nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope

Experts find USA radiological labs not prepared for nuclear disasters

U.S. Labs Not Equipped to Handle Radiation Disasters, By Shalmali Pal, MedPage Today October 12, 2011 Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The U.S. state-based public health community is not ready to address a large-scale radiological event such as the one at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to recent survey results.

The “serious gaps in U.S. radiological preparedness,” include a shortage of appropriate personnel and a lack of federal certification to conduct sample testing, wrote Megan Weil Latshaw, PhD, and colleagues, from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) in Silver Spring, Md., in Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

APHL is the national professional organization representing state and local government labs. The authors analyzed data from two inhouse surveys, the 2009 All-Hazards Laboratory Preparedness Survey and the 2011 Radiation Capabilities Survey, which were sent to public health labs in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico…..

The authors called for several initiatives to better prepare public health labs for a radiological event.These plans include funding for the national Laboratory Response Network to continue identifying potential agents of biological and chemical terrorism and funding to develop more advanced lab methods to test radiological specimens…..http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/29005

October 13, 2011 - Posted by | health, USA

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

« Previous | Next »