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

Inadequacy of Fukushima radiation tests – to avoid “uneasiness”

Fukushima Prefecture asked university to stop radiation dose tests soon after disaster, The Mainichi, 14 June 12, The Fukushima Prefectural Government asked a research team from Hirosaki University to stop conducting internal radiation exposure tests on prefectural residents after the outbreak of the Fukushima nuclear disaster on the grounds that the tests were “stirring uneasiness,” it has been learned. Continue reading →

June 15, 2012 Posted by | health, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | Leave a comment

Childhood leukaemia risk from very low exposure to ionising radiation

Natural gamma rays linked to childhood leukaemia, University of Oxford, 12 June 12,  A small but statistically significant link between risk of childhood leukaemia and the gamma rays we are all exposed to from our natural environment has been detected in a very large study led by Oxford University researchers.

Exposure to gamma rays from natural sources in the environment isn’t something that can readily be altered, but the study adds to our understanding of the small cancer risks associated with other low doses of radiation, such as from medical X-rays and CT scans. The findings demonstrate that there are small effects of radiation at very low doses.

Guidelines on exposure to low doses of radiation have largely been based on estimated risks from models using data from Japanese survivors of the atomic bombs, where radiation exposures were brief and very much higher. As a result, there have been some long-standing uncertainties about the extrapolation of these risks to low radiation doses.

The researchers conclude that the size of the increased risk of childhood leukaemia with natural gamma-ray exposure is consistent with these models and supports their continued use in radiation protection. The results of the study contradict the idea that there are no adverse radiation effects, or might even be beneficial effects, at these very low doses and dose rates. Continue reading →

June 13, 2012 Posted by | health, Reference, UK | Leave a comment

Medical alarm over increase in CT scans, and the risks of cancer

Physicians are not required to inform patients in writing about the radiation risks of CTs. But Dr. Richard Semelka, director of MRI services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the time has come for that to change.

“It should be abundantly clear by now that ionizing radiation does carry with it the risk of cancer,”

Use of imaging tests soars, raising questions on radiation risk,, Study finds use of CT scans has nearly tripled in the last 15 years. Such radiation exposure increases the risk of cancer. By Jon Bardin, Los Angeles Times June 13, 2012
The use of CTs, MRIs and other advanced medical imaging tests has soared over the last 15 years, according to new research that raises questions about whether the benefits of all these scans outweigh the potential risks from radiation exposure and costs to the healthcare system. Continue reading →

June 13, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Indian government treats anti nuclear citizens as mentally ill

If anything, then, the really delusion-prone people are on the other side, in the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL). The day the Fukushima crisis took a turn for the worse last year, with hydrogen explosions ripping through three reactors, DAE secretary Sreekumar Banerjee said the blasts were “purely a chemical reaction and not a nuclear emergency …”. NPCIL chairman SK Jain went one better: “There is no nuclear accident….It is a well-planned emergency preparedness programme …“

No margin for error Hindustan Times Praful Bidwai June 04, 2012 When it comes to thrusting nuclear power down the throats of unwilling people, official India sets a record of violations of dignity and rights that is embarrassing. Which other government but India’s maligns all anti-nuclear protesters as foreign-inspired and lacking any agency? Where else would the police file 107 FIRs against 55,795 peaceful anti-nuclear protesters, but at Koodankulam, charging 6,800 with “sedition” and ”waging war against the State”?

And which other government has asked a psychiatric institution, in this case, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans), to “counsel” people and convince them that the project, despite the hazards, is good for them?
To its discredit, Nimhans despatched psychiatrists to Koodankulam to ”get a peek into the protesters’ minds” and help these insane people to “understand the importance” of the plant. According to reports quoting its director, Nimhans has “commenced the collection of primary data” and is now seeking “field reactions” to write “multiple strategies” to address “the problem” (the opposition to nuclear power).

Such opposition is thus equated with schizophrenia, fear of sexual intimacy, paranoia or craving for victimhood, to be cured by drastic means. By this criterion, more than 80% of the people of Japan, Germany, France and Russia – who oppose new nuclear plants – must be considered abnormal. Continue reading →

June 8, 2012 Posted by | India, politics, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

Meningiomas are dangerous, ionising radiation is the only clearly known cause

meningiomas are not anywhere near so universal, and, despite the “benign” designation, can be dangerous, leading to severe disabilities, and, in rare cases, death.

