What chance do people have for accurate reporting?
With Fukushima, the Japanese government kept raising the 'safe' or "'allowable' limit of radiation, every time the detected levels breached limits, thus making a mockery of their own guidelines.
Meanwhile, discussion about safety limits were framed around 'natural' and 'background' radiation, without informing people that caesium-137 and strontium-90 are man-made by-products of nuclear fission (which some would argue the acceptable limit is zero).
By all means, let's do the science, but in the absence of rigorous experiments, I don't think it's scaremongering to err on the side of caution when anecdotal evidence points to serious health issues.
Governments changing regulations should in no way hinder accurate reporting. It should merely create more material to report. How do you think that reporting works?
>Meanwhile, discussion about safety limits were framed around 'natural' and 'background' radiation, without informing people that caesium-137 and strontium-90 are man-made by-products of nuclear fission (which some would argue the acceptable limit is zero).
This just makes me suspect that you really are not qualified to have this conversation. What, pray tell, is the difference in danger between an alpha particle that comes from a man-made isotope, and one that comes from a natural isotope? That you use scare quotes ('natural' and 'background' radiation) gives me additional pause. You do realize that radiation is radiation, no matter how the source of it was made, right? Naturally occurring radiation is no less real than radiation that emanates from substances which we create.
Comparing radiation exposures to the baseline background levels is the only rational thing to do. It is impossible to have a rational discussion about radiation if you don't do that.
> I don't think it's scaremongering to err on the side of caution
Certainly. Tell people what is known, the limits of what is known, the consequences of possible realities, and what they should do to protect themselves. That is reasonable reporting.
However, simply mentioning that "radioactive things are being eaten", is scare mongering. It sounds scary, but the statement is true of from natural organic fruit from two-thousand years ago before industrialized society to a slightly charred poundcake from Hiroshima after August 6th 1945. Without specifying the parameters, it means nothing but induces fear nevertheless. It is textbook scare mongering, and besides being absolute shit journalism, it is actively harmful for the reasons I have previously laid out.
Writers use words like 'natural' and 'background' to not only correctly identify those sources of radiation, but also because the language is reassuring to readers; naturally occurring background radiation sounds normal and doesn't cause panic. If writers were to describe man-made sources of radiation as being the result of fallout from weapons testing or dispersal of waste material from a nuclear accident, readers would panic regardless of the details.
I would prefer reporting to distinguish between sources. Firstly, as people may mistakenly believe that all background radiation is natural without realizing that man-made sources are contributing to overall levels. Secondly, as radioactive isotopes affect the human body differently when ingested or inhaled, people should be aware of the different health risks from man-made sources. For example, Sr-90 is linked to bone cancer and leukemia, Cesium-137 concentrates in muscle tissue, while I-131 collects in the thyroid.
I wish there was more accurate reporting, with limits and parameters as you mention, but it seems problematic as the science is complicated, physicists are not physicians, journalists are neither, and vested interests are at play.
With Fukushima, the Japanese government kept raising the 'safe' or "'allowable' limit of radiation, every time the detected levels breached limits, thus making a mockery of their own guidelines.
Meanwhile, discussion about safety limits were framed around 'natural' and 'background' radiation, without informing people that caesium-137 and strontium-90 are man-made by-products of nuclear fission (which some would argue the acceptable limit is zero).
By all means, let's do the science, but in the absence of rigorous experiments, I don't think it's scaremongering to err on the side of caution when anecdotal evidence points to serious health issues.