Overuse of medical radiation in the interests of profit
Overuse of Radiation Therapy Services When Urologists Profit Through Self-Referral Science Daily, Oct. 24, 2013 — A comprehensive review of Medicare claims for more than 45,000 patients from 2005 through 2010 found that nearly all of the 146 percent increase in intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for prostate cancer among urologists with an ownership interest in the treatment was due to self-referral, according to new research, “Urologists’ Use of Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy for Prostate Cancer,” released today in The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) for its October 24, 2013 issue. This study corroborates the increased IMRT treatment rates among self-referrers reported in the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) August 2013 report, “Medicare: Higher Use of Costly Prostate Cancer Treatment by Providers Who Self-Refer Warrants Scrutiny.”…….
The NEJM report concludes that “men treated by self-referring urologists, as compared with men treated by non-self-referring urologists, are much more likely to undergo IMRT, a treatment with a high reimbursement rate, rather than less expensive options, despite evidence that all treatments yield similar outcomes.” Continue reading
Effect of low energy electrons on DNA
Understanding DNA damage http://esciencenews.com/articles/2013/10/25/understanding.dna.damage?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+eScienceNews%2Fpopular+(e!+Science+News+-+Popular, October 25, 2013 Every day, all day, our DNA gets beaten up by chemicals and radiation — but remarkably, most of us stay healthy. Now, an investigation by a team of French and Canadian researchers has produced insights into a little-studied but common radiation threat to DNA: low-energy electrons (LEEs), with energies of 0-15 electron volts. The team has devised the first rough model of a close DNA cellular environment under threat from LEEs, revealing for the first time their effects on DNA in natural, biological conditions. Their work appears in The Journal of Chemical Physics, which is produced by AIP Publishing
The team’s work is an important step forward in understanding how LEEs injure DNA because it provides a realistic experimental platform for analysis of results. The goal is to use this knowledge to improve current uses of radiation, such as in cancer treatments.
“The way by which these electrons can damage DNA, and how much damage they inflict, quantitatively, is of major importance not only for general radiation protection purposes, but also for improving the efficiency and safety of therapeutic and diagnostic radiation therapy,” said Michel Fromm, the lead researcher from Université de Franche-Comté in Besançon, France, whose expertise is in creating nanometer-scaled DNA layers. His co-author on the paper is Leon Sanche, of Sherbrooke University Québec, Canada, who is one of the world’s leading authorities on LEE research.
The team explored specific features of a small DNA molecule called a plasmid on a specialized thin film they created, which was irradiated by an electron gun. The impact produced transient particles called anions, which dissociate into “pieces” of DNA. When analyzed, these molecular fragments provide insight into the mechanisms of DNA strand breaks and other DNA injuries that health researchers seek to understand, repair and prevent.
“The fascinating point is that each time the close environment of DNA changes, new mechanisms of interaction of LEEs appear,” Fromm said.
Radioactive thorium 232 and cerium found in bodies of cancer victims
The nuclear physicist Evandro Lodi Rizzini of Brescia University and CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) found elevated levels of radioactive thorium 232 and cerium (proving that the thorium was man-made) in the tissues of 15 of 18 bodies of Quirra-area shepherds who died of cancer between 1995 and 2000.
On March 24, 2012 Fiordalisi indicted twenty people on charges of “willful omission of precautions against injury and aggravated disasters or because they falsely certified the absence of pollution with the aim to “hide the environmental disaster.” The documents from Fiordalisi’s investigation have now been turned over to a tribunal for prosecution. Read More Here… http://www.nonukes.it/rna/nothorium/news200.html
Proud history of USA women holding back nuclear power industry
In their determination to publicize its hazards, the intervening women were pioneers alerting the American public to the scientific consensus that all radiation exposure is cumulative and damages cellular DNA.
No Nukes and Intervening Women http://www.huffingtonpost.com/renee-parsons/no-nukes-and-intervening-women_b_1425733.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=623147b=facebook Renee Parsons : 04/16/2012 In an era when Occupy Wall Street protestors are beaten and arrested like hardened criminals, more than 40 years ago in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, there was another organized protest movement that captured the nation’s attention as it spread from New Hampshire’s Clamshell Alliance to the Abalone Alliance in southern California..In the mid-to-late 1970s, massive civil disobedience and notably peaceful arrest of protestors were taking place from the tidewater of Virginia to the farmlands of Oklahoma against the construction and operation of commercial nuclear power reactors.