Radiation to the head and neck is the only well-defined cause found so far

No, ‘half of us’ don’t have a brain tumor like Sheryl Crow’s, MSNBC.com 7 June 12  Singer Sheryl Crow recently revealed she had been diagnosed with a meningioma, a type of brain tumor that accounts for nearly 30 percent of brain tumors in the U.S. More than 90 percent of them are benign. NBC’s Dr. Nancy Snyderman reports. By Brian Alexander Continue reading →

June 8, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | Leave a comment

Radiation therapy can lead to later breast cancer

Radiation treatment has saved countless children from lymphoma, leukemia, soft-tissue tumors and other cancer types, but it can damage the DNA of healthy cells, too, and lead to cancer decades later.

Study finds breast cancer risk in women treated with radiation as kids, even at lower doses Winnipeg Free Press, By: Marilynn Marchione, The Associated Press 06/4/2012  CHICAGO – Women treated with chest radiation for cancer when they were girls have a higher risk of developing breast cancer than previously thought, doctors warn. Continue reading →

June 6, 2012 Posted by | health, women | Leave a comment

Fukushima workers at risk of cancer

Fukushima 1 workers risk cancer, Voice of Russia, May 24, 2012 About 170 people who worked at the Japanese nuclear power plant “Fukushima-1”, received doses of radiation, which have increased their risk of cancer according to reports published on Wednesday covering the results of studies conducted by experts of the Scientific Committee of the UN….
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_05_24/75768400/

May 24, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, health | Leave a comment

Infants in some areas at risk of thyroid cancer from Fukushima radiation

Infants in Namie were thought to have received thyroid radiation doses of 100-200 mSv, it added. The thyroid is the most exposed organ as radioactive iodine concentrates there and children are deemed especially vulnerable.

The report did not deal with radiation exposure suffered by emergencyworkers or people closest to the disaster site……

WHO releases mixed Fukushima radiation report Money Control , May 23, 2012  By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) – Spikes in radiation caused by the Fukushima nuclear disaster were below cancer-causing levels in almost all of Japan, but infants in one town appear to be at a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday. Continue reading →

May 24, 2012 Posted by | Fukushima 2012, health | Leave a comment

Cancer caused by uranium fuel processing plant, claims big lawsuit

In recent court filings, plaintiffs provided many tragic stories of living in the Apollo and Parks area in the shadow of the nuclear sites and being diagnosed with cancer.

Mega-lawsuit claims nuke contamination in Armstrong Trib Live News, Mary Ann Thomas Gateway Newspapers , May 17, 2012 The nearly 100 plaintiffs alleging death, cancer and other illnesses from radioactive emissions from two defunct Armstrong County nuclear fuels plants are awaiting a trial date for what is likely to be a second set of a multimillion-dollar federal lawsuit. Continue reading →

May 21, 2012 Posted by | health, Legal, Uranium, USA | Leave a comment

Low dose radiation and cancer – the Linear No Threshold model holds good

The public, legislators, and journalists are often at a loss to deal with the charges and counter charges that surface in the debate over low-level radiation exposures. It does not help to listen to industry leaders, nuclear activists, or individual researchers, who, one after another, propound their competing images of the underlying truth.

It is now reasonably clear that protracted exposure does not protect against radiation-induced cancer. Rather, it is the cumulative radiation exposure from all sources that must be examined. 

There is no longer a convenient excuse to avoid using the LNT to estimate consequences from real or projected releases of radioactive materials, even when the dose of concern is below 0.1 Sv. 

The scientific jigsaw puzzle: Fitting the pieces of the low-level radiation debate http://bos.sagepub.com/content/68/3/13.full Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,  May/June 2012, Jan Beyea   “…..One of the biggest paradoxes in the low-level radiation debate is that an individual risk can be a minor concern, while the societal risk—the total delayed cancers in an exposed population—can be of major concern…..

