University Daily Kansan, November 22, 1983 Page 6
CAMPUS AND AREA
Two KU professors disagree on effects of nuclear attack
By MATTHEW HARRISON Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Two KU nuclear radiation researchers disagree on the validity of many of the scientific facts that have been reported about the ABC-TV movie "The Day After."
Edward I. Shaw, professor of radiation biophysics, said yesterday, "There were a great many inconsistences in the movie."
No buildings in Lawrence would be destroyed if a nuclear bomb hit Kansas City, he said. The movie "Streetcar Ride" that had been destroyed in the blaze
FRANCIS W. PROSSER, professor of physics who does research in nuclear physics, said that overall the film was scientifically accurate, except that a real nuclear attack would have been less than the one depicted.
Both men said they were disturbed because the film did not adequately explain that all nuclear research was not evil.
Shaw, who has spent more than 27 years on nuclear biological radiation research, said, "The people who link nuclear energy, with its application of providing power and energy for the population, with nuclear weapons, do society a disservce."
Prosser said that the movie correctly portrayed the electrical phenomenon known as the Electro-Magnetic Pulse, or 'EMF' effect.
The EMP effect occurs when a tremendous amount of electromagnetic radiation, such as that created in an atomic blast, causes anything metal to act as a conductor of electricity.
Prosser said that this overflow of current would render most electrical appliances useless.
The EMP effect is not theory as the movie suggested, he said, but is fact.
"The business of cars stopping,
though, is something I'm not sure about," he said. "The interior area, such as the engine, would be pretty well shielded."
Nuclear freeze advocates have said that nuclear radiation accumulates in the body and is not excreted, and that constant exposure to such radiation would lead to cancer.
But Shaw said that nuclear radiation could not be lumped into simple categories.
TWO BASIC KINDS of radiation effects would be produced in a nuclear explosion - acute doses and chronic doses, he said.
An acute dose of radiation exposes a cell to a high level of radiation in a short period of time, such as during a nuclear blast.
Chronic doses occur when a cell is exposed to radiation for a long period of time, the kind of exposure that would occur during radiation fallout following any initial nuclear blast.
Chronic doses of radiation are much less effective in killing cells, he said.
Shaw said that when discussing the amount of radiation that would kill a cell, one must consider the type of radiation the cell was receiving and the length of exposure to radiation that the cell received.
"THE RATE AT which the radiation dose is delivered is important because you have the phenomenon whereby cells can repair some of the damage they receive as they are irradiated — if the dose is spread over a sufficient period of time," he said.
"Because a dose on any given day is not sufficient to produce damage that will kill the cells, the cells would recover in 10 to 12 hours from the effects of radiation they received. The following day the cells would behave as if they were not radiated at all."
Marchers see peace through arms as vital
By BRUCE F. HONOMICHL
Staff Reporter
The dead soldiers in all of America's wars were heavy on Matt Thor's mind yesterday as he marched down Massaonia and began taking a sign that read "Muiti Is Right."
"You can't fight evil without weapons," he said. "If we let the Communists take over, we will be destroying everything that every soldier who ever fought and died in war for and in and the Constitution ever fought for."
"The whole philosophy of communism," she said, "is to eventually take over the West. Total disarmament for
"COMMUNISM STAGNATES the mind. America stands for right and if we don't defend her with our arsenal, that freedom will wither and die."
Stephen Phillips/KANSAN
About a dozen students protest nuclear arms policies, chanting and singing across campus. Yesterday's march was sponsored by the KU chapter of the Maranatha ministry. Steve Strom, right, is pastor of the chapter, and Donna Alexander, center, with her husband Chris, left, are co-directors of the chapter.
Thor, Billings, Mont., freshman, marched with 18 members of the KU branch of Maranatha, a worldwide college ministry. The Maranatha members marched from the Chi Omega Mountain in Pittsburgh to North Charleston, they said, in support of peace through strength and President Reagan's military policies.
"The movie 'The Day After' played on fear. It gave no hope. But there is no problem."
DONNA ALEXANDER, a Lawrence resident and one of the co-directors of the KU branch of Maranatha, said that day in defending one's home and family.
Armament, the Maranatha marcheers said, was the way, the truth and the
Cathy Bickler, 102 Pinehaven Court,
a member of Manaranaha, said, "The Bible says that Jesus Christ is coming back and is not going to come back to a world blown to bits. We need peace through strength. We've had the deterrent for 38 years and that has stopped the evil cold.
us is total strength for them. The people are being deceived by the movement to disarm We are commanded in the army to assist the soldiers and sisters and families and houses.
"The movie was not pro-America. It was a defense of socialism We're pro-armament and pro-Reagan."
The marchers, led by a police escort, ran into few hecklers, but their procession slowed traffic on busier streets. They marched down Jayhawk Boulevard to 13th Street, then moved along Massachusetts Street to downtown before stopping at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont St., to attend a town meeting about the nuclear arms race.
AT THE END of the march, in
Beth State, a 1963 KU graduate, said she thought the movie was image
State carried a sign that asked, "Do Russian Leaders Seek Peace?"
"It was an abmination of God," she said. "The girl in the movie who was looking for her birth control device was looking so she could have sex before her marriage. The only way we can prevent miscarriage, this again is peace through Jesus."
THE CASTLE TEA ROOM
1307 Mas
Plymouth's parking lot, members of the group bowed their heads and prayed for President Reagan and the continued strength of the American military.
The group repeatedly sang "God Bless America" and "The Star-Spangled Banner." It shouted the Pledge of Allegiance after each rendition.
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Most of the marchers said that they were offended by the movie's message
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