What is less well-known is that at the root of the controversy, prior to public demonstrations of opposition, were a handful of exceptional women, mostly “housewives” whose thankless work done at their dining room tables provided those demonstrators and an uninformed country with the true realities of the “peaceful” atom. Continue reading
Fukushima’s children and cleanup workers at cancer risk
Fukushima Doctor: Cancer found in over 40 children… We believe it’s related to the nuclear disaster — Physician: Leukemia cases to increase in next few months?(AUDIO) http://enenews.com/fukushima-doctor-thyroid-cancer-found-in-over-40-children-this-is-related-to-the-nuclear-disaster-physician-leukemia-cases-to-increase-in-next-few-months-audio October 11th, 2013
TVR, Oct. 10, 2013: Belarusian therapists help Japanese colleagues to fight radiation […] Japanese doctors continue to struggle with radiation and the consequences of the Fukushima accident with the help of their Belarusian colleagues. Brest endocrinologists are among the best diagnosticians in Belarus. The first and mobile laboratory for thyroid cancer detection appeared in this region. […] Yuko Yanagisawa, therapist, Fukushima Prefecture (Japan): “The Fukushima accident took place two and a half years ago. But we have found thyroid cancer in more than forty children. The official medical community believes that this situation is not related to the radiation effects from the accident, but we disagree with this. Therefore, we came to Belarus to consult local specialists”.
See also: Japan Professor: Fukushima crisis is leading to surge in thyroid cancers… First signs of health catastrophe — NHK: Trend seen in new cancer tests is ‘suspicious’ (VIDEO)
Journal Tribune,, Oct. 1, 2013: [Yuki N. Karakawa, International Association of Emergency Managers] said the disaster at Fukushima will be felt in Japan for a 
longtime, and that there will be long-term medical effects – something he claims the country hadn’t put into their planning systems.
White males dominate the media
If there are plenty of women working as correspondents and reporters, then relatively few female opinion writers and editors, then this indicates a problem in the industry
A study by Women in Journalism earlier this year found that across national newspapers, 78% of bylined front page stories were written by men, and of those quoted as experts or sources in lead stories, 84% were men. The Women’s Media Centre in the United States, on conducting similar research reported that during the 2012 presidential election, 75% of front page bylined articles at top newspapers were written by men and that women made up a mere 14% of Sunday TV talk show interviewees, and 29% of “roundtable” guests. Women in Journalism were quick to highlight one of the most worrying aspects of this imbalance: most stories involving women in the four week period surveyed, portrayed them as either victims or celebrities.
While the gender gap in print is insidious, in broadcast media it’s glaringly obvious
Women in journalism: not a trivial subject,Open Democracy, DAWN FOSTER 14 October 2013 The biggest newspapers in the United States, Britain and Europe still reserve pages of the most serious political and foreign policy analysis for older white men.
Can girls even find Syria on a map? Jill Filipovic’s (tongue in cheek) rejoinder on the Guardian website last month aimed to poke fun at the bias in commissioning opinion pieces on foreign policy issues, noting the heavy weighting towards male bylines on the pages of the New York Times and the Washington Post. Filipovic’s piece swiftly garnered a huge response online, and an article from Buzzfeed’s Sheera Frenkel, claiming that most correspondents covering the Syrian conflict were women. Filipovic’s central argument wasn’t disputed by Frenkel – the vast majority of opinion writers embraced across the global media continue to be male.
This matters, because it frames the national debate, and in the case of Syria, influences political decision on military intervention, purporting to be a bell-weather for public opinion at large. Continue reading
Trade winds and Pacific currents bring Fukushima radiation to North America
Fukushima Radiation Hitting Canada and United States More than Japan http://talesfromthelou.wordpress.com/2013/10/08/fukushima-radiation-hitting-canada-and-united-states-more-than-japan-209/ Oct 8, 2013
ForbiddenKnowledgeTV
Alexandra Bruce
October 5, 2013
Besides the billions of gallons of radioactive water spilling from the abandoned Fukushima Nuclear Energy Plant every day, there is also a steady plume of radio nuclides including Cesium, Cobalt, Uranium and Plutonium, which are steadily being carried across the Pacific via trade winds, with the lion’s share landing (usually, along with the rain) in communities within the US and Canada – and in places beyond, throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Ironically, more fallout is presently occurring in North America than in Japan, the scene of the disaster, due to the trade winds, off the Japanese coast.
