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Dr Sherman Interviewed on Democracy Now!

by on 26. Apr, 2011 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

Dr. Sherman is interviewed by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! 

Chernobyl Catastrophe: 25th Anniversary of World’s Worst Nuclear Accident

Considerations on the 25th Anniversary of the Chernobyl Disaster in the context of current events [Fukushima Disaster]

Each is a major public health and environmental disaster, and while Chernobyl occurred 25 yeas ago, it is not over, nor will Fukushima be over any time soon. Unless the laws of biology, chemistry and geography change, what we have learned from Chernobyl will apply to people exposed to the radioactive emissions from Fukushima.

1. Radiation was distributed around the entire northern hemisphere, with “hot spots” in some areas.
2. There will be a marked increase in thyroid diseases in general and thyroid cancer specifically.
3. There will be an increase in birth defects in humans and in animals.
4. There will be an increase in heart disease, brain damage, and other illnesses, especially among the clean-up workers (called “liquidators” at Chernobyl.)
5. The onerous agreement between the WHO and IAEA, signed into effect in 1959, remains a barrier to information and to protection of public health.
6. There was a delay in declaring an evacuation zone.
7. There has been an attempt to minimize the effects of the radiation, emphasizing whole-body external doses, while ignoring the more important exposure to radioactive isotopes that are absorbed by inhalation and ingestion.  These include I-131, I-129, Cs-137, Sr-90, various isotopes of plutonium and uranium as well as other radioactive emissions.
8. The governmental and industry spokespersons have ignored the BIER report that there is no safe level of exposure to radioactivity.  Every exposure is cumulative and can result in genetic damage, cancer, and other damage to health.

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Nuclear Tragedy: Is it too late?

by on 19. Apr, 2011 in Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

A WVVH-TV News Special. Karl Grossman is interviewed following the earthquake and meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

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Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl?

by on 15. Apr, 2011 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

Is the Fukushima nuclear plant breakdown worse than Chernobyl?

Dr. Sherman writes for the San Francisco BayView Newspaper

A little over six months ago I wrote: “Given profound weather effects (earthquakes, floods, tsunamis etc.), human fallibility and military conflicts, many believe that it is only a matter of time before there is another nuclear catastrophe. Nuclear fallout knows no state or national boundaries and will contribute to an increase in illnesses, decrease in intelligence and instability throughout the world. The economic costs of radioactive pollution and care of contaminated citizens are staggering. No country can maintain itself if its citizens are economically, intellectually, politically and socially impoverished.”

(My submission, which had been requested by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, was ultimately rejected … too alarmist?)

While thousands of miles and 25 years separate the sites and the events that led to the catastrophes at Fukushima and Chernobyl, the effects will be very similar – and will remain so for years to decades to centuries.

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Dr Sherman to Speak at Ukranian Embassy April 21

by on 15. Apr, 2011 in Chernobyl

Lesson From Chernobyl: 25 Years Later
Thursday, April 21, 2011
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Reception to follow 6:00 PM to 7:30PM

Embassy of Ukraine
3350 M Street Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20007

Global Green USA and the Embassy of Ukraine, in cooperation with Physicians for Social Responsibility, invite you to analyze the significant challenges people continue to face in the aftermath of the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986, one of the major tragedies of the 20th century. The meeting will also discuss how recent events in Japan are a stern reminder that the international community has disregarded many of the important lessons from Chernobyl.

The event will include expert speakers and participants from a variety of relevant fields including nuclear engineering, environmental affairs, public health, arms control and nonproliferation, government, academia, private industry, and the NGO community.

Introductory remarks by:
Ambassador Olexander Motsyk (Embassy of Ukraine)
Paul Walker (Global Green USA)

Speakers:
Arjun Makhijani (Institute of Energy and Environmental Research)
Jeffrey Patterson (Physicians for Social Responsibility)
Janette Sherman (Editor of Chernobyl – Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment)
Natalia Mironova (Movement for Nuclear Safety, Russia)
Edwin Lyman (Union of Concerned Scientists)
Sharon Squassoni (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Damon Moglen (Friends of the Earth)
Thomas Cochran (Natural Resources Defense Council)

For Meeting Agenda please visit http://www.globalgreen.org/events/170. Seating is limited. Please RSVP by Tuesday, April 19, to Caitlin Doughty at ggusadc@globalgreen.org. Provide: Your Name, Title, Affiliation. Bring your picture ID with you.

Global Green USA, headquartered in Santa Monica, California, is the US affiliate of Green Cross International founded by Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993. The “Security and Sustainability Program” (known formerly as the “Legacy of the Cold War Program”) is an international partnership with Green Cross Switzerland and Green Cross Russia to facilitate the safe and timely elimination of weapons stockpiles and related systems globally and to promote international nonproliferation efforts.

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Chernobyl: A Million Casualties

by on 14. Apr, 2011 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Environmental Health, Japan, Nuclear Power, Radiation

EnviroVideo has expedited release of the program that is based on the book recently published by the NY Academy of Sciences concluding 985,000 people died as a result of the catastrophe. Karl Grossman interviewed Dr. Janette Sherman, its contributing editor. Taped a week before the nuclear disaster in Japan, it was to be aired with the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl next month. That’s been expedited because the consequences of the catastrophe provide a baseline for the Japan disaster.
Chernobyl: A Million Casualties

PRESS RELEASE
Chernobyl: A Million Casualties
Karl Grossman’s interview to be broadcast nationwide this Saturday, April 16.

