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;