It has been calculated that in 1 day, there are 666,733.717599549 bequerels of radiation emitted in every cubic foot of the Pacific, per mile.
There are about 63,800,000 miles in the Pacific Ocean. The average depth is about 2.28 miles. There are 145,464,000 cubic miles in the Pacific Ocean. Cesium-137 has a double decay process 94.6% of the time; first beta rays, then gamma rays.
So each cubic foot of the entire Pacific Ocean will have 218.174056838937 Beta radiation events per day and each cubic foot of the entire Pacific Ocean will have 206.392657769635 Gamma radiation events per day.
34 is the average background radiation of the N. American continent.
The Pacific Ocean will have a “radiation fog” in every cubic foot of water that is 12.47 times HIGHER than the average background radiation count of North American continent.
Sea life will be affected in some manner; perhaps all fish will get cancer. The impact on humanity is a shortage in sea food and no swimming allowed until radiation levels abate to a “safe level”… in about how long???
Irradiated medical patients can pose risk to others
Internal radiation is another matter..
The Johns Hopkins report said that if low-dose temporary pellets are used, patients require a hospital stay. During this time, they should have limited contact with family members. Friends should stay for only 10 to 30 minutes, and pregnant women should stay away.
But it’s still another story if doctors implant permanent brachytherapy implants. These gradually degrade over time and require greater precautions. Radiation experts say patients should not hug family members or others who want to wish them well for a few days following implantation. And for six months, they should keep 6 feet away from children and pregnant women.
Patients must remember that radiation is like an elephant: It never forgets. This means that radiation is cumulative, each radiation exposure adding to the last one.
Can Radiated Patients Spread Radiation to Others? http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/311788-can-radiated-patients-spread-radiation-to-others/ By W. Gifford-Jones M.D., DocGiff.com | October 9, 2013 How careful do patients have to be following nuclear diagnostic tests or after radiation for the treatment of cancer? How long do these nuclear materials remain in their bodies? And how long will this radiation remain detectable and transmissible to others?
A report from Johns Hopkins University several years ago said that patients who have been radiated must be made aware that they can pass radiation to others. The problem is that nuclear diagnostic tests are not going to go away. Unless we develop other means of diagnosis, these tests will increase in the years ahead.
During scans to detect thyroid disease, coronary troubles, and cancer, radioactive drugs are injected, taken orally, or inhaled. Gamma cameras or positron emission tomography (PET) scanners can then detect this energy and use it to produce images on a computer.
Because of this exposure to radiation, doctors advise patients to be certain to wash hands well after using the toilet. And they advise that it’s also important to flush the toilet twice to get rid of any radioactive material.
There are also varying degrees of radiation. For instance, radiation therapy delivers much higher amounts of radioactivity than nuclear scans. But patients having external radiation therapy should know that beams of radiation focused on a cancer will not spread radiation to other people. Continue reading
Mururoa’s atomic test victims neglected by France
Fritch Wants To Revisit Moruroa Nuclear Testing Issues http://pidp.eastwestcenter.org/pireport/2013/October/10-09-10.htm Pacific Islands Report Territorial assembly president: compensation laws don’t work WELLINGTON, New Zealand (Radio New Zealand International, Oct. 8, 2013) – The president of French Polynesia’s territorial assembly says the 2010 French nuclear test compensation law is not working, echoing the findings of a fresh French senate report on the issue.
Speaking on local television, Edouard Fritch says the issue needs to be revisited because too few people claiming to have suffered poor health and seeking compensation have their application recognised.
Mr. Fritch says the president, Gaston Flosse, turned to the French president, Francois Hollande, last week to point to the territory’s difficulties in dealing with cancer sufferers.
He says at the time of the weapons tests, the French Polynesian leaders like him and Mr. Flosse were assured by France that the tests were clean, but he says now they know that they were mistaken.
