I recently discussed the flaws in an LNT-denialists arguments. Let's play a similar game with a fear mongerer. Enter Dr. Helen Caldicott:
Here we go:
Start - 1:30
Display of credentials. That's a technique called "priming". It gets the audience primed that this is an authority figure. Why? Because most people like to let others think for them.
Show happy people eating while discussing radioactivity. That's the image (no real recollection of what was said) that is hoped is retained.
About 1:30 - about 4:00
A little on radiocarcinogenesis. For the most part accurate, but she engages in the sin of omission by not putting the risks in perspective. She says the cancer incidence will rise "dramatically"....yet at the beginning of the video she said "well, it's a guess really." She tells us that nuclear power adds to global warming, but doesn't put it in perspective with other energy sources.
This is where the wind up comes....and the pitch...."If I lied...".
(Hint: That means a lie is coming)
About 4:00 - about 6:30
She lies and says the utilities don't pay for any insurance. Perhaps someone should let the folks at ANI know.
And she flips on whether utilities pay for reactors or whether they're subsidized. When advising doctors on what text to read, she cherry picks the denounced NYAS book.
She fantasizes about a huge international cover-up regarding Chernobyl (hmmm, that sounds familiar...I remember some pro-nukes describing BEIR that way, but on a national scale).
"And I've been a doctor since I was 23"...appealing to her experience.
About 6:30 - about 8:00
Lookie there...she mentions the BEIR VII report. Why didn't she suggest doctors read that? Well, we know why..it has accurate science in it compared with the NYAS book.
(Any pro-nukes who deny the evidence supplied by the report, will lose to Dr. Caldicott here. She won't be the wingnut, you will.)
I don't know anything about the German report she mentions...it sounds like it may be in German anyway.
About 8:00 - about 10:15
And she pulls out the fetus card and claims teratogenesis may result from a Pu particle. But Dr. Caldicott, that's not mentioned in BEIR VII. But it sure makes for a good visual...will people remember the deformed fetus or a book title? She knows the answer.
She talks about Pu in the testicles (ouch!), but fails to mention that the risks are trivial. And if you are cremated (ok, if) the Pu goes out the chimney (well, a fraction of it), where it can be inhaled (or not).
She discusses Pu elsewhere in the body (I'm recalling that certain Cohen video.. the guy who said Pu was safe, that LNT was a lie, but who wouldn't inhale the Pu, because he knew LNT is true).
About 10:15 - END
The endless list of "exotic" sounding radionuclides...intended for its bamboozle power.
And the plea for education....yeah, I'm pleading too.
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