Hors D’oeuvres Available Teachers’ Night SUNDAY Happy Hour All Evening T Hats ^Yigbt MONDAY Happy Hour All Evening T Happy Hours 3:30 pm-6:30 pm Daily Draft Beer 59c Wine 89c laadies Client TUESDAY 2-For-1 Well Drinks All Evening to Ladies T Happy Hours Double Well Drinks 99c 99c Monthly Specials Not Included of dt> WEDNESDAY Happy Hour All Evening With Student or Faculty Card Urban Cowboy Night THURSDAY 1 ° — Wear Hats or Boots — Draft Special- 50/Glass-2.00/Pitcher FLY NAVY Juniors and Seniors The Navy Aviation Representatives will be on Campus JAN. 19 and 20 Stop by the EMU LOBBY and talk to our representatives We have openings in the following fields: PILOT/NAVIGATOR/TACTICAL COORDINATOR/MAINTENANCE COMPUTER SYSTEMS/INTELLIGENCE These openings are for JAN-AUGUST time frame. DON’T WAIT Our training classes are filling up fast. See our representative and see if you qualify, or call (503) 221-3041 Collect Page 6 Those demands included the right to establish trade unions independent of the government, to publish their own journal, and the right to strike. The success of the industrial workers strike has spurred Polish farmers to seek collective bargaining with the state, Buell said. Described as a "special ab beration of the Polish system,” Buell said 80- to 85-percent of the country's agriculture is private. "Most investment goes to state farms and the private farmer would use rural collec tivity to get his share.” The workers’ unrest has had implications beyond the Polish border, Buell claimed, predict ing that repayment of approx imately $8 million a year in debts to the United States will fall behind since yearly export earnings have decreased because of the strikes. Buell said he doesn't see the possibility of worker unrest spreading to other Eastern Eu ropean countries. Poland would likely be more lenient with dissent than other satellite countries, he said. During the strike, Polish workers received much help from the Committee for the Defense of the Workers, Buell said. The CDW is a group of academics who are skilled in using the media to publicize struggles such as that in Poland. Buell described a unique “quadrilateral communications system” that evolved between Radio Free Europe and this committee. "The workers gave their news to CDW who turned it over to the Western press. RFE recieved the news from Western press and transmitted it back into Poland.” Through this system the Polish citizen was aimost im mediately aware of the progress of the strikes, Buell said. Listen ership increased to 75 percent of the adult population during this time. Cable TV rates inflate eugene caDie television rates would increase by $1 a month and cable installation rates would double under a rate plan proposed by Teleprompter of Oregon. To make the rate increase more attractive, Teleprompter said it would make 11 new channels available to cable TV subscribers by June 1. Teleprompter announced the proposed increase Friday at the Metropolitan Cable Television Translator Commission. If ap KINKO’S 4c Self Service COPIES • Binding • Two-sided copies • Reductions 344-7894 764 E. 13th proved, me increase would taKe effect April 1. Under the plan, monthly ser vice charges would go from $6.95 to $7.95, and monthly rates for an additional cable outlet would increase from $1.50 to $2, according to Tele prompter General Manager James Robinow. Outlet installation for houses not yet connected to the cable would increase from $9.95 to $20, and reconnection of a home with disconnected ser vice would go from $5 to $10. The commission took no ac tion on the proposal but scheduled a public hearing on the proposal for March 24 at 7:30 p.m. in the Eugene City Hall. McKenzie Coffee Co. World’s finest coffees Mexican and Swiss Chocolate Rare and Exotic Teas Steamed Bagels Mayflower Building 782 E. 11th 342-2071 Monday, January 19,1981