Deconstructing the debate The debate over radiation risks has many tentacles that extend into the fields of biology, epidemiology, medicine, sociology, and political science. The biggest tentacle penetrates directly into the political sphere, wrapping itself around arguments on energy policy and the consequences of radioactive releases like those at Chernobyl and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station…. Continue reading →

May 19, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, health | Leave a comment

Research report – low level radiation IS a cancer causer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VAncqK6bl0&feature=share

 Low-Dose Radiation ☢ NEW A-Bomb Study

The most important finding regarding the late effects of A-bomb radiation exposure on mortality is an increased risk of cancer mortality throughout life
Significant radiation-associated increases in risk have been seen for most sites of solid cancer. The dose–response relationship for these sites has tended to show an approximately linear increase with radiation dose. The relative risks for many cancer sites were higher in those exposed as children. 
Studies of the Mortality of Atomic Bomb Survivors, Report 14, 1950–2003: http://www rrjournal.org/doi/pdf/10.1667/RR2629.1 An Overview of Cancer and Noncancer Diseases
Kotaro Ozasa, a,1 Yukiko Shimizu, a Akihiko Suyama, a Fumiyoshi Kasagi, a,b Midori Soda, a Eric J. Grant, a Ritsu Sakata, a Hiromi Sugiyama a and Kazunori Kodama c a Department of Epidemiology and c Chief Scientist, Radiation Effects Research Foundation, 5-2 Hijiyama-koen, Minami-ku, Hiroshima, 732-0815, Japan; and b Institute of Radiation Epidemiology, Radiation Effects Association 1-9-16, Kaji-cho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 101-0044, Japan
This is the 14th report in a series of periodic general reports on mortality in the Life Span Study (LSS) cohort of atomic bomb survivors followed by the Radiation Effects Research Foundation to investigate the late health effects of the radiation from the atomic bombs. During the period 1950–2003, 58% of the 86,611 LSS cohort members with DS02 dose estimates have died.
The 6 years of additional follow-up since the previous report provide substantially more information at longer periods after radiation exposure (17% more cancer deaths), especially among those under age 10 at exposure (58% more deaths)…… Continue reading →

May 18, 2012 Posted by | health, Japan | Leave a comment

Let’s not forget that old-fashioned danger- ultraviolet radiation to eyes

UV rays can penetrate the internal structures of the eye, causing serious temporary and permanent vision disorders. Short term damage can range from bloodshot or sensitive eyes, to painful conditions like photokeratitis (sunburn of the eye). Meanwhile high doses of UV radiation can lead to long term health issues like cataracts, abnormal eye growths, cancer of the eye and surrounding skin, and macular degeneration.

New Report Outlines UV Danger to Eyes from Missing Sunglasses Market Watch, ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 17, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — More than 55 percent of adults in the United States lose or break their sunglasses every year, according to a new report by The Vision Council. For these and the 27 percent of adults who do not wear
sunglasses, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation could end up costing them a lot more than a new pair of shades.

The report, Finding Your Shades, Protecting Your Vision, outlines the long and short term
effects that can occur as a result of cumulative UV exposure, and the protective measures necessary to prevent them.

UV radiation remains a threat to eye health, yet few understand the
risk and consequences of cumulative UV exposure. The report includes
recent survey findings from The Vision Council that found that 20
percent of people do not feel that their eyes are at risk for sun
exposure and 11 percent do not believe that unprotected exposure to UV
rays causes health problems. The survey also found that many Americans
aren’t protecting their eyes – or their children’s eyes – with proper
use of sunglasses.

UV rays can penetrate the internal structures of the eye, causing serious temporary and permanent vision disorders. Short term damage can range from bloodshot or sensitive eyes, to painful conditions like photokeratitis (sunburn of the eye). Meanwhile high doses of UV radiation can lead to long term health issues like cataracts, abnormal eye growths, cancer of the eye and surrounding skin, and macular degeneration.

“Sunglasses and other UV protective prescription eyewear remain the
best defense against UV damage to vision,” said Paul Michelson, M.D.,
chairperson of the Better Vision Institute. “In my practice, I’ve seen
firsthand the painful and sometimes devastating consequences of
unprotected UV eye exposure, most of which could be prevented by using
UV-blocking sunglasses.”….
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-report-outlines-uv-danger-to-eyes-from-missing-sunglasses-2012-05-17

May 18, 2012 Posted by | health, USA | Leave a comment

Kazakhstan’s radioactive disaster continues

Radioactive fallout from nuclear blasts have given Semey and neighboring villages abnormally high rates of cancer and birth defects.

