That's Alice.

An interesting archive-rich documentary programme describing the work of Dr Alice Stewart who was aged 79 at the time. The video seems to start abruptly; firstly Dr Stewart talks about the revelation that low doses of radiation causes cancer. Her research in the 1950s indicated that pregnant women, when x-rayed during pregnancy, were at risk of having a child who would be affected by leukaemia. This has led to a long career in the field of epidemiology. The Kevin Mulhern speaks to her in her portakabin at Birmingham University. A recent programme of the time is mentioned and clips are shown from a Channel 4 programme (made by John Gau Productions), 'Acceptable Risk', which outlines the impact of low-level raditation as a result of the Manhattan Project in the US. Janis Dunn, a local resident, talks about her realisation that all her neighbours were dying of cancer. The programme shows clips of atomic testing in Nevada in the 1950s; American servicemen are ill-protected from the impact. Clips from Hiroshima are then shown. Dr Stewart talks about the shock from the medical community of the after-effects of the bomb, from radiation sickness and then the much more long-term impact of birth defects. Studies in Japan which took place 5 year's after the bomb are key to our understanding of the relative safety of radiation. Unfortunately, despite the logic of this research, Dr Stewart discovered that low levels of raditiation are in effect ten times more harmful as a result of the 'healthy survivor effect'. Stewart mentions that closer analysis reveals that many workers involved in high-technology environments are unusually healthy. Mulhern challenges Dr Stewart to answer why young healthy men shouldn't work in the nuclear industry. She indicates that young men could be storing up problems for the next generation, if they have not started a family. The programme then shows some footage from a Yorkshire Television programme 'Windscale - The Nuclear Laundry' from 1983. Whilst holiday makers are on the beach, a geiger counter indicates the perceptible levels of cancer. In areas close to Windscale (later renamed Sellafield), an unusual number of children were discovered to have had cancer. The programme prompted a government enquiry. Dr Stewart talks about her work in the US at Mancuso; her investigation was stopped and the research was handed over to the Nuclear industry.