~ Se
thousands more.
The autensbile, s vary real syubel. of sodern civilisa~
SINAN
tion, ie the cause in the United States alone of seme 10,000 deaths and
a like number of maimed each year ~ at the present rate more than «
million deaths per generation,
Siudlarly, people reject comparison
with the deaths and injuries which are very substantial and sine qua
non fer the nom-atemie aspeeta of cur national defense effart imluiing,
ef course, aviation. TI suspect one of the reasens for this is the
eumeocplece nature of the incidents witich lead te death and injury.
SNARE,
They are recorded in our newspapers daily, A hasard more comparable
~
te that of radiation -anog op air pollution -—~ cannet be used for
comparison eimply because we heave no comparable body of knowledge upon
whieh te base an estimate of the possible deleterious effects on our
citizens.
Yor radiation, and espeaially radiation fron fallout, is the
only contemporary man-made general enviromental hasard about which we
have sufficient information to define 1t at all, and because we can
define 16 there ia a greater obligation to keap it minimal.
The present level of exposure from medical and dental x-rays
(lh x in 30 years) is of about the same magnitade as the exposure fre
naturval sources of radiation.
‘The present level of radiation exposure
from fallout from weapons testing to date and future levels at any
realistic rate of weapons testing, whether by ome nation or by many,
are sven lower (0.02 to 0.5 r in 30 years).
They are a fraction of the
natural radiation exposure to which man and other living things have
always been subjected.
In fact they are far below thoge which have
mag