November 20, 1998

"Extinction Formula Discovered by Albuquerque Scientist"

HUMAN SURVIVAL
ON A PLUTONIUM-CONTAMINATED PLANET
Charles L. Hyder
[ISBN: 0-938513-26-5, 160pp., $10.00]

This study brings closure to species survival arguments, by specifying via an Equation and its Graph what concentrations of Plutonium are required to cause species extinctions. The key variable is genome size. Amphibians have the largest of all animals, and are already suffering malformations and extinctions. Larger animals, especially carnivores, will certainly be next. Humans will not be immune.

Charles Hyder holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in physics from the University of New Mexico (1958,1960), and a Ph.D. in Astrogeo-physics from the University of Colorado (1964). He has worked for NASA, UCLA, UNM, and the Southwest Research and Information Center. He was an early whistle-blower, presenting effective criticism of plans for radwaste disposal in New Mexico, particularly at the Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Project (WIPP) near Carlsbad, NM.

In 1986-87 he underwent a seven-month fast in Washington, DC, protesting against War. In this book he commits to another fast, "Terminal," he says, when the DOE opens WIPP. It will remain open, "Over my dead body." This book provides the morality, the politics and the science which underlies that kind of certainty and commitment.

"Recent, global, amphibian extinctions are our dying canaries!" "Strict vegetarians may survive..."