Christopher Busby

[[File:Chris Busby.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Busby at a 2007 conference about WHO on [[Chernobyl]] disaster consequences]]
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'''Christopher Busby''' {{lived|1945}} is a [[United Kingdom|British]] scientist<ref name="ga">http://www.greenaudit.org/about/</ref> who runs two [[anti-nuclear movement|anti-nuclear]] groups called "Green Audit" and '"Low Level Radiation Campaign." He is also the scientific secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk,<ref>[http://www.euradcom.org/background.htm ECRR: Background]</ref> a misleadingly named [[front group]] of the [[Green Party|European Greens]], and for a long time was the spokesman on science and technology for the [[Green Party of England and Wales]].<ref>[http://www.greenparty.org.uk/news-archive/874.html Green Party UK: Greens launch radiation activist network]</ref>

Busby is a tireless promoter of [[pseudoscience]] related to the health effects of [[radiation]] and [[nuclear power]] plants. He is the originator of several anti-nuclear tropes popular in the UK and is often used as a source by other activists. In the aftermath of the [[Fukushima accident]], in addition to going off the deep end with crazy [[conspiracy theories]], he began selling [[quack medicine]] in [[Japan]].

==Ideas==
Busby's anti-nuclear activities exploit the following ideas and concepts:
*[[Second event theory]], a [[falsification|falsified]] hypothesis about the mechanism of radiation damage that would predict abnormally high carcinogenicity for [[nuclide]]s which undergo two decays in rapid succession, such as strontium-90. This theory was invented as a justification for the claim that man-made radioactivity is far more dangerous than natural radioactivity.
*Claims of cancer clusters in Wales downwind from nuclear installations. A report published by the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit found that Busby was using incorrect data, committed several basic errors, and dredged the data set for his conclusion.<ref>J.A. Steward, C. White, S. Reynolds, [http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/28/1/001/pdf/0952-4746_28_1_001.pdf Leukaemia incidence in Welsh children linked with low level radiation—making sense of some erroneous results published in the media], ''Journal of Radiological Protection'' 28, 2008, 33-43</ref><ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2011/nov/22/christopher-busby-nuclear-green-party George Monbiot: Christopher Busby's wild claims hurt green movement and Green party]</ref>
*After the Fukushima accident, Busby began promoting a [[conspiracy theory]] that the Japanese government is deliberately spreading radioactive contamination over the country, so that radiation levels and cancer rates near the destroyed nuclear power plant would compare favorably with levels in the rest of Japan. He also began selling "anti-radiation" pills, which were an outright [[quackery]] - the pills were actually ordinary mineral supplements sold at extortionate prices.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/nov/21/christopher-busby-radiation-pills-fukushima Guardian: Post-Fukushima 'anti-radiation' pills condemned by scientists]</ref>
*[[Depleted uranium]] fear-mongering, including predictions of adverse health effects in Europe caused by DU use in the Middle East.

==Publications==

Busby published two books about Welsh cancer incidence, called ''Wings of Death'' and ''Wolves of Water''. He was a co-author on two reports published by the European Committee on Radiation Risk (the aforementioned front group of the European Greens), published a minority report related to his second event theory, and produced a DVD about supposed cover-ups of nuclear accidents.<ref>[http://www.greenaudit.org/publications Green Audit: Publications]</ref>

==External links==
* [http://www.greenaudit.org/ Green Audit]
* [http://www.llrc.org/ Low Level Radiation Campaign]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, Christopher}}
[[Category:British people]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Pseudophysics promoters]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear-energy activists]]
[[Category:Radiophobia]]

Categories: British people, Living people, Pseudophysics promoters, Anti-nuclear-energy activists, Radiophobia