If you believe the (profit-motivated) nuclear advocate propagandists, I have a bridge I'd love to sell you really cheap. The X-ray comparison to current radiation from the Japanese nuclear sites melting down is an insult to all of us. An X-ray takes a few seconds, but radioactivity from a nuclear accident is absorbed by plant life and accumulates in our food chain in perpetuity, causing cancer and genetically defective offspring. But by the time these tragedies take effect, the cause gets very diluted and difficult to identify.

The admiral who ordered the U. S. Navy ship "out of the way" of a radioactive plume emanating from the nuclear plants in Japan should be honored. Years back, the ships might have sailed into the plume so studies could be made as to the rates of cancer and genetically defective offspring resulting from the low level exposures. Kudos to the admiral.

We can't prevent natural disasters, but we can prevent nuclear meltdowns. Shut the nuclear plants down; they're counterproductive in any case. I'm gung-ho for solar!

By WALT DEYOUNG,
New Smyrna Beach