by admin on 11. Feb, 2015 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Nuclear Power, Radiation
To appreciate how flawed the process has been, a little history is needed
The current study of cancer rates near nuclear plants is now nearly six years old, and will take at least five more years, maybe more, to complete. The planning is being shaped by regulators closely aligned with an industry that stands to lose if nuclear energy plants are linked to cancer.
Dr. Sherman writes for The Washington Spectator, a project of the Public Concern Foundation
by admin on 05. Aug, 2014 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Radiation
Why New Studies Are Needed Now!
Dr. Sherman and Joseph Mangano write again for CounterPunch, calling for research to be done in Japan and elsewhere to help determine the effects of radiation on the health of Japanese citizens and others in the northern hemisphere.
“Once-skeptical health officials now admit even low doses of radiation are harmful. Studies showed X-rays to pregnant women’s abdomens raised the risk of the child dying of cancer, ending the practice. Bomb fallout from Nevada caused up to 212,000 Americans to develop thyroid cancer. Nuclear weapons workers are at high risk for a large number of cancers….medical research on changes in Japanese disease and death rates are needed – now, in all parts of Japan.”
by admin on 06. Jan, 2014 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Nuclear Power, Radiation
To see the video click here. http://tv.cntv.cn/video/C10450/3188f0049dd542ddbfc2f29086d69f13
by admin on 03. Sep, 2013 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Dr. Sherman writes for counterpunch.com, Weekend Edition Aug 30-Sep 01, 2013
No, not that one, the soap opera that ran from 1956 to 2010, but our world that turns. As we look at a weather map on TV or in our paper, we see clouds, rain, snow, and storms coming from west to east. What is in the air above the earth precipitates as our earth revolves underneath what is in that air. To demonstrate this, look at a globe of the world and realize that what the weather is in Chicago today will be the weather on the east coast tomorrow.
With this concept in mind we understand that releases from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that began on March 11, 2011 crosses the Pacific Ocean and reaches land throughout the northern hemisphere, and contaminates all life that dwells upon the land and in the waters. As was documented after the Chernobyl catastrophe, fallout is not uniform, but varies by wind direction, elevation and temperature.
The current revelations from Fukushima portend dire consequences for all life. Some scientists have expressed concern about a possible “China Syndrome” — named after the 1979 film starring Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, that was released the same year as the Three Mile Island Nuclear Power Plant in Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO,) the owner of the Fukushima plant, has been pouring millions of gallons of water onto the reactor cores and spent fuel rod pools to keep them from overheating. This has resulted in TEPCO trying to store some 400 tons of contaminated water each day, some of it so highly contaminated that workers cannot get close enough to find the leaks. Given that water runs downhill, the contamination is leaking past barriers and into the Pacific Ocean. As of August 21, 2013, markedly increased levels of radioactive tritium, cesium and strontium are reported.
Isotopes are taken up by sea life, including plants, single-cell organisms, algae, seaweed, crabs, oysters, fish, mammals and other sea creatures. A resolution from the American Medical Association called for the FDA to measure radioactivity levels in edible commercial Pacific Ocean fish sold in the U. S. To date the FDA has not responded to the request, so we do not know if testing has been done, and if done, if any data are available for the public. This is not unlike events immediately after the Fukushima meltdown when the EPA released data on elevated levels of radioactive iodine (I-131) along the west coast, and then in May, reverted to “quarterly measurements.”
Currently, US “guidelines” allow for food levels of 1200 Becquerel’s per kilogram, one of the highest in the world. Japan’s limit is 100, so food too contaminated to sell in Japan could be sold here in the U.S.
According to recent news, the U. S. government is collecting data on our phone and e-mail transactions. If this is a worthwhile use of citizen’s taxes, then collecting data on radiation levels in food, a significant health risk, should be worthwhile also. Sick children and adults are a burden on our economy and society as a whole. Preventing exposure to food contaminated with radioactive isotopes is primary preventive health.
What is happening as a result of the Fukushima meltdown and subsequent inability to control the releases may not be all that different from soap opera events. Similarly, As the World Turns, aired on CBS, we are living in a fantasy world if we think that nuclear power is “safe.”
by admin on 16. Aug, 2013 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Japan, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Kevin Kamps, of the nuclear watchdog organization Beyond Nuclear, is interviewed by Thom Hartmann regarding the continued flow of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean around the Fukushima reactors. Additional news reports about radioactive fish and cancer.
by admin on 26. Apr, 2013 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Joseph J. Mangano and Dr. Janette D. Sherman, MD write for Counterpunch
The 27th anniversary of the catastrophic nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl reminds us of both a sad legacy and a positive impact on the future.
The bad news came first. Chernobyl stunned many with the first total core meltdown of a nuclear reactor. A massive amount of deadly radiation encircled the northern hemisphere, affecting three billion people, and entered human bodies through breathing and the food chain. Some of the 100-plus radioactive chemicals from Chernobyl last for hundreds and thousands of years.
