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At least 33,480 former nuclear workers who received compensation are dead Yes, and 100% of US soldiers who were shot at in the first world war are dead, even i
by cperciva 11y ago
At least 33,480 former nuclear workers who received compensation are dead
Yes, and 100% of US soldiers who were shot at in the first world war are dead, even if none of the bullets ever hit them!
Counting deaths makes sense for a short-term event (e.g., X residents of Hiroshima died within a week of the bomb being dropped) but when you're looking at deaths over the course of 70 years, you need to either adjust for the number of individuals who would have died from natural causes or (much better) estimate how many QALYs were lost compared to their natural lifespan.
I have no doubt that there were real health and safety problems with the production and maintenance of the US nuclear arsenal -- particularly in the early days when the issues were poorly understood -- but statistics like the above do nothing to inform and a great deal to mislead, and should be avoided whenever possible.
- avar 11y ago> 100% of US soldiers who were shot at in > the first world war are dead I was curious about this so I looked it up. The last American survivor died just over 4 years ago: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Buckles
- Spooky23 11y agoInteresting perspective, but nobody tried to pretend that getting shot in the First World War didn't happen, or that being shot wasn't a problem. These workers were subjected to workplace dangers that were unacceptable in any other context, and many paid a dear price. There are many deaths, cancer clusters and environmental impacts from nuclear weapons production.
- cperciva 11y agoI said being shot at. 100% of WW1 soldiers are dead even if none of the bullets hit them. I'm not saying that nuclear weapons production didn't kill people; just that the statistic they cited is utterly useless.