The half lie of the Dragon's Tail

What Muller and Thomas are doing is following the script from the tobacco and asbestos industries. They know full well that the toll of cancers, heart conditions, birth defects, from persistent exposure to ionising radiation will not become apparent for decades. They would have us believe that it will be impossible to establish ionising radiation as the cause of this toll of suffering and death.

But it's not impossible. True, fatal mesothelioma from asbestos does leave a 'smoking gun' - in that exposure to asbestos is just about the only possible cause - and a person's history can be tracked.

But what about tobacco? Early last century, Sir Richard Doll undertook the epidemiological research, that, combined with studies on mice, proved tobacco as the major cause of lung cancer. Such epidemiological studies have been carefully not undertaken by the nuclear governments and nuclear industries. Where such research has been done, it has been forgotten or ignored. An example is the work of Dr Rosalie Bertell in the Tri State Leukaemia Survey -- that resulted in much stricter controls over X-raying. I've already mentioned Dr Yablokov in Russia. There's the painstaking 10 year research by Dr Vladimir Wertelecki and the Omni-Net Ukraine Birth DefectsProgram,

We are living in a strange time, where science is valued if it brings a benefit to corporations. Dr Derek Muller and Professor Geraldine Thomas are comfortably ensconced in that world. But there must be some scientists out there who are like Sir Richard Doll, and whose work is motivated by the public good.

And we desperately need those scientists.

This documentary "Uranium - twisting the Dragon's Tail" is just Series One. I would love to know who helped to fund Gene Pool Productions for PBS and SBS to produce this. I'm betting that Series Two will follow before long, with a glossy and positive story about Generation IV nuclear reactors.