Prescriptionfor Su rvival Autumn 1997 Volurne18 No. 1 Newsletterof Physiciansfor SocialResponsibility-Los

Saturn Probe Loaded witlt Plutoniunt NASA's TITANIC GAMBLE

On October 13, NASA plans to launch its Cassini space probe frc,,mCape Canaveral, Florida. A Titan tV rocket will lo{t the Cassiniprobe towards Venus where "slingshot" the craft will be by Venus' gravitational pull, and accelerate back towards Earth where the Cassini probe will employ Earth'sgravitational pull will again slingshot, and accelerateen route to Saturn.This seven year mission to survey our sixth planet ancl its largest moon, Titan, has met controversy as the craft will be powered, after the initial launch, by a 73 pounrl payload of plutonium-238.

Earltluclin, M.D., PSRmember anclAssociate Clini- cal Professorat UCLA, writes: Salttrnzoill stiil bethere if Cnssitriis delayed. Everyphysician I have spokenwith has been very "threshold disturbedon learningof NASA'splan Losencl Z.J pounds th;ittl'rere is no close"of ionizingracliation -- even of plutonium-238(Pu23B) on the Cassinispace probe, a verysnrall close can cause cancer. especiallywhen they hear that the sl)acecraft will be The chanceof an acciclental sent back to earthat 45,000 n-rilesper hour and conre releaseof plutoniurl intoour biosphere clo:;eto re-enteringour atnrosphere. in fine particlefornr during the Cassini r-r'rissionmay be renrote(although this has not been Forthe nearly45 yearsI havebeen a racliologistI have c-onclusivelyproven,) but dissenrinationof 73 poundsof beenespecially concerned about cancers r.ausecl by ionizing plutoniunror even a very srlall fractionof it coulclbe a radiation,including tlrose produ<_e'cl lty lthysicians.Tlre Jrublic-health catastrophe since a singleplutoniunr atom alplra rarJiationfronr ltlutoniurnancl other raclio;rctive is potentiallycaJtable of causingcancer! The r-t-rission,s elenrentsis nroreltotent than betaancl ganrr-na radiation in Environnrent;rllnrpact Stater-nent prctjec.ts that all released causing cancerwhen it conresin contar.twith cells,suc.h as piutoniunrwoulrl be coniineclto a threesquare nrile area on inhalationancl when ingestecl anclloclgecl in thegastro- ancl thus aiiect only a very snrall nunrberof people intestinaltract. Thereis .r broaclconsensLrs anrong sc.ientisls harcllyseenrs real istic.

I believe NnSA shoulcl n-roclifythe project and i obviatethe neeclfor plutoniunr;a relativelysnrall de- :,iURGENT.. :DELAY CASSINI! cre;lsein weight of the rocket anclits contentswould TheCassini nrission shoulcl nrakeits hi::toric ir.rurney with- enablethis, ancl even iI the launc_hhacl to be clelayeci out ilsrleaclly plutoniunr carg,o. LAPSR yoLr .rsks tr-rinrrrrerli- sever;rlyr:;irs, when sol;rrpower will be capableof ately registeryour opinionwillr ClirrtorrArJnrinistratiorr qener;rtirrgsiriiic.ient elec.tric ity, Saturnanrl its beautiful Stierrr e Advisorlrrhn H. (;ibt)()nsirt )0)-4Sb-7I I (,(voice) rinsswill stilllre there :rw;iiting investig.rtion. or 2O2-456-6021(iax). You c.rnalso c.ont;rct the l)resitlent ttl202-45tt-1 (rlex;sag,e 'lt.r'l-qS6-24(rl 11 1 ciperator)r:f (iax). (CASSTN/corttinued on page tive) 2/Prescription for Survival

Rtport the Director ErHlcsAND MrorclNe from An internationalconference on ethics The great Mary clarke passedaway on June 24'r'.LApsR - :rnd many anclmedicine will takeplace thousandsof peoplebenefitted fronr Mary Clarke'sanrazing acts of political on October 12-15, in Freiburg, courageand peacenraking.I anrone of thosefortunate recipients of her great Cerr-nany.Spec-ial attention will be work. ln 1980,I walked into her Women Strikefor Peaceoffice on West Piccr given to the Nurenrbergcode and Boulevardand found that Mary was among the few peoplein LosAngeles itsirrplications. For nrore infornra- workingto opposethe newly resurrecledmilitary draft registration progranr. tion: Kongress& Communication, She was a one-womanvigil for peace.Her articlesin LA WISPancl in our Universitatsklinikurr-rder Albert- Prescriptionfor Survivalwereconsistently eruclite, incisive .rncl witty. Beatrice Lr,rwigs-Universitat,Hustetter Str. Sperlingand PaulineSaxon renrenrber Mary on pagefour. lt5, D-79106 Freiburg,Cernrany.

