Posted 8/7/1999 6:37:30 PM

        NoFlyby Newsletter No. 19
        Action Site to Stop Cassini Earth Flyby
        P.O. Box 1999, Wendell Depot, MA 01380 USA
        http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby

        August 6-9 - remembering - Hiroshima and Nagasaki

        1) If NoFlyby Had Its Way

        2) Dr. Ernest Sternglass Replies

        3) Dr. Ross McCluney - the solar alternative


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        If NoFlyby Had Its Way

        On August 11, 1999, NASA would direct Cassini away from Earth to
explore other planets in our solar system, but not as far as Saturn. The
U.S. government would explain that this redirection is to reduce the risk of
an Earth flyby accident and issues a statement of concern relating to
evidence that there is no safe dose level for the intake of radioactive
plutonium in the lung or blood system. At the expected speeds of the flyby,
an accident could be catastrophic and not worth any risk.

        Besides redirecting Cassini, the U.S. government stops the
development of space-based weapons, and strengthens its support of the UN
Outer Space Treaty. This leads to an International Treaty to ban all weapons
and technologies capable of mass destruction.

        The high-growth U.S. military budget continues for the next few
decades, but without war as an incentive. Nuclear scientists would be
retrained, industries transformed, both in the direction of advancing
science and technologies that are environmentally benign. Conventional
military systems would become stronger as true agents of peace, and
terrorists would become more isolated, with supplies and motivation for
terror shrinking.

        If NoFlyby had its way, people will learn how not to threaten life
and appreciate what we share.



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        2) Dr. Ernest Sternglass Replies

        Following is a response from Ernest Sternglass regarding some
questions and issues brought up in communications with NoFlyby Feedback. One
issue we discovered is that the danger relieved by taking iodine is from
I-131, a fission-produced nuclear product, which was released in large
quantities by the Chernobyl accident. Our suggestion to have adequate iodine
in your diet for a Cassini accident was wrong. However, it is wise to have
sources of iodine for protection from nuclear power plant technologies.

        Dr. Ernest J. Sternglass is Emeritus Professor of Radiological
Physics in the Department of Radiology, University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine. While he was there he was director of the Radiological Physics and
Engineering Laboratory. He has carried out extensive studies on the health
effects of low-level radiation and is the author of "Secret Fallout,
Low-Level Radiation from Hiroshima to Three Mile Island," published by
McGraw-Hill in 1981. Dr. Sternglass is an advisor to NoFlyby.

        Ernest Sternglass is currently working with the Radiation and Public
Health Project.
        http://www.radiation.org/

From: MSSEJS@aol.com
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 1999 10:49:40 EDT
Subject: Re:  feedback from newsletter no. 18 - iodine retraction and misc.
To: info@flybynews.com

        You are correct in withdrawing the iodine-131 warning. Plutonium
concentrates in the lung, the bones and other organs such as the kidney, but
not significantly in the thyroid. Fission is rare for Pu-238, so not much
iodine-131 is formed. But plutonium does not "dissipate" harmlessly in the
atmosphere, it comes down into the lower atmosphere over a period of time
much shorter than its half-life. Thus it will undoubtedly increase the risk
of cancer and immune-system related diseases for hundreds to thousands of
years because it and its radioactive daughter products damage the stem cells
of the immune system in the bone marrow. The result is a lowered defense
against all types of cancer, not just lung cancer, as well as a reduction in
the ability to fight infections. Moreover, because the radiation dose is
received over a long period of time unlike short X-rays or a flash from a
nuclear bomb, it is hundreds to thousands more biologically damaging because
of the dominance of free-radical oxygen damage as discovered by Dr. Abram
Petkau in 1972, and confirmed in human populations in many scientific papers
since then. Thus, the NASA estimates of deaths and illnesses that may be
induced are in the millions, not thousands.

Ernest Sternglass


Please note: NoFlyby has edited and added information to NoFlyby Newsletter
No. 18, (Prepare for the worst - work for the best), which is posted
http://www.nonviolence.org/noflyby/alerts/18nl.htm


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        3) Dr. Ross McCluney - the solar alternative

        Dr. Ross McCluney is also an advisor to NoFlyby. He is an optical
physicist and solar scientist, Ph.D. in Physics from the University of
Miami. Dr. McCluney is Principal Research Scientist, Research and
development Division, at the Florida Solar Energy Center; (the listing of
Ross McCluney's affiliation with the Florida Solar Energy Center and the
University of Central Florida is for identification purposes only.) He was
also the former employee at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and now
pursues work in environmental ethics and scientific responsibility.

        In response to NoFlyby's rebuttal to NASA's statements regarding the
alternative to the use of radioactive Plutonium, he wrote:

        "I have pointed out that there were other alternatives available, in
addition to losing that 1%. They include breaking the mission into two
smaller ones, using lightweight solar concentrators, thereby improving the
temperature and performance of the smaller required solar cells, and
converting to electronics and other components that are much more efficient,
requiring less electricity to do their jobs and therefore smaller solar
power systems."

        More details on Dr. Ross McCluney's solar options are posted at this
GlobeNet page, which is also linked from NoFlyby's table of contents.

        "Solar Options for Space Missions - Options to Cassini"

        http://www.globenet.free-online.co.uk/solar.htm


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Please, contact media and write letters to the editor to help bring
awareness to end the threat of nuclear space programs. NoFlyby has a limited
number of "Nukes in Space 2: Unacceptable Risks" by EnviroVideo available.
If you want to donate a copy to your public library, and write a letter to
the editor announcing this, send us postage and we will send you the video
for free, ($3 in the U.S. for priority mail and at least $10 for airmail).

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