But the general response to a June 13 letter from Energy Secretary James Watkins to Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) has been something less than wild enthusiasm. Health activists have questioned DOE's motives in making the announcement, and they accuse the department of creating an elaborate, lengthy, and costly mechanism that will stymie rather than foster research. Glenn wants another federal agency to oversee any such analysis. And most scientists say that, although it sounds like a good idea, they plan to withhold final judgment until the details are clear.
"I'll be the first person to eat my hat if they release it [employee health information] in any usable form and in any reasonable time period," says Jonathan Berger, executive secretary of the Three Mile Island Public Health Fund, a non-profit group set up to conduct radiation studies after the 1979 accident at the Pennsylvania nuclear plant. "They're afraid of open ...