This pastAugust, new board n-renrber,Felix Aguilar MD, traveleclto the NevadaTest Site. Most people don't realizethat our countrystill tests nuclear weapons-"5g[-6ritical tests"they are callecl.Dr. AS4uilartells about his D'R & Nevadadesert experience on pagefive. KaiserPermanente - Sunset Helen caldicott is coming to town. on Monday, Nov. 17'r',she will be Humanities in Medicine lecture series offering grand rounds at UCLA-Harbor Medical Center in Torrance.On Tuesday,Nov. 1B'hHelen will offerthe Hunranitiesin Medicinelecture at the presents Callery Theaterof the BarnsdallArt Park,4B0O Hollywood Blvd. in Holly- DR.HrlrN Cnlotcorr wood. Pleasecome to this event!Wine and cheesewill be offered. speakingon The Daily Newsheadlineon September11't'announced "Cancer Linkecl to "Physicians'Responsibility to Rocketdyne",describing the old AtonricsInternational/Rockwell facility in the Their Patients" SantaSusana hills. LAPSRhelped to initiatea landrnarksrucly by UCLA Tuesday. . epidemiologistslinking low-dosesof radiationto increasednrortality anrong Nov. 18, 1997 7 pm Rocketdyneworkers. Jeanne and Scl Londe participatedin the effort to GalleryTheater . BarnsdallPark cornpel the Dept. of Energyto conductthe study.The studywill hopefully 4800 Hollywood Blvd, L.A. leadto more stringentregulations regarcling exposure to radioactivematerials. Charge:$5 . (310) 458-2694 "Pesticides posetremendous risks, after all theseproducts areengineered call to reserveseating to kill," lcommentedon NBC news lastmonth. l'nr gladto announcethat LAI']SRis the lead healthorganization in a renrarkablestatewide coalition, Californiansfor PesticideReform, (CPR). Did you know that useof the most RocrrroYNE LEcTURE toxic pesticidesrose dranratically between 1991 and 1995?Cancer-causing Dr. JosephLyou will speakon the pesticidesrose 129o/", to more than23 million pounclsper year.These findings Rocketdyneepidemiological study, were recentlyannounced in CPR's RisingToxic Tide report.lf you would like Tuesday,November 11th, 7:30pm, a copy of the report,or to volunteer,let's here fron-r you, (310) 458-2694. at the MidnightSpecial Bookstore, Jonathan Parfrey 1318Third Street Promenade, Santa Monica. The talk is sponsoredby the SouthernCalifornia Federation Euerr, Us AT psrsm@pbr. org of Scientists;(31 0) 390-3898.

W,-ite a note to PSR usinc. the fnternet and we,l_l keep you inf ormed via email_ on vital- is sues of the d"y, anong them:

' nucl-ear disarmament the environment ' radioactive waste health care reform ' gun violence military spending 4/P rescripti on for Surv ivaI

distributedLA WISP,the newsletterof the LosAngeles MnnYCLARKE(191 6-'1 997) chapter.She encouragedand gave support and office space to nrany other peace groups, counseled war resistersin the 1970s,organized demonstrations support- Mary Clarkewas the ing the nucleartest ban, to haltthe arms race,and protest doyenneof theLos Angeles nuclearfallout. PeaceMovement. From the first Ban the Bonrb march Mary traveledthroughout the world carryingmes- organizedby Women Strike sagesof peace. She visited post-warVietnanr as an for Peace in 1961 until observerfor the U.S.-VietnamFriendship Association. In 1992 when the Ad Hoc 1981 shewas honoredas a Woman of Achievementby group, Women United for WOMEN FOR:,and received an honoraryPh.D. in 1987 Peace was founded, she from SierraUniversity. She editedand publishedboth was always in the forefront volumes of PEACEDE RESISTANCE,cookbooks of working for peaceand jus- recipescontributed by Wonren Strikefor Peacemembers. tice. Every group that startedto work for peace in Los Fronr1990 to 1994,her conrmentariesappeared in her Angeles was offered a home at the office of WISP by colunrn,MISCELLANIES, in Prescription for Survival,the Mary.The Alliancefor Survivalstarted there, the Nestle newsletterof the Los Angeles Physiciansfor Social Boycottdid, and evenour own L. A. Physici.rnsfor Social Responsibility. Responsibilityfound hospitalityand supportfrorrr WISP. Beatrice Sperling Memorableevents were initiatedby Mary at WISP. From the office of Women Strikefor Peaceevery post officein LosAngeles was coveredwith volunteers on the Cassini continued from page one draft that the draftwas firstre-instituted in 1980.These volunteersoffered 1B year-old young men infornrationon Elaboratingon the risk associatedwith the Cassini non-violentalternatives, including draft counselingat the probe, University of Californitt-lrvine medical student WISP office. Kevin Hoover, wriles:

When LAPSRopened an office on SantaMonica's The Titan lV rocket has been useclfor twenty slrace Ocean Avenue, under the generousltatronage of Fred missionsancl has explodedonce soon aftertake oif in Segal,WISP also nrovedto SantaMonica. There,with California,destroying a billiondollar nrilitary spy satellite other organizationsin that office, v,,e all worked to in the process.Thus this rocket, as it stands,has 1 in 20 organizethe LongestVigil, a demonstrationon Wilshire odds of anothernrishap. Civen the cliscoveryof a fuel Boulevard,an unbrokenchain from the oceanto down- leak on the Cassinirocket in August,these odds are town, with signsagainst nuclear threats. surelygetting worse. NASA admitsthat there is a 1 in 25 chance of releaseof plutoniunr-238in such a mishap. During the lastfew yearsof Mary's illness,she has The an-rountof releaseis not specified.However, they beensorely nrissed, as have been her wonclerfulcolunrn clainr the levelswould be too snrallto causecancer. in Prescriptionfor Survival.To all in her farlily ancl Civen the failurerate of the rocket and the adnritted friends and to everyone in the peace nrovenrentin releaseof plutoniunrrelease that would occur in that southernCalifornia, we hereat PSRextencj our cleepesr case,it is probablyworth consicleringthis risk further. sympathy.Her deathis a lossior all c>ius. Let'sdo the math.(These calculations are basedon Pauline Saxon a Lawrence-Livermorepublication called A Perspective on the Dangersof Plutonium.)Civen the specificactiv- ity, nreaningthe anlountof radiationreleasecl per unit Mary Solnit Clarke,long tinre l)eace acrivisr diecl weight,of Pu 238 of 0.171 mCi/rrricrogr:lnr,the anrount )une24, 1997.In196'1 , she foundecl the LosAngeles of biologicaldanrage of 3.1 x 10^5 renr/nrCiancl the risk chapterof WonrenStrike for Peac-e.She erlitecland continued on page tive 1,4'resc. r i t tl i tsn ior Surv ival THEMYTHS oF AUGIJST

This book-The Myths of August--was wriLten in Hirosl-rir-r-r:t;rn'l N;ig;rs.rki.L.,rl.rll .1i('ill .r p..rr,rlrleral of eifort passion.Seeing the injury,death and injusticeJrerpetratecl r.rx(ii-l-tinirrg.ltltl rt]:i,:;tic.liiiliin{rl {)iri\ ll, ,''",,,s,1sltut the by high governmentofficials on ordinaryAmericans, llre personalitiesth;it ntacletlre rrrir-ter-rlr)Lii.rii,('iriorrs in August authoris convincedthat the systemwent awry. The trustthat 1945. ln cleltth,Udall exlllr.,rt'stl're char.i(.lers of Trunran, existedbetween government and the nranin tlrestreet had Oppenl-reirner,Stinrpson anrl rilters. Tlrt.rerlor:s not seento beconreirrevocably shattered. [tt:a papertrail rlocunrerrliriqllre lli.rir r)r.(olr.t]ranrl which i.,rrlerer,lliris iatel'ulevenl. ilri,rir.i',,.ii -i rh.rnqe of pc;licy StewartUdall servecl as a congressnl;rlanrl Secretaryoi the Interior.His experience ancl knowlerlge, working on the inside,makes hirr-r a mostcredible voicer in cletailingthis sarl historyof the radioactiveatonr and itsdestructive iniluence on Americansocietv.

Afterhis government service under ['resiclents Kennecly andJohnson, Udall returned to practicinglaw. Two events hada seminalinfluence on hiswork.

