health « nuclear-news

Ionising radiation a cancer causer in nearby, non-irradiated cells

The Bystander Effect may be more damaging in the longer term than direct radiation exposure.

Emerging role of radiation induced bystander effects:Cell communications and carcinogenesis, 7th Space.3 Sept 10, Rajamanickam Baskar, Ionizing radiation is an invaluable diagnostic and treatment tool used in various clinical applications. On the other hand, radiation is a known cytotoxic with a potential DNA damaging and carcinogenic effects.

However, the biological effects of low and high linear energy transfer (LET) radiations are considerably more complex than previously thought. Continue reading →

September 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Nuclear factory workers to be compensated for their cancers

it is reasonable to conclude workers at Blockson Chemical Co. were exposed to radiation in large enough doses from 1951 to 1960 to cause illness, even if it is impossible to determine the precise amount of radiation exposure.

Joliet workers’ path to radiation compensation eased – Chicago Tribune, September 11, 2010|By Ted Gregory, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Friday ended a decade-long wait and eased compensation claims for Joliet factory workers who contracted cancer while helping build and test nuclear weapons in the 1950s. Continue reading →

September 13, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Medical radiation to be controlled in new Californian law

New California regulation could limit medical radiation | abc7news.com, Carolyn Johnson, 9 Sept10, California could soon take a major step to protect patients from dangerous levels of radiation. A proposed bill, awaiting the governor’s signature, would add new regulations for the use and monitoring of powerful imaging devices like CT Scanners.The push for this regulation came about after hundreds of cases of radiation overdoses at a prominent hospital in Southern California were made public….
California lawmakers recently passed a bill that will put new safety measures in place, to protect patients from receiving too much radiation.The bill requires hospitals and other facilities to record the actual level of radiation delivered during CT scans and to include that information in the patient’s medical file as well as the CT scan report. Any dosages 50 