Last week, Mr. Flosse visited the Moruroa test site and said he was assured there was no problem with radioactivity nor any risk of the atoll collapsing.
Radio New Zealand International: www.rnzi.com
Japan’s secrecy over health consequences of Fukushima radiation
International Scientists: Japan experts must be allowed to report health consequences of Fukushima — “The official data is all denial” — Pressured to downplay true impact of disaster http://enenews.com/international-scientists-japan-experts-must-be-allowed-to-report-health-consequences-of-fukushima-the-official-data-is-all-denial-pressured-to-downplay-true-impact-of-disaster October 6th, 2013
Georgia Straight (Canada), Oct. 2, 2013: “The official data is all denial,” [Eiichiro Ochiai, a retired chemistry professor in Vancouver who taught at University of British Columbia and the University of Tokyo] said. “The nuclear industry tries to suppress the truth.”
Fukushima News 10/1/13: Thousands in Japan Suffering Massive And Recurring Nosebleeds In Recent Days
Letter to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon from 17 international scientists and experts urging international action on Fukushima crisis, Sept. 13, 2013: […] it is clear that the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi reactor site is progressively deteriorating, not stabilizing. […] It is clear now that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster is far from over, and that there can be no credible estimate of total environmental or human health impacts because the radiological release has not ceased and the outcomes from exposing large populations to low doses over long time frames is unclear. A final estimation of the radiological release from the Fukushima Daiichi site, of necessity lies in the future; perhaps the distant future. […] Japanese physicians and scientists in Japan must be allowed and supported to treat and report Fukushima related health consequences. Nuclear calamities to date result in institutional pressure to under report and even distort patient health data and other evidence […] Such institutional pressure is now contributing to a downplaying of the true impact of the Fukushima accident.
AUDIO: discussion on Japan’s non reporting of stillborns and birth defects
AUDIO: Arnie discusses Fukushima Daiichi on WBAI’s Morning with Michaelhttp://fairewinds.org/media/radio/arnie-discusses-fukushima-daiichi-wbais-morning-michael
Gundersen: Deformities, stillbirths not being reported after Fukushima — Officials withholding truth about health effects — Gov’t suppressing studies on deformed animals (AUDIO) http://enenews.com/gundersen-deformities-stillbirths-kept-secret-after-fukushima-officials-not-being-honest-with-public-about-health-effects-govt-suppressing-studies-on-deformities-in-animals-audio
Title: Arnie Gundersen discusses Fukushima Daiichi
Source: WBAI’s ‘Morning with Michael’
Date: October 2, 2013
Arnie Gundersen, Fairewinds Chief Engineer: We’re constantly frustrated — We have scientists contacting us, doctors contacting us, telling us that their patients are suffering from radiation induced injuries, or they’re noticing deformities in animals and plants, but yet the Japanese government is trying to put the heat on them to prevent those studies from moving forward.
Morning with Michael, Host:: E[NE]News, the website, they talk about 100 babies with polydactyl situation — they have 6 fingers — this kind of exotic, strange, ‘Night of the Living Dead’ kind of thing’s happening here. There’s an x-ray picture on their website of a hand with 6 digits. Have you heard about that?
Gundersen:: Yes — ENENews is a great source; I check it a couple times a day — We’ve seen that and we’ve also seen the thyroid cancers. The deformities, the stillbirths, and the increased morbidity is not being reported by the Japanese. They used to publish a report every year that had a prefecture-by-prefecture breakdown […] of deformities and stillbirths and things like that. Well, they stopped publishing that report. They did say in 2011 there was an increase stillbirths and deformities, but they’re not providing scientists with the prefecture-by-prefecture breakdown. So that’s bad news for science, and clearly they would rather have the Olympics than be honest with their own people about the health effects they’re facing.
[Note: The report of 100 polydactyl babies was not on ENENews, it was posted by ‘Fukushima Appeal’ (link: Fukushima: 100 babies with polydactyly are on the waiting list for operation)]
Full interview here
Fukushima’s 83,000 nuclear refugees will never go home?
