113 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
113 lines
5.9 KiB
Plaintext
IS CIVIL DEFENSE COST EFFECTIVE?
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Senator Edward Kennedy, in response to a letter from DDP,
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stated that he felt "fallout shelters were not a cost*effective means
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of protecting the American public from a nuclear attack." In
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general, lack of cost)effectiveness is frequently argued by opponents
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of any and all defenses against nuclear attack.
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Cost effectiveness is by its very nature a comparative
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measure. The cost per life saved by various methods has been
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compiled by Dr. Bernard Cohen, Professor of Physics at the University
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of Pittsburgh:
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ZZ Method
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$/life saved
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Immunizations (Indonesia) $
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210
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Improved sanitation (3rd world) 4,030
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Cervical cancer screening 50,000
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Breast cancer screening 160,000
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Hypertension control 150,000
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Kidney dialysis 400,000
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Mobile ICUs in small towns 120,000
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Improved traffic signs 31,000
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Upgrade guard rails (highways) 101,000
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High level radioactive waste:
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strict precautions vs random
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burial with simple precautions 220,000,000
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Stricter safety standards for
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nuclear reactors, compared with
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prior standards $2,500,000,000
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-Dr. Cohen's complete discussion on "Reducing the Hazards of Nuclear
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Power - Insanity in Action" is available free from the USCEA, 1776 I
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St. NW #400, Washington, DC 20006. Note: the reason for the high
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cost of "regulatory ratcheting" by the NRC is the fact that peaceful
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nuclear energy causes so few deaths to begin with.
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Given the media attention now focused on cholesterol, it is
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worth noting that the cost of saving one year of life with
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cholestyramine treatment of hypercholesterolemia ranges from $36,000
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to $1,000,000, depending on the risk group (AMA 258:2381). Compare
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this with the cost of one year of food storage ($144/person) or a
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space in a blast shelter ($200 or more) or an SDI program capable of
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saving 50 million lives for $50 billion ($1000/life saved).
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CD IN PIMA COUNTY-
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Water Supply: "All primary city pumping stations have emergency
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power, and there are sufficient portable generators, pumps, etc.
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available to maintain water supplies and other emergency power
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requirements. Fuel is not stockpiled"
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Food Supply: "There is no emergency food storage."
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Medical Equipment: "The packaged disaster hospital located in
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Cochise County was allocated to us....[but] this entire commit-ment
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was put on hold by the unexpected transfer of [DMAFB commanding
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officers]." (Pima County Division of Emergency Services, personal
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communication, emphasis added.)
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CHERNOBYL AND SOVIET CD-
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Many Western commentators were puzzled by the delay in the
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evacuation of the population near Chernobyl. Actually,
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recommendations of the International Commission on on Radiological
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Protection (ICRP) were followed. These call for evacuation if the
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integrated dose commitment for individuals is expected to reach 75
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Rem. On April 26, radiation levels in Pripyat were 10 mRem/hr, not
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sufficient to predict the need for evacuation. The level rose to
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1000 mRem/hr, and evacua-tion commenced on April 27. The average
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dose commitment received by residents of Pripyat was 3 Rem, less than
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the annual exposure permitted for a radiation worker. Persons living
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between 3 and 15 km from the plant received an average of 43 Rem, a
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dose predicted to increase the risk of dying of cancer from a normal
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of about 16.7% to about 17.2%. Those outside the evacuation zone
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received about 0.5 Rem, the increased dose accrued by living in
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Denver for 10 years instead of Washington, DC. The total worldwide
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health effects will probably be less than the effect of one year's
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combustion of fossil fuels in the USSR (R. Wilson, Science
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236:1636)1640).
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In an interview on Komsomolskaya Pravda, May, 1987, Vladimir
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Leonidovich Govorov, chief of USSR civil defense, commented that
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"scientific ... progress has fantastically increased the potential
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for producing goods.... Unfortunate,ly, the scale on which people are
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affected by ac,cidents...has increased as a result. The Indian city
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of Bhopal, our Cher-nobyl, show the need to further improve civil
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defense."
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Govorov stated further that while nuclear war would be a
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"great misfortune," population protection will "without doubt
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con,siderably reduce the number of human lives lost."
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SOVIET COST EFFECTIVENESS
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Recently, Soviet industry delivered its newborn missile:
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precise and mobile intercontinental SS-24. A few months earlier, the
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most powerful booster in the world Energia was successfully employed.
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Evidently, the Soviet military space babies are in good health....
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But what about human babies? In a recent interview in
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Pravda, one medical official admitted that the situation is worse
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than horrible. The equipment of Soviet obstetricians consists mostly
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of a measuring tape, stethoscope, and forceps. Delivery wards
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should have at least 60 types of medical instruments. Soviet
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industry makes only six types and no money is available to import the
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remaining 54.
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There are no disposable items at all. The linens ... in many
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cases are hand washed....Infection is always present, and thousands
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of healthy women and babies die. To hide these facts, the Ministry
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of Health plays with statistics. According to international rules, a
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newborn is counted if his weight is more than 500 grams, but the
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Soviets start counting at 1000 grams and even that cannot improve the
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picture: Mortality of Soviet babies is the same as in Uganda.
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Yuri Tuvim |