Thefirst was his campaignto extractconrpensation for thewidowsof the Navajonren wlro nrineduraniunr ore ior the United Statesnuclear arsenal. Tlre (-onrpaniestlrat profitedfrom the nrinesand the governnrentwhic.h bor-rgl'rt Arns prrtductiortpnxluction tontinu,?s: ,i n(:wlv ntodifiet] the uraniunrwould not sltencl tl're snrall itnrount of nroneyto lJ-(tI tt'rttlt;tt rvt,tl,rin i- i, t,,tlt't lrurr ii) f i 6 airc:rat't. ventilatethe nrines.Radon gas, a cl;rugl'rterprocluc-t of Irelure-ilie liirosiiint:i (]\'i'iil. l'f ...t"i:rLi.l'r', r i','ili,intargets in uranium,caused the lung cancerwl-ric.lr killed tlrese young Elttoltt.t li,iri irt:r:tt,tssitlttr.rit:iy ,'t r;:,t,,l ijr,i ri,httt'tit t-;rntetcl minersin theirthirties and forties. j.t1l;trr, lerrrr.rrlrotiiitine itf c iti,t,tnsl)rr(,ln-rl i)liri-'0,. This r,rucial ;tlter;tlirtriirr nrili(.ir',,,.tr-t,:i rrt,rr-.il ;. Industrialhygienists fronr tl-re AEC warnecl of the raclon itltil'i-,,,irii1. rtcl f,.-,unclin gr)vernnt(,r-tIrlot r-rrt-rrtnls. ,ir]l'ittitLls dangerbut were orderedby one of the five corlrnissioners V/lilr rt'r,lrlt,llrir, tr,' clrange "keep r.anrtotIre,asr erl;tirrerl, lriil l-i,l.rll,lr.rrvs tlli., r.r,nr-lrrsion that to away from"tlre uraniumnrinina lrealtlr ltroblenrs. Rrro.sevoll.lnrl lltc,.St,(.rel;l;,,,'lf I-lntrl),.r.,1tl)e.lr Theseofficials were concerneclthat publicity about tl-re \\/,it tlre c,lrief resl)on.riIriIit,l'. hazardsof nrininguranium woulcl deter the .rvailabilityoi the rawnraterials for nuclear weal)ons sulrltosetlly ne<.essary llri: lt.rl:llntt.tlir.rttirt I){)lr(\, lifrri,;lrrrrs llre atorlic in tl'rerace for donrinancein the \.r,rt',l:,tk:. colclw;ir. ,tl[;rtks on Fiit,rslrin't,r.ltti 5lilnl)>{)nvr,;ts lhe key u l'tr.' vrrillt( lt',llt't'.ilI i,'lit, (,r, ili,t. StewartUdall was the lawyerfor the wirlowsoi tlrese i)el'5oll, ;r{}ifft;tineil tite to Ltsfrlhe\,vr',li)ln:,. i\:.i nriners.Unfortunately, Udall losttlre caseanrl tlre sufrse- 1ll.tt-i lr,itr.rl;,.,1,1i1;l.,.sitlenl, Harry -l,ilt ','.,,, itl.titktleit,itriiliill*;rlrr:rtI llrr ,,,r, rrl'i,'i*,i.t. quentappeal. The Su;treme Courl too deniecllrinr a l"rearing. His allt,iqlr. llir;111,,,,!'v',i(,i .il, ,,r,tui,,i,rll'rr-tttran Humiliated,he couldnot facethe wiclowslo tell tlrerl of nc-i i;ttIes lt,,r,ilir,r,; ti) Ir,;tllt" ri ,l,yl ,i .', result. itSFllte Sl,tlo[-]r'; i,];.l tit,,r ,i., lri,r.rlletrtrlttecl Ii-;tisr] riilllt-rrtr,rt.V w'r]i.ar .,lltrrrl(,ii,r.i, j, Thesecond event whiclr marked a turningltoint was the TlreMl'ths of August t',rrl.\'r rir, ,t i't,i.{rlyizing VietnanrWar. His brother,Nlorris, a (.ongressnt;ln,cant6) irl,,,i. tlre llwtis{)l'}li'.ttlrl ,ii r;;1ri,' i, ,\./r,,r1rr,11,, honreto Arizona,broke ranks with his Derlor.raticc.ol- lt,rrilllr, f)r)r,r,,'r)i .tncl r,ttiio.trlivi'1;ollLrtii,t-, Lirlir. !,'.,, 1i1,i leagues,and spoke against the war. , il i. .'1,,ri r.ler'l0r;ltetirat t.rtt teslor-()\,1rii'lrolir i A largeportion of The Myths of Augustis rieriic-aleritc.r 5/Prescription for Survival AT THENEVADA TEST SITE

"l am an addict,"saicl Tecl Taylor, TZ, Princetonproicssor and "l former Los Alamos Lab weaponeer/sr:icntist; .lnr aclclictedto weaponsof massdestruction." That is how,Dr. Taylor"oltencclhis presentationin LasVegas on Saturclay,August 9.

