Elements of Controversy

Download or Read eBook Elements of Controversy PDF written by Barton C. Hacker and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1994-01-01 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle.
Elements of Controversy
Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Total Pages : 644
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0520083237
ISBN-13 : 9780520083233
Rating : 4/5 (37 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Elements of Controversy by : Barton C. Hacker

Book excerpt: Unforgettable congressional hearings in 1978 revealed that fallout from American nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s had overexposed hundreds of soldiers and other citizens to radiation. Faith in governmental integrity was shaken, and many people have assumed that such overexposure caused great damage. Yet important questions remain--the most controversial being: did the radiation overexposure in fact cause the cancers and birth defects for which it has been blamed? Elements of Controversy is the result of a decade of exhaustive research in AEC documentary records and the full clinical and epidemiological literature on radiation effects. More concerned with uncovering the historical story than with assigning blame, Barton Hacker concludes that every precaution was taken by the AEC to avoid harming test participants or bystanders. And, he points out, the biomedical literature suggests that these precautions worked. Yet top officials in Washington--for whom the success of nuclear weapons was of overriding importance--had asserted that testing involved no risks at all. Discrepancies between unverifiable government claims and the revelations that some actual risk was present explain the origins and angry persistence of the controversies, Hacker argues. The Department of Energy delayed publication of Hacker's study for five years, and while his controversial book is sure to draw objections from both sides of the radiation-hazard debates, it will provide a much-needed guide to understanding their polemics. Unforgettable congressional hearings in 1978 revealed that fallout from American nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s had overexposed hundreds of soldiers and other citizens to radiation. Faith in governmental integrity was shaken, and many people have assumed that such overexposure caused great damage. Yet important questions remain--the most controversial being: did the radiation overexposure in fact cause the cancers and birth defects for which it has been blamed? Elements of Controversy is the result of a decade of exhaustive research in AEC documentary records and the full clinical and epidemiological literature on radiation effects. More concerned with uncovering the historical story than with assigning blame, Barton Hacker concludes that every precaution was taken by the AEC to avoid harming test participants or bystanders. And, he points out, the biomedical literature suggests that these precautions worked. Yet top officials in Washington--for whom the success of nuclear weapons was of overriding importance--had asserted that testing involved no risks at all. Discrepancies between unverifiable government claims and the revelations that some actual risk was present explain the origins and angry persistence of the controversies, Hacker argues. The Department of Energy delayed publication of Hacker's study for five years, and while his controversial book is sure to draw objections from both sides of the radiation-hazard debates, it will provide a much-needed guide to understanding their polemics.


Elements of Controversy Related Books

Elements of Controversy
Language: en
Pages: 644
Authors: Barton C. Hacker
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 1994-01-01 - Publisher: Univ of California Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Unforgettable congressional hearings in 1978 revealed that fallout from American nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s had overexposed hundreds of soldiers and o
The Practice of Argumentation
Language: en
Pages: 287
Authors: David Zarefsky
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2019-09-19 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Explores how we justify our beliefs - and try to influence those of others - both soundly and effectively.
Communicating Science Effectively
Language: en
Pages: 153
Authors: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Categories: Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-03-08 - Publisher: National Academies Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Science and technology are embedded in virtually every aspect of modern life. As a result, people face an increasing need to integrate information from science
Perspectives on Theory of Controversies and the Ethics of Communication
Language: en
Pages: 222
Authors: Dana Riesenfeld
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2013-11-23 - Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Assembling an unprecedented range of considered responses to the noted contributions to philosophy made by Marcelo Dascal, this collection comprises the work of
Traditions of Controversy
Language: en
Pages: 336
Authors: Marcelo Dascal
Categories: Language Arts & Disciplines
Type: BOOK - Published: 2007 - Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Controversies may be particularly prominent in one or another culture. Yet, there is hardly any culture where they do not exist. This book assumes that the prac