Local oncology centers are screening tens of thousands of patients, trying to detect and treat tumors at early stages. People living in the area are still predisposed to breast and pulmonary cancer.

We are getting more and more disabled infants, each passing day their number increases. Environmental factors work slowly – we can see their effects in 10 or 20 years, in the first, second, third or fourth generation.”

VIDEO Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Legacy Euro News, 14/04/10 http://www.euronews.com/2010/04/14/kazakhstan-s-nuclear-legacy/  At the elderly care home in Semipalatinsk, we met 85 year old Praskovya. Semipalatinsk, or Semey, is a city 150 kilometers from the main Soviet nuclear weapons test site.

Praskovya is a former warehouse manager who used to work in a small town bordering the restricted area in the 1950s. She witnessed one of the nuclear explosions: “We were curious, so we went outside to watch. When the explosion happened, it looked like a large bowl, with black smoke and flames coming from the bowl. Then it rolled into a ball, and
a smoke column went up, and at the top, the mushroom appeared. And then the soldiers came and made us leave the street, shouting “it’s not allowed, it’s not allowed”. But we already saw everything interesting. And then everyone got health problems. Continue reading →

May 17, 2012 Posted by | health, Kazakhstan | Leave a comment

Lawsuit against TEPCO, over suicide in Fukushima

Japan grapples with post-tsunami suicides Daily Mail, By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News , 12 May 12 TOKYO, Japan – More than 60 people have committed suicides related to last year’s 9.0 quake and tsunami, which triggered meltdowns at a nuclear plant in Fukushima, the Japanese government says.

The data comes as a family prepares to file the first lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. over the suicide of Hamako Watanabe, a 58-year-old woman who set herself on fire in wake of the disaster.

In 2011, 55 people committed suicide, with another six cases reported since the beginning of 2012. Suicides linked to the Fukushima nuclear accident are included in the numbers, but attribution to the nuclear crisis has been omitted due to privacy concerns. The data was collected using local police reports since last June…..

Watanabe’s family will seek $910,000 in damages in the death of Hamako Watanabe from TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, according to The Japan Times  and The Mainichi . They plan to file the lawsuit – which would be the first over a suicide linked to the nuclear crisis – on May 18 in Fukushima District Court….

Hamako Watanabe had been a poultry worker until her workplace was shuttered after the tsunami, and she began to show signs of insomnia and had a poor appetite. A group of lawyers representing victims of the nuclear crisis said her depression and suicide were due to the nuclear disaster, The Mainichi reported.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2142849/Haunting-shots-Chernobyl-nuclear-disaster-revealed-true-scale-catastrophe–cost-photographers-lives.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

May 13, 2012 Posted by | Japan, psychology - mental health | Leave a comment

Archival test results of low level radiation do NOT show health benefits

Reactor casualties 4 – The phony lost archive versus the real one. Paul Langley’s Nuclear History Blog, 11 May 12, In a recent issue of “Nature” claims are made of a “lost archive” of Cold War era animal tissue. The animals had been injected with radioactive isotopes in the USSR and the USA. 1,000s of animals were involved. Both nations’ governments wanted to know the effect of internalised substances which were radioactive. The claim in “Nature” involves the supposed recent “discovery” of these lost archives of tissue in both countries. Lo and behold, the quoted scientist claims that the tissue “proves” the health benefits of low dose radiation. Sound familiar?

As Aebersold and Pecher determined in 1941, there is a multiplier effect as far as internalised emitters go. Their injection of Sr89 into terminally ill people in 1941 consisted of a few milligrams of Sr89 Cl (the soluble salt) and it was found to be the equivalent to 600r whole body external x. Bone marrow depletion turned out to be the limiting factor in the treatment. So while DOE concentrates its billions of dollars of global research on low dose, low let external x, and steadfastly refuses to conduct animal injection studies of the internal emitter type substances (Pu, Sr, Cs, I, etc – the industry emissions) it CLAIMS (and I am sure the Nature article is one of theirs) that the old tissue samples in the US and USSR ALLEGEDLY prove health benefits. They don’t. Continue reading →

May 11, 2012 Posted by | health, history, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

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