Approaches to Liability for Remote Causes: The Low-Level Radiation Example 56 Iowa Law Review 1970-1971

56 Iowa L. Rev. 531 (1970-1971)
Approaches to Liability for Remote Causes: The Low-Level Radiation Example

handle is hein.journals/ilr56 and id is 563 raw text is: APPROACHES TO LIABILITY FOR REMOTE CAUSES:
THE LOW-LEVEL RADIATION EXAMPLE
W. Noel Keyes* and John L. Howarth**
How can a jury of laymen resolve a dispute between experts
on a subject about which they know nothing other than
what the experts have told them?***
The truth is the closest statistical approximation to the
observed occurrence of events.,
I. IwToDucTioN
It is traditional in Anglo-American society that science and tech-
nology have developed more rapidly than has the law. At an ever
increasing rate, technological advances have been developed which
alter people's lives and patterns of social interaction. These changes
have forced the law to develop new rationales or modify old ones
in order to mediate the new resulting conflicts arising among society's
members. The invention of the automobile-with the resulting multi-
tude of traffic and safety regulations, licensing requirements, and
insurance laws and rate regulations-provides a good example.
Another example is found in the development of the atomic age,
which began with a devastating show of its capacities in Japan in
1945. Since that time science has waged a battle to develop the
peaceful utility of atomic power. Today that research has resulted
in the practical application of atomic energy for the production of
electrical power, medical treatment of cancer and other diseases,
preservation of foods, and many other valuable tools for society.
These peaceful uses are called low-level radiation sources, as distin-
guished from the high-level sources which might result from an un-
controlled reactor.
Even with these peaceful uses of atomic energy, however, there
are inherent risks of which we must be aware. Scientists have dis-
* BA., LL3B., Columbia University; Doctor, University of Paris, France; mem-
ber of the New York and California bars; former treasurer, Federal Bar Ass'n;
attorney, United States Atomic Energy Commission. The views expressed herein
are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Commission.
**Professor of Physics, University of New Mexico, Associate Professor of
Radiology, University of New Mexico School of Medicine; Consultant in Radio-
logical Physics, Lovelace Clinic, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
*** See Hand, Historical and Practical Considerations Regarding Expert Testi-
mony, 15 HARv. L. REv. 40 (1918).
1 LMM, InMODUCTION TO EvmENc AM IUERMC 11-13 (1959).

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