Daily Em^ra/dEdltOricll
Truth trickling in on
Hanford radiation
After 40 years the US government lias finally ad
mitted that people living near the Hanford nuclear
weapons plants were exposed to dangerous amounts of
radiation between 1044 and 1047.
A study released last week by a panel of scientific
and technical experts states that one in every 20 people
absorbed “significant" amounts of radiation For the
three years ending in 1047 the plant’s officials secretly
authorized the release of the largest amounts of radi
ation ever made public.
The current level of radiation considered safe hv
tlie Department of Energy (DOF) is 025 rads. A rad is a
measure of radiation equal to what is absorbed in about
a dozen chest X-rays. The study revealed that 5 percent
of tin1 population surrounding the Richland. Wash, nu
clear plant received as much as 33 rads of radiation, or
about 1,200 times the currently-recognized safe dose.
How much has the government known and how
long have it known it?
In 1072 the Atomic Energy Commission, predeces
sor of the DOE. discovered that underground tanks
were leaking millions of gallons ol the most radioac
tive wastes Hv the mid-1980s, some residents of the
small towns east of the plant started becoming dl from
thvroid diseases. Others were dying
The problem is evident. The United States was in
such a hurry in the late 1940s to devise weapons that
would end World War II. there wasn’t time to test the
safety of the procedures used to manufacture the weap
ons. Americans were so cuught up in the wave of patri
otism. and the fear of Nazism, that possible effects of
radiation were the last thing on anyone's mind
Hut World War II has been over for more than 40
years and the government remains remarkably hushed
on the effects of radiation. The government released
documents in 1980 confirming that radioactive iodine
from Hanford reached the civilian population in the re
gion. but not until last week’s revelations did officials
admit that the levels were potentially harmful.
Unfortunately, those most vulnerable to the radio
active iodine were children because they drank milk
from cows that ate contaminated grass. These infants
probably received the largest exposure to the iodine,
also. It is estimated that approximately 20.000 babies
were born in the affected region between 1944 and
1960
It’s amazing how quick the United States built
atomic weapons when it needed them. It's just as
amazing how slow it has been in releasing information
regarding the effet Is of iodine radiation. It's especially
disheartening when the amount of iodine radiation re
leased during the late 1940s was 26,000 times the
amount released during the Three Mile Island mu tear
accident in Pennsylvania in 1979
Hut the real t lincher in this ordeal is the govern
ment's announcement th.it it will not be responsible
for human disorders resulting from the radiation re
lease Those affected b\ the release of radiation will
not be able to sue the government. At the very least,
the government owes free medical testing and care to
those who might have been affected by radiation leaks
Oregon D.til\ _ _
Emerald
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Viitf
Life overrated
In response tn Melinda Met k's
letterViolence' [01)1 |ul\ l<!)
I say (In- right tn life is overrat
ed Perhaps it we were nut sn
afraid of death so afraid in
general then we would not he
so eager to oppress those pen
pie who pose a threat to our
psvi ho i ultural ra< ml sec urits
The oppressed ITia|orit\ ol
South Atm alls are under pins
i( .11 .issatill Violent e i miles
not only as the brutality of po
In e hut as enfoned ei onomii
11linKct11111\ squalid living con
<1 it ions and. d the white e\
tremists flail then wav <is ah
sene e ol hope as w ell If Melin
da Bet k is saving that a person
heaten down should not raise a
list in anger, than Melinda Met k
is wrong A woman being
raped should attai k her assail
ant not teat h him is ill) her
passivity Perhaps at moments
passn it\ has been too pure
I he South Afrit an people are
being raped In then govern
meiit I he\ are also fighting
hat k along w ith othei op
pressed peoples of the world
lhe\ are lighting for their
lives, lives in w lot h the right
to life is w tulh In ing
Matthew Miller
History
Bush no friend
(lampaign rhetoric to the
contrary. President Mush has
proved himself no friend to en
vironmental concerns In the
past tew weeks he has salx)
tageil the enat tment of the Kn
dangeretl Species Ait tilth ref
erent e to the spotted owl and
he has used Ills influent e to
postpone international steps to
reduc e global w arming
He has earned a title other
than that ol "Knvironrnental
President " I suggest this be
t ommemorated by sending him
emptv letters addressed to The
Ivtinction President. (leorge
Hush, lilt' White Mouse Wash
iiigtou, III’ 2(1500
Andrew I hnmpsnn
( inunsvling (lenler
Morality
Deborah frisi h argues 101)1
1111\ ,t| that homose\lialit\ is
nut a moral issue but merely
one ol the harmless different es
ol .i diverse humanity In es
sell! e her \ leu point seems like
a sort of "no harm, no foul"
theory ol morality This theory
is attrei live, hut on i loser ex
aminatiori. problems arise
U ho dei ides u hat consti
tutes harm:1 What about a man,
tor instance who doesn't think
that Ins sexual aggressiveness
really hurts yeomen' Is he
wrong il he doesn't think he is'
W hy '
W hat about people \xhu don’t
i are it they harm others as long
as they get yy hat they want/
I he Marquis de Saile believed
that because nature made him
stronger than women and gave
him strong sexual desires, lie
had .i natural right to use worn
eil as he pleased W as lie yyrong
or merely different ’ W hy '
In I hr ISrolhrrs k.n.im.i/in
Dostoevsky observes. il there
is no (lod, every tiling is permit
ted fins is deeply true W ith
out universal moral reference
points, rye can knory nothing
Letters
w ith t ertaintv I eft to invent
our own individual standards
of morality we c an justify am
(lung it it fulfills our perceived
needs or our desires. The moral
ugliness and < bans that sm h
relativity produces can dearly
he seen in our materialistic,
"me first" culture
Rejecting the moral bounda
ries given us bv our wise and
good Creator has not given us
the freedom and happiness that
it seemed to promise Instead
we have lost needed protection
from human predators, ami
have polluted ourselves and
our culture with our greed, lust
and selfishness
William Moore
Si hool of Musii
Not private
H\ classifying homosexual
prat tii e as an inherently pri
vate practice Deborah I'risch
shows th.it she has evidently
never been around during (lay
Pride Week when the\ creep
out of their i losets to subject us
to a raucous verbal assault, nor
did she read the letters to the
1)1)1' protesting the guv graffiti
which was a black eye on the
lace of our campus
Karl (iosnell
Kugene
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