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Experts write on the risks of low-level radiation
Public release date: 1-May-2012 Experts write on the risks of low-level radiation
Los Angeles, CA (May 01, 2012) – Each time a release of radioactivity occurs, questions arise and debates unfold on the health risks at low doses—and still, just over a year after the disaster at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Station, unanswered questions and unsettled debates remain. Now a special issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE, examines what is new about the debate over low-dose radiation risk, specifically focusing on areas of agreement and disagreement, including quantitative estimates of cancer risk as radiation dose increases, or what is known as the linear non-threshold theory (LNT). The issue, which includes essays written by the top experts in their fields, does not claim to put the argument to rest—however, it does provide an indispensible update of the existing literature.
As Jan Beyea, guest editor and nuclear physics and epidemiology expert, says: "The reader will be ready to join the debate armed with a broad-based view of the epidemiologic evidence and its differing interpretations, along with an awareness of the stakeholder and researcher landscape." Beyea personally contributes to the issue and deconstructs the low-level radiation debate, unpacking all its parts and illuminating what deserves more attention and scrutiny...
From 1st of May, the articles are free of charge for one month and can be accessed at http://bos.sagepub.com/. Members of the media can sign up for complimentary subscriptions by contactingpr@sagepub.co.uk for details.
Drive-by Scanning: Officials Expand Use and Dose of Radiation for Security Screening
Is compulsory radiation exposure now to be the "new normal?" This is an infringement on so many rights. Not to mention contributing to public health risk. To do this at all flies in the face of medical knowledge (not to mention 4th amendment rights). To do this in secret, and without regulation is completely unacceptable.
ProPublica l Michael Grabell 27 January, 2012
U.S. law enforcement agencies are exposing people to radiation in more settings and in increasing doses to screen for explosives, weapons and drugs. In addition to the controversial airport body scanners, which are now deployed for routine screening, various X-ray devices have proliferated at the border, in prisons and on the streets of New York.
Not only have the machines become more widespread, but some of them expose people to higher doses of radiation. And agencies have pushed the boundaries of acceptable use by X-raying people covertly, according to government documents and interviews.
While airport scanners can show objects on the surface of the body, prisons have begun to use X-rays that can see through the body to detect contraband hidden in cavities. U.S. Customs and Border Protection is in the process of deploying dozens of drive-through X-ray portals to scan cars and buses at the border with their passengers still inside.
International Journal of Cancer: Childhood leukemia around French nuclear power plants – the Geocap study, 2002-2007
Seeking New Clues to Cancer Risks From Atom Bomb Tests
Counterpunch l Joe Mangano 22 December, 2010
Baby Tooth Science
The atom bomb tests over the Nevada desert are etched in the American consciousness, even though they ended nearly half a century ago. The clouds that looked like gigantic mushrooms rising into the stratosphere remind us of the Cold War-era American-Soviet race to test and manufacture as many nuclear weapons as possible to fight what many felt would be an inevitable nuclear war.
Those days are gone. The Cold War is over. Stockpiles of nuclear weapons are shrinking. All-out nuclear war, while still possible, is no longer regarded as inevitable. And testing has ended – in the atmosphere and below the ground. Thus, it is tempting to think of bomb tests as a relic of history, with no current relevance.
But the tests ARE relevant. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty of 1996, ratified by 153 countries, has still not been endorsed by the U.S. Senate, or other atomic nations. Thus, testing could legally resume at any time. Moreover, research on health hazards of test fallout is far from complete.
Some want to close the book on bomb test studies, citing the age of the tests and the difficulty of understanding health risk. But measuring risk is possible, thanks to - of all things - baby teeth.
I-Team: Draft of federal report finds radiation widespread in Houston water
Houston, you have a problem. Alpha radiation found in drinking water. In some places, higher than the legal government limit which is high already. Safe dose? There is none.
KHOU.com l Mark Greenblatt / 11 News I-Team Chief Investigative Reporter December 21, 2010
HOUSTON—A draft of a soon-to-be-released federal report shows radiation in Houston’s drinking water is much more widespread than city leaders previously disclosed to the public.
KHOU-TV has learned that the United States Geological Survey, which is a part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, met with Houston officials in September to present the preliminary findings of a report they do not plan to publicly release until next month.
