=======================Electronic Edition========================
RACHEL’S HAZARDOUS WASTE NEWS #65
—February 22, 1988—
News and resources for environmental justice.
——
Environmental Research Foundation
P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403
Fax (410) 263-8944; Internet: erf@igc.apc.org
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WHISTLEBLOWING: SOME DO, SOME DON’T; THOSE WHO DO ARE FIRED.
Two health physicists who complained to authorities about the
safety of a nuclear reactor at the Georgia Institute of
Technology (Atlanta) have been fired. The day they were fired,
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued the second of two
reports saying current management of the reactor is improper and
may pose a threat to workers and the public. A reactor operator
contaminated himself and the reactor building with radioactive
cadmium Aug. 18, 1988. [NY TIMES Feb. 14, 1988, pg. 28.]
A former research scientist for Liggett & Myers (L&M) testified
in federal court in mid-February that the cigarette manufacturer
told him in the mid-1950s and early 60s not to publish results
showing a link between smoking and lung cancer.
Dr. Mold, who was assistant research director for L&M when he
left the firm in 1984, also testified that the company had
developed cigarettes in the ’70s that eliminated many
cancer-causing substances, but didn’t market the product. Dr.
Jeffrey Harris testified that L&M didn’t market the safer
cigarette because the company feared it would be an admission
that it had already sold millions of dangerous cigarettes. [NY
TIMES Feb. 14, 1988, pg. 43.]
–Peter Montague, Ph.D.
Descriptor terms: whistleblowing; nuclear power; radiation; nrc;
occupational safety and health; ligett & meyers; l&m; tobacco;
cancer; lung cancer; jeffery harris;