Benson column troubling

In "Hypothesis on radiation is a waste," Lee Benson quotes Blaine Howard, a 73-year-old "health physicist" and former Envirocare employee, who dismisses concerns about the radioactive waste from Fernald, Ohio, as unwarranted and indicates that he would not be concerned if his children played in the waste.

The waste material at Fernald emits radon gas, a documented cause of lung cancer. The workers who handle the waste there wear full radiation suits, an enclosed air supply and masks; the CDC determined that citizen-residents exposed to the site have an increased risk of lung cancer as a result of exposure to radioactive materials released from the waste. If Mr. Benson's column was meant to reduce concern about the danger of the waste that Envirocare wanted to bring to Utah, it had the opposite effect.

The notion that "regulators" at the DEQ should make the decisions about what waste comes into our state should be avoided as likely harmful to our health.

Zell A. McGee, M.D.

member, Physicians for Social Responsibility

Salt Lake City