Those findings, as summarized in a chart created by the USGS and presented to Houston officials, reveal radiation is present in some amount in nearly every Houston groundwater well the USGS tested this spring. That finding is similar to a recently released chapter of the ongoing USGS study, which was based on 28 tests the USGS performed in 2007 and 2008. The USGS concluded, after examining those older tests, that "radioactivity generally was detectable in the water samples."
Radiating risk and undermining public health
As the clock runs out on industry claims that low levels of radiation are not harmful, Dr.s begin speaking out to the contrary, and demanding action.
Online Opinion l Peter Karamoskos 13 December 2010
On several occasions in recent years uranium mining companies have brought guest speakers to Australia to argue that low-level radiation exposure is not only harmless but actually good for you. To promote such marginal views without any counter-balance is self-serving and irresponsible and it may be time for governments to step in to provide that balance.
Recent research has heightened rather than lessened concern about the adverse health impacts of low-level radiation. Moreover the latest science - concerning the health impacts of exposure to radon gas - is important in the context of the ongoing debate over uranium mining in Australia.
In 2009, the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) stated that radon gas delivers twice the radiation dose to humans as originally thought and is in the process of reassessing permissible levels. At this stage, previous dose estimates to miners need to be approximately doubled to accurately reflect the lung cancer hazard...
Uranium Mining The dirty truth?
Doug Brugge is a Professor of public health and community medicine at Tufts University who grew up in the Southwest- uranium mining country. But it was a newspaper article on Navajo health that got him interested in the medical dangers of uranium mining.
Prof. Brugge followed up this interest by doing an oral history project documenting the swath uranium mining has cut through the Navajo community, and has done follow-up studies examining this devastation. He speaks of the difficulties of doing such studies, and his ongoing commitment to education on this subject, particularly that of the impact of uranium mining on reproductive health.
Read article about Doug Brugge and his work.
Read or Download- Chernobyl : Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment for free.
Notice: 4 May, 2011
You can now download this book in searchable PDF e-book form from Amazon for $2.99
You can download the pdf for free at: http://www.strahlentelex.de/Yablokov%20Chernobyl%20book.pdf
Or, at: http://stopnuclearpoweruk.net/sites/default/files/Yablokov%20Chernobyl%20boo
k.pdf
Or, you can now buy a hardcover edition:
Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment
Originally published in 2009 by the New York Academy of Sciences at $150.00, the copyright has been transferred to the authors and the book plus a separate index that was not part of the original publication are now available for $10.00, plus postage.
Please order directly from:
GREKO PRINTING
260 W. Ann Arbor Rd.
Plymouth, MI 48170
734-453-0341
TONY@GREKOPRINTING.COM
Include credit card number and expiration date, number of books and shpping address.
Notice: 1 April, 2011
The New York Academy of Science has withdrawn free public access to their publication for unknown reasons. It will be republished in the future at a more affordable price. Until then we urge you to request that your libraries purchase the online version and make it available to all their patrons. This is an important book, and needs to be made available to the public.
The recent collection of studies on the toxic aftermath of Chernobyl- Chernobyl : Consequences of the Catastrophe for People published by the New York Academy of Sciences (NYAS) in December 2009, is now available to read or download at no cost. This invaluable book provides critical information that proves that government and industry claims that Chernobyl caused limited damage could not be farther from the truth.
The accident at Chernobyl has killed close to 1 million people and the death toll is still rising. Read this, share it with your friends and colleagues, suggest that it be adopted for university courses. This information must be made widely understood.
The book was written by Alexey V. Yablokov of the Center for Russian Environmental Policy in Moscow, Russia; Vassily B. Nesterenko, and Alexey V. Nesterenko, of the Institute of Radiation Safety in Minsk, Belarus. Janette D. Sherman-Nevinger of the Environmental Institute at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, U.S.A. is the Consulting Editor.
We are approaching the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl explosion (April 26, 2011). This is the perfect time to look deeper at the real, and terrible, truth of what happened, and at what is still happening. Every year, we talk about the anniversary, or remembrance, of Chernobyl- but the truth is what happened at Chernobyl is not over. It's time to look that fact in the eye and start talking about it.
To see abstract, or purchase go to:
http://www.nyas.org/Publications/Annals/Detail.aspx?cid=f3f3bd16-51ba-4d7b-a086-753f44b3bfc1
*See comments for new link to book
