Misinformation and social media

The most common way—by far—that misinformation gets passed along and becomes part of urban myth is by social media—Facebook, Twitter, and most especially Reddit. Here’s a glimpse of less than 10 days’ worth of postings about Rocky Flats.

14 Dec 2020 [Reddit]

[Alopexotic] I'm going to sound paranoid and a bit crazy for saying this, but I'd look into the Rocky Flats Plant before renting nearby. They stopped highway construction that was supposed to go through the area due to high levels of radiation left over from the decommissioned nuclear weapons plant and Touchstone is relatively close to that area...

[Note: 1 hot particle was detected, carefully reported, and many more samples on a finer grid around the ‘hot sample’ found only expected values.  Nor were radiation values 'high', in comparison, for example, with background soil radiation from natural radioisotopes.  In June 2020 the CDPHE published a follow-up showing that even if all fo the Refuge were contaminated two meters deep to the same extent as the single hot sample, radiation levels were still of no health concern.

Who is they?  --The City of Broomfield voted against paying out a commitment they had made several years earlier.]

 

9 Dec 2020 [Reddit]

[bearded_drummer] Grew up in Omaha, and live in CO now not far from another superfund site...Rocky Flats. Contamination there is worse, it was plutonium machining of nuclear triggers. Much of it is capped, but now they’re building out the area around it. Most of the contamination is in a wildlife refuge, but they still don’t allow visitors. It’s federally managed and will never be developed on top of site.

[Note: Plutonium from the plant in Rocky Flats soil contributes less than 1% of what is already present from naturally radioactive minerals.  The Refuge has been open for visitors since 2018; only the ‘central operable unit’ is off-limits, and the measured ‘ambient dose equivalent (radiation) rate’ is essentially identical to what was measured in the open parts of the Refuge.]

7 Dec 2020 [Twitter]

Writers of the World @U_B_Design Replying to @ryansutterand @tristasutter

Hi, I've reached out across multiple platforms, not sure if u've seen my messages, so I'll reach out on a few more, because it seems serious. Sorry to hear u're ill. Have u thought about radiation poisoning/illness? Denver (where u trained) is right next to Rocky Flats toxic area

[Apart from the fact that radiation poisoning or illness is from acute exposure, no excess cancers have been found around Rocky Flats by the CDPHE or other epidemiological reports carried out even before the cleanup, which removed the most contaminated soil.]