I think that there is a mistaken assumption here, namely, that living next
to a nuclear power plant is more dangerous than living elsewhere. This
type of mistaken belief has been referred to as a "phantom risk" and
one source that reviews this concept and three mile island (among other
things) is:
Foster, K. R., & Bernstein, D. E. (1999). Phantom risk: scientific
inference and the law. The MIT Press.
Portions of the book is available on books.google.com; see:
http://books.google.com/books?id=DWPRdprheLcC&pg=PA279&dq=%22three+mile+island%22+%22phantom+risk%22+%22george+k.+tokuhata%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Fj6tUfqhCqL84APV04GIAw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA
A review of the book was published in the Journal of the American
Statistical
Association and the reference is:
Phantom Risk: Scientific Inference and the Law. by K. R. Foster; D. E.
Bernstein; P. W. Huber
Review by: Joseph L. Gastwirth
Journal of the American Statistical Association , Vol. 90, No. 429
(Mar., 1995), pp. 388-390
Quoting from the review by Gastwirth:
|Three chapters are devoted to health risk from radiation. Dr. Tokuhata
|describes the accidental low-level radioactive release at Three Mile
|Island and the epidemiologic studies being carried out in the nearby
|area. No excess cancers have occurred so far. The main health effects
|have been higher levels of anxiety and depression and an association
|between low birth weight and stress (of the mothers). This chapter
|shows how a potentially serious nuclear accident is being utilized
|to provide information about the health risks from radioactive exposure.
(p389)
So, residents from the TMI area had no symptoms due to radiation
but they did suffer psychological distress from the experience. I'm not
sure where one would find cognitive dissonance since people there
appear to exaggerating the threat from living next to a nuclear plant.
Also, recent studies continue to show no/limited effects of living in
the TMI area -- a medical database was developed for the area by
the State of Pennsylvania -- see:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935111002039
I'm still not clear on what the original research might have been but
if anyone can locate the reference, please provide it.
-Mike Palij
New York University
[email protected]
---
You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected].
To unsubscribe click here:
http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=25878
or send a blank email to
leave-25878-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
