Returning common sense to regulations

摘要

While these sessions of the November 1995 meeting of the American Nuclear Society211u001eare being devoted to the Linear Theory of harm from radiation, it must be 211u001erealized that the low-level radiation issue, as important as it may be, is but a 211u001esubset of an entire body of environmental issues running afoul of common sense. 211u001eCellular phones, electromagnetic fields, asbestos, dioxin, acid rain, and others 211u001eespecially in their public portrayals, some in their regulatory treatment, are 211u001ebased upon exaggerated or misunderstood risks. One must recognize that what lies 211u001eahead is an immense effort to revisit the underlying science of the existing 211u001eregulations of radiation exposures. New evidence has been published, and most 211u001eimportantly, it is now recognized that many of these regulations--promulgated 211u001ewith the best of intentions--have been extraordinarily harmful to the public. In 211u001emany cases, the harm has been exaggerated, and has created in the public policy 211u001earena the notion that the public is at great risk from the smallest sources of 211u001eradiation. The national cost of compliance with these regulations has been 211u001eenormous. To the extent that existing environmental regulations are not being 211u001emoderated, they pose major economic threats to present and future industries 211u001einvolving nuclear materials and technology. These would include the 211u001epharmaceutical industries as well as those seeking U.S. isotope markets in 211u001eseparations, purification, labeling, and manufacturing of new 211u001eradiopharmaceuticals for cancer therapy, diagnosis, pain mitigation, treatment of 211u001earthritis, and other new applications. For those who are not aware of the results 211u001eof recent advances in radiopharmaceuticals, clinical trials have demonstrated an 211u001e80% remission rate in the treatment of b-cell lymphoma and leukemia. New isotopes 211u001eand new isotope technology promise greater effectiveness in the treatment of 211u001ecancer and other diseases. The regulatory problems and their enormous costs exist 211u001eat all stages in nuclear medicine, from the manufacture of the 211u001eradiopharmaceuticals to the disposal of low-level wastes in Ward Valley, 211u001eCalifornia, for example. Access to these promising new technologies will be 211u001eseverely limited under the existing regulatory environment.