Japan’s Nuclear Refugees, Still Stuck in Limbo Near Fukushima, a Human Crisis Quietly Unfolds: The 83,000 refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas 
around the nuclear power plant are still unable to go home, two and a half years after the disaster. NYT, By MARTIN FACKLER October 1, 2013 NAMIE, Japan — Every month, Hiroko Watabe, 74, returns for a few hours to her abandoned house near the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant to engage in her own small act of defiance against fate. She dons a surgical mask, hangs two radiation-measuring devices around her neck and crouches down to pull weeds……
“In my heart, I know we can never live here again,” said Ms. Watabe, who drove here with her husband from Koriyama, the city an hour away where they have lived since the disaster. “But doing this gives us a purpose. We are saying that this is still our home.”
While the continuing environmental disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi plant has grabbed world headlines — with hundreds of tons of contaminated water flowing into the Pacific Ocean daily — a human crisis has been quietly unfolding. Two and a half years after the plant belched plumes of radioactive materials over northeast Japan, the almost 83,000 nuclear refugees evacuated from the worst-hit areas are still unable to go home. Some have moved on, reluctantly, but tens of thousands remain in a legal and emotional limbo while the government holds out hope that they can one day return. Continue reading
Fukushima’s small level of radiation in fish can still cause cancers
the radiation detected can still cause cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s cancer-risk formula, a leading international standard for forecasting cancer risks from radiation.
Cancer risk linked to radiation levels in fish species after Fukushima http://www.straight.com/life/497651/cancer-risk-linked-radiation-levels-fish-species-after-fukushima
In July this year, a sea bass caught in Japan had 1,000 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium—10 times Japan’s ceiling of 100 becquerels per kilo in food. It was the second-highest amount found in a sea bass since the disaster occurred. Continue reading
Pennsylvania water has dangerous levels of radiation due to fracking
Dangerous levels of radiation from fracking found in PA 
water http://www.salon.com/2013/10/02/dangerous_levels_of_radiation_from_fracking_found_in_pa_water/singleton/ Researchers found 200 times the normal amount of radium downstream of a treatment plant BY LINDSAY ABRAMS The wastewater released into a Pennsylvania river from a plant that processes fracking wastewater tested positive positive for dangerous contaminants — including radium levels elevated 200 times above normal — Duke University researchers found.
“The radioactivity levels we found in sediments near the outflow are above management regulations in the U.S. and would only be accepted at a licensed radioactive disposal facility,” Robert B. Jackson, one of the researchers, said in a statement.
The study, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, compared water and sediment samples from downstream of the Josephine Brine Treatment Facility, located on western Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale formation, to samples from above the plant. In addition to the extreme levels of radium, it also found two to ten times the amoung of chlorides and bromides in the downstream samples. As Smithsonian Magazine notes, Pennsylvania hosts 74 facilities that treat the radioactive water driven to the surface by fracking. Ostensibly, they’re supposed to remove radium and other contaminants from the water before releasing it into rivers and streams. No national standards, however, exist to regulate the plants, many of which, according to the EPA, “are not properly equipped to treat this type of wastewater.” They’re also not required to test to radiation — so until the Duke researchers stepped in, it’s likely no one was aware of just how poorly this plant was performing.
“Each day, oil and gas producers generate 2 billion gallons of wastewater,” Jackson told Climate Central. “They produce more wastewater than hydrocarbons. That’s the broader implication of this study. We have to do something with this wastewater.”
Children in Kanto (Includes Tokyo) – 70% have radioactive cesium in their urine
Weekly Asahi: 70% of children tested in Kanto (Includes Tokyo) have radioactive cesium in their urine -Journalist #Fukushima http://enenews.com/weekly-asahi-70-of-children-tested-in-kanto-region-including-tokyo-had-radioactive-cesium-in-their-urine-journalist
October 1st, 2013
Title: Slight rise in birth defects in post-meltdown Japan; more study needed
Source: Jake Adelstein
Date: Sept. 26, 2013
[…] This week the Weekly Asahi (週刊朝日）published a report that in urine samples from children living in Kanto, 70% of those tested, contained cesium, a radioactive element that results in internal exposure […]
1 This Month
petition to oppose the rapid increase of space-military industry threatening Jeju Island and the region.
[Petition by April 19th (KST)] Stop the joint military-Hanwha Systems-Jeju Provincial Government Sea Launch!
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
of the week–London Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Tell the Ukrainian Government to Drop Prosecution of Peace Activist Yurii Sheliazhenko
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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