A television program investigating what could be the baseline for how many people are killed from the radioactivity being discharged from the Fukushima nuclear plant complex will be broadcast nationwide on Free Speech TV this Saturday, April 16.

Chernobyl: A Million Casualties presents the findings of a book recently published by the New York Academy of Sciences which determines that based on medical data now available 985,000 people have died as a result of the radioactivity released worldwide by the accident­and more can be expected to die. Interviewed is Dr. Janette Sherman, a toxicologist and contributing editor of Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for the People and the Environment. The study was authored by Dr. Alexey Yablokov, Dr. Vassily Nesterenko and Dr. Alexey Nesterenko.

The interviewer is Professor Karl Grossman of the State University of New York/College at Old Westbury, a specialist in investigative reporting on nuclear technology. His books include: Cover Up: What You Are Not Supposed to Know About Nuclear Power.

Professor Grossman commented that with this week’s elevation of the Fukushima disaster to Level 7—the highest level for a nuclear power disaster—and with radioactivity from Fukushima being found all over the world, “what this study reveals about the Chernobyl disaster is critical.” Moreover, noted Grossman, with this week Tokyo Electric Power Co., the owner of Fukushima, saying that the radioactive discharges could ‘exceed’ those at Chernobyl, we could be looking at even more than a million people dying worldwide from Fukushima.”

The program was initially produced before the Fukushima disaster began so Professor Grossman added a commentary to it in which he states that the Chernobyl and now Fukushima disasters demonstrate that nuclear power is a “clear and present danger to life on earth” and “all nuclear plants should be shut down and no more built.”

April 26, 2011, marks the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster.

Chernobyl: A Million Casualties was produced by EnviroVideo (www.envirovideo.com) and will be broadcast on Saturday at 6 a..m., 10 a.m. and 9 p.m, EDT, on Free Speech TV (www.freespeech.org) on 200 cable TV systems in 39 states and on the DISH Network (Channel 9415) and DIRECT TV (Channel 348). The 30 minute program was directed by Emmy Award-winner Steve Jambeck. Joan Flynn is the executive producer.

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Nuclear Nightmare on the Great Lakes

by on 08. Apr, 2011 in Environmental Health, Radiation

Written by Kevin Kamps and Michael Leonardi for CounterPunch

The Great Lakes of North America make up 20% of the Earth’s fresh surface water. Their dynamic ecosystems have been considered by many Native American tribes to function as the heart of the interconnected ecosystems that make up the North American continent known to many of the Indigenous peoples here as Turtle Island. The Great Lakes are known world wide for their biodiversity, beauty, fishing, and trade and shipping routes. These fragile and beautiful ecosystems along with the human populations that live along their shores are under constant threat from the Nuclear Industry that has been slowly and quietly irradiating the heart of the Turtle for decades.

Spent fuel pools of highly radioactive wastes sit dangerously on the shores of lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan and Ontario. Aging and dysfunctional reactors continue to operate as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Department of Energy and their Canadian counterparts push to allow these dangerous behemoths to function for decades more, prioritizing corporate profits ahead of public health and safety and the protection of the natural environment. This series of articles will detail this Nuclear Nightmare on the Great Lakes of North America as it has transpired and continues to unfold.

Click here to read more

Kevin Kamps specializes in high-level waste management and transportation; new and existing reactors; decommissioning; Congress watch; climate change; and federal subsidies for the Nuclear watchdog Beyond Nuclear. He can be reached at kevin@beyondnuclear.org.

Michael Leonardi is a writer and activist that is currently splitting time between Toledo, Ohio and Italy. He can be reached at mikeleonardi@hotmail.com

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Karl Grossman writes for Common Dreams

by on 31. Mar, 2011 in Japan, Nuclear Power, Radiation

Nuclear Disaster and Obama’s Disastrous Response

President Barack Obama’s support this week for the construction of more nuclear power plants in the United States, amid the ongoing nuclear power plant disaster in Japan, must be considered—against stiff competition—as one of the most wrong-headed and irrational positions ever taken by a U.S. president.

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Karl Grossman Blogs About Media Coverage of the Nuclear Disaster in Japan

by on 26. Mar, 2011 in Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

With The New York Times seeking to lead the media in minimizing, indeed denying, the impacts of the nuclear disaster in Japan, I have put this up on my blog,  Tool of the Nuclear Establishment—The New York Times.

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Fairewinds Associates Fukushima Updates

by on 20. Mar, 2011 in Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

This site, www.fairewinds.com,  has a wealth of information about what has been happening in Fukushima and around the world as a result of the earthquake and meltdown at the Daiichi Nuclear power plant with insightful commentary by Arne Gunderson.

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Stephanie Cooke: Nuclear power is on trial

by on 19. Mar, 2011 in Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation

On March 19, 2011 Stephanie Cooke wrote and article for CNN entitled Nuclear Power Is On Trial

The Japan nuclear crisis has raised concern about U.S. quake risk. Cooke says next big accident is likely to come from other causes, such as human error. She says there’s a long history of nuclear plant mishaps. She says the risk of nuclear power is more serious than from other energy sources.

“For an energy source once touted as too cheap to meter, the true costs may be too great to fathom.”

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