1045 Clayton Street
                                         San Francisco, California 94117
                                         April 25, 1997

     Ms. Mary Bitterman, President KQED
     2601 Mariposa Street
     San Francisco, California 94110

     Dear Ms. Bitterman:

         My wife and I, both professionals, are long-term devoted
     supporters of KQED. Moreover, we have been pleased at the great
     improvement in programming that has occurred since you assumed the
     Presidency of KQED.

         It is, therefore, with great sadness that I must write this
     letter of HUGE protest against a most egregious violation of sound
     broadcasting committed in the past few weeks by KQED. Unless this
     is corrected by you, I think a campaign will be necessary to alter
     the horrible error made by KQED.

         I do not when whether you specifically were involved, but on
     matters such as this, you must realize that "the buck stops with
     you, as president."

         For about a week prior to the broadcast of the FRONTLINE
     program on nuclear power, KQED incessantly ran an ad showing that
     a piece of paper would stop the alpha particle radiation from a
     piece of plutonium. The context was, of course, suggesting that
     plutonium is not all that dangerous as a toxic material --- "even
     a piece of paper stops all the radiation."

         This is an absolute violation of your privilege to use the
     airwaves. It is not appropriate for you to air materiel which can
     have major harmful consequences for life for your listeners. In
     this case, the horrendous blunder on plutonium can in time add to
     the death toll which will result from population exposure to
     plutonium.

         POINT 1:   Is it true that the piece of paper can stop the
     alpha particle radiation from plutonium ?

             YES, IT IS TRUE,

         POINT 2:   Does this suggest that plutonium is not seriously
     toxic as a carcinogen?

         ABSOLUTELY NOT. This piece of gimmickry has been kicking
     around for decades. All of us who are knowledgeable on this matter
     recognize it as a piece of circus hucksterism designed to deceive
     people. BUT OBVIOUSLY KQED, either you or your staff, did not know
     about this piece of chicanery. And as a result you permitted a
     gross deception to be perpetrated on thousands upon thousands of
     viewers, who now think their favorite TV station has "proved" that
     plutonium is harmless.

         Try a little thinking. Yes, a sheet of paper does stop alpha
     particle radiation from penetrating. Now suppose that plutonium
     were next to the lining cells of your bronchi, or other parts of
     the respiratory apparatus -- or the lining of your stomach or
     intestine, or the duct cells of the breast. Those cells would now
     experience horrendous damage from the plutonium alpha particle
     radiation -- which can only penetrate a few cell diameters at
     most. And this can kill those lining cells or set them off on the
     path to cancer.

         The reason the paper stops the alpha radiation is the enormous
     transfer of radiation energy to the paper. We are not concerned
     about giving cancer to a sheet of paper. But no viewer of KQED
     should appreciate your going along with a hoax on plutonium
     toxicity, perpetrated originally by FRONTLINE in preparing the
     hoax-laden program, and your featuring the hoax in the week
     leading up to the program itself.

         If FRONTLINE wishes to conduct this hoax known for decades, an
     irate public should let FRONTLINE know about the insult and damage
     being done to veracity and to potential health.

         BUT FOR KQED to help advertize the hoax by a week of
     pre-program focus on the most insincere part of the entire
     FRONTLINE program is such an egregious blunder that it leaves me
     speechless.

         There is only one way to try to re-establish some credibility
     for KQED. AND YOU, MS. BITTERMAN, need forthrightly to admit your
     blunder in at least as many spots on KQED as the ad you ran day
     after day on this issue.

         As a friend of KQED for decades, I assume you were totally
     oblivious to the scandalous action being perpetuated by the
     program department in running that ad. You must tell the viewers
     about the error, and you must apologize.

         If such apology is not forthcoming, the only conclusion to be
     drawn is that KQED does not care whether some number of future
     Americans die of a cancer-incurred because the propaganda campaign
     of falsehood concerning appropriate information on toxicity has
     succeeded. Is this your desire?

         I cannot believe you will not take appropriate action --
     publicly.

         As for FRONTLINE itself, that one piece of hoax-filled
     non-information destroys all credibility of the producers and
     disseminators of that program.


                      Sincerely yours,

                          [signed]

     Phones           John W. Gofman, MD., Ph.D.
     415-664-1933     Professor Emeritus, Molecular and Cell Biology
     415-664-2913     U.C. Berkeley
                      Lecturer Emeritus, UCSF, Department of Medicine.



                      I concur with the above.

                          [signed]

                      Helen F. Gofman, M.D.
                      Associate Professor, Emeritus
                      Dept. of Pediatrics, UCSF Medical School




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