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.
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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
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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.
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Monday, January 19,1981