How many did Chernobyl harm? Before scientific studies could be done, skeptics commonly used the number 31 – the number of rescue workers extinguishing toxic fires who absorbed a very high radiation dose and died in a matter of days.
Beginning just six years after the 1986 meltdown, medical journal articles began to show rising numbers of people with certain diseases near Chernobyl. The first of these was children with thyroid cancer. Officials at a 2005 meeting in Vienna estimated 9,000 persons worldwide had developed cancer from the meltdown. But many anecdotes and studies had piled up, suggesting the real number was much greater.
In 2009, the New York Academy of Sciences published a book by a trio of Russian researchers, headed by Alexei Yablokov; one of us (JDS) edited the book. Yablokov’s team gathered an incredible 5,000 reports and studies. Many were written in Slavic languages and had never been seen by the public. The book documented high levels of disease in many organs of the body, even beyond the former Soviet Union. The Yablokov team estimated 985,000 persons died worldwide, a number that has risen since.
Government and industry leaders in the nuclear field assured the world that the lesson of Chernobyl had been learned, and that another full core meltdown would never occur. But on March 11, 2011 came the tragedy at Fukushima, releasing enormous amounts of radioactivity from not just one, but three reactor cores, and a pool storing nuclear waste. Again, the radioactivity circled the globe. Estimates of eventual casualties are in the many thousands.
In an odd way, Fukushima triggered the positive impact of Chernobyl. The two disasters are a major reason why few new nuclear reactors are being built, and why existing units are now closing. All but two (2) of 50 Japanese reactors remain shut. Germany closed six (6) of its units permanently and its government pledged to close the others by 2022. Swiss officials made a similar vow.
In the U.S., most plans to build dozens of new reactors have been scrapped or postponed. The nation’s first two reactor closings since 1998 occurred this year. More shut downs will follow, say nuclear executives who assert that nuclear power costs more to produce than power from natural gas or wind. Reactors cost more largely due to greater dangers that require more time for construction, more staff to operate, more security measures, more regulations to comply with, and huge amounts to secure after shut down.
If Chernobyl harmed many people, it may also eventually save many lives by speeding the shut down of reactors. Fewer meltdowns would mean fewer casualties. But ending routine releases of radioactivity into the environment would also reduce the count. Studies have found that in local areas after a reactor closing, fewer infants die, fewer children develop cancer, and eventually fewer adults develop cancer. Chernobyl left a tragic impact, but eventual outcomes will be positive ones.
Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA is Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.
Janette D. Sherman MD is an internist and toxicologist, and editor of Chernobyl: Consequences of the Catastrophe for People and the Environment.
Weekend Edition April 26-28, 2013
by admin on 30. Mar, 2013 in Cancer, Environmental Health, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Dr. Sherman and Joseph Mangano have written a new article about the health effects of closing nuclear reactors on the surrounding communities. They examine data that suggests incidence of cancer is reduced after plants close. It has been reported on by Healthline.com and Yahoo! News. You can find an abstract and downloadable PDF of the full article at: www.bmijournal.org
by admin on 14. Mar, 2013 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Environmental Health, Fukushima, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Two Years Later, the Battle for Truth Continues
Exactly two years after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, perhaps the most crucial issue to be addressed is how many people were harmed by radioactive emissions.
The full tally won’t be known for years, after many scientific studies. But some have rushed to judgment, proclaiming exposures were so small that there will be virtually no harm from Fukushima fallout. . . .
It is crucial that researchers don’t wait years before analyzing and presenting data, even though the amount of available information is still modest. To remain silent while allowing the “no harm” mantra to spread would repeat the experiences after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, and allow perpetration of the myth that meltdowns are harmless. Researchers must be vigilant in pursuing an understanding of what Fukushima did to people – so that all-too-common meltdown will be a thing of the past.
Joseph J. Mangano MPH MBA is Executive Director of the Radiation and Public Health Project.
by admin on 06. Jul, 2012 in Cancer, Chemicals, Environmental Health
Dr. Sherman discusses the health effect of exposure to a common pesticide including brain problems, sexual deformities and paralysis. While banned for use in homes, Dow’s pesticide Dursban is still being sprayed on food despite health threats. The agricultural version called Lorsban is used on crops like apples, corn, soybeans, wheat, nuts, grapes and citrus fruits.
by admin on 27. Feb, 2012 in Cancer, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Japan, Nuclear Power, Radiation
Dr. Sherman and Joseph Mangano write for the San Francisco BayView newspaper. They are concerned that steps be taken to document and analyze the effects of the nuclear meltdown and global exposure to radiation from the Fukushima Daichi power plant. Plans should also be made to address the probable increase in birth defects, cancers, thyroid diseases and other health problems will likely result from long term exposure to radioisotopes.
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