Madam, - I am not surprised that it was two contributions to your Letters columns which led Prof William Reville to express his alarm that "amateur opinion in the specialised area of health and radiation would take such strong precedence in the public mind over the considered study of hundreds of scientists" ( Science Today, January 19th ).
Just as long as your correspondents continue to ignore the dictum of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan that "everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not their own facts", so will they continue to propound ideas rightly described by Prof Reville as "preposterous". - Yours, etc,
MAURICE A. O'SULLIVAN, Ashton Wood, Bray, Co Wicklow.
Madam, - Further to William Reville's article of January 19th, one would have thought that a properly conducted scientific survey providing evidence that the Chernobyl accident was not as bad as popularly believed would be a source of relief. Instead it has generated angry reactions, showing how strange some human reactions can be. We tend to be guided by the emotional rather than the rational centre in our brains. We believe what we want to believe and disbelieve what doesn't suit us.
This means no amount of evidence to the contrary will convince those who refuse to be convinced. They will quote evidence which appears to suit their case and disregard or ignore that which does not. This, of course, is totally at variance with proper scientific thinking.
Such is human nature. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KERNEY, Dalkey Grove, Dalkey, Co Dublin.