The workshop,sponsorecl by the NevaclaDesert Experience, a group founded by the FranciscanFriars, was organizedas a remembranceof the atomic bombings 52 years before. Sixty pcople from all over the country attencleclthe wcekenrlevent.

At the Saturday'sworkshops we heard about the connections betweenthe weagrnecrsat LosAlamos Lab, LivernroreLabs and the Nevada Test Site which continue to researchdevelop, test and design new nuclearweapons. When Dr. Taylor said he was an addict,he helpedus understandthat he was attracteclancl aclclictecl to tlre awesomepower of big bombs. He saicl,it all startswith the Cassinicontinued from page four devilishlycreative act of imaginingwhich is infinitelydestructive. oi cancerlraser] on biologicaldarnage oi 5x 10^4 cancers/renr We learned thatthis devilish act continuesto thisday. Marylia per micrograrnof Pu 238,exposure to Pu238means there is Kelley,introduced us to the Nuclear lgnitionFacility (NlF) being a 265oh risk of getting cancer. In otlrer words, exposure builtatthe LivermoreLab. NIF is a high-techlaser conrplex that will definitelyrneans cancer. As Cassiniwill carry32.79 kilograms test the fusion aspectsof nuclear weapons.A next generationof of Pu23B,that translates into 86.9 billioncancer doses . . . last world-destroyingweapons are being built there. time I checked,tlre populationof the earth is approximately 5.5 billionpeople. Jonathan Parfrey gave a presentationon the influence of nuclearweapons on contemporaryAmerican culture.His recount lf we assurnetlrat an accidenttakes place and Cassini of Hollywoocl'satomic movies was rnemorable. blows up on launch or shortlythereafter and generously assurningtlrat only a tiny fractionof the plutonium-238 The next day, Sunday,we traveledan hour north of LasVegas payload is released,one-half of one-percentor 200 mg. to the NevadaTest Site. First, we had a short nremorialservice with Assunrirrgthe blastprojects a uniforrnclrstribution over one prayers from all the major religions ancl haiku Io remember kilorneter[1 km3 volume (.2 rnrcrogram/rn3)]and that people Hiroshimaand Nagasaki. on averatgebreathe in 1m3/hour,tlre riskof gettingcancer in thosepec-rple breathing for one hour in a 1 km2 areais 53yo. Then, I witnessed an event that toucheclrne profounclly.I saw Soif evena minuteamount of Pu23Bis accidentallyreleasecl, Ted raylor crossthe line and get arrestedfor trespassingonto the thenpeople within that areain an hour'stime will likely(over Testsite. lt was almostlike seeinga repentantdeath squad member 507ochance) contract cancer. NASA callsthis a smalldosage, do the same.His unwaveringcourage to turn his back o n his life but it'simpact on people'shealth is certainlynot small. work for the best of hurnanity toucheclme cleeply.I wrote the Cassiniwill be undertakinga "flyby',of the earthin 1999. following poem at the testsite: Accorclingto NASAthe navigationalprecision of the Cassini is +/- 12.43 rniles.lt will be flyingwitlrin 312 miles Clear nightsreveal the fear of the surfaceof the Earth,(tJre atmosphere reaches Z5 milesabove that we have for the clarkness. tlresurface.) Experts have pointed out if the Cassinienters into We want to fire the night. theatmosphere is will disintegratedispersing its plutoniumas \A/ewant to invent the power a fineaerosol. The primary means by which plutoniumcauses to destroywhat displeases us. canceris by inhalationand a fine aerosolis tlre mosteffective way for it to enterinto the lungs.From the lungsit is delivered Forgiveus, Suyapa,mother earth; to variousorgans my phagocyticcells called macrophages, the forgiveus for our complicity garbagedisposal cells of your body. So, if it is dispersedin the with lhe violenceagainst you. atmospherewe are talkingabout 86.9 billion cancerdoses Teach us. teach us floating above us in the atrnospherelike some Sword of how to enjoy a dark night Damocles. FelixAguilar, MD, MPH Kevin Hoover Physicians for Social Responsibility t3t6 ThirdSlreet Promenade, Sujte 8-l Santa Monica,CA 90401

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