🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <STEINMAN.92Aug24173740@hawk.is.morgan.com> steinman@is.morgan.com (Jan Steinman) writes:
>
>There is some controversy over the so-called "threshold effect" -- a
>level of radiation, below which, no damage to biological systems take
>place. An emerging consensus refutes the threshold effect, and
>believes that no amount of ionizing radiation can be considered
>harmless. (See "Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation" (BEIR V) and
>works by Goffman.)

However, a low energy beta will have great difficulty leaving the bulb, 
let alone passing through the lampshade, the air, or your clothes.  CF 
Bulbs are in the realm of zero exposure unless you eat them, as someone 
commented, and even then Pm is not biologically active.  There is no 
need to worry about thresholds when you are talking about zero.

>   These small amounts are "exempt" quantities as 
>   defined by the NRC.
>
>Gives me little comfort! "The government says it's okay" always raises
>a red flag in my mind!

Yep, I feel the same way when I am driving my licensed vehicle at or 
below the governmentally sanctioned speed limit.   ;-)

>Teach your children how to use a geiger counter!

Good idea.  But do not stop there.  Suggest that they put a bottle of 
GatorAde (sorry you folks at UF, any of the "replacement" sport drinks) 
next to it.  <quite a nice effect, BTW>  Compare to CF bulb.  Look for 
any warning label on the respective packages.  A learning experience!
Also might compare to a banana and your own body.  

Naturally ocurring radioactive materials do not have to be on labels 
if they are a natural part of the product -- even if concentrated 
during the processing of the natural food product.  This is because 
the body will have a certain amount of potassium regardless of its 
source in your diet, and all potassium is radioactive.  If there is 
no threshold effect, being too close to someone else would have to be 
considered a cause of cancer, and sex and subways would be banned.

--
J. A. Carr                                    |  "The New Frontier of which I  
jac@gw.scri.fsu.edu                           |  speak is not a set of promises
Florida State University  B-186               |  -- it is a set of challenges."
Supercomputer Computations Research Institute |   John F. Kennedy (15 July 60)