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Fukushima’s Deadly Legacy -“Fukushima And The Privatization Of Risk”

Nuclear Technology: Lasting Damage To Life’s Genetic Integrity And Heritage  Book Review of Fukushima And The Privatization Of Risk by Majia Holmer Nadesan  Richard Wilcox, Ph.D.Activist Post , 30 Dec 13“…………Fukushima’s Deadly Legacy Given the well financed campaign by the nuclear industry to downplay nuclear disasters, Nadesan’s analysis of radiation risks is indispensable.
The era of atmospheric testing of nuclear devices (A la Slim Pickens’ beloved mushroom cloud) which occurred mainly in the 1950s, totaled over 500 above ground detonations. This became a cause for grave concern among conscientious scientists and the public.

The 1956 U.S. Academy of Science report, “Biological Effects of Atomic Radiation” (aka the “BEAR” report) is cited by Nadesan “to demonstrate that geneticists warned decades ago of the potential for significant intergenerational health and reproductive risk from nuclear weapons and energy-sourced radiation exposure, but their warnings were discounted” due to “perceived national security benefits” by the nuclear priesthood of scientists and policy makers.
The BEAR report– which was written by highly credentialed scientists that were nevertheless under attack from the nuclear-military proponent sector– states after careful consideration that “even very small amounts of radiation unquestionably have the power to injure hereditary materials” in humans and other organisms. Nadesan summarizes some of the main points of BEAR:

Radiations cause mutations. Mutations affect those hereditary traits which a person passes on to his children and subsequent generations….

Practically all radiation-induced mutations which have effects large enough to be detected are harmful. A small but not negligible part of this harm would appear in the first generation of the offspring of the person who received the radiation. Most of the harm, however, would remain unnoticed, for a shorter or longer time, in the genetic constitution of the successive generations of offspring….

Any radiation dose, however small, can induce some mutations….

Like radiation-induced mutations, nearly all spontaneous mutations with detectable effects are harmful….

Additional radiation (i.e., radiation over and above the irreducible minimum due to natural causes) produces additional mutations (over and above spontaneous mutations)….

What counts, from the point of view of genetic damage, is not the rate [of exposure to radiation]; it is the total accumulated dose to reproductive cells of the individual from the beginning of his life up to the time the child is conceived….

Nadesan highlights radiation effects on children and cites the work of Ernest Sternglass who in 1969 “publicized his research by arguing…that radioactive fallout from atmospheric testing had caused the death of 375,000 infants” and “countless fetal deaths” from 1951 to 1966.
……… The Dangers Of Ionizing Radiation

One of the arguments often marshaled by nuclear apologists is that natural background radiation is not bad for you, ergo radiation released from nuclear fission processes is also safe.

However, Nadesan points out that “mitochondrial DNA is particularly vulnerable to disruption by ionizing radiation, even among people acculturated to relatively high levels of natural (not human produced) background exposure.” She found that in one study “children exposed to higher than ordinary gamma radiation…. found a 12 percent increase in childhood leukemia for every millisievert of natural gamma-radiation dose to bone marrow.” Iran is often mentioned by nuclear apologists as evidence that high background radiation is totally safe, and yet a study found that “higher rates of mitochondrial DNA mutations correlated with higher background exposure” and affected the genomic integrity of future generations of offspring…….http://www.activistpost.com/2013/12/nuclear-technology-lasting-damage-to.html

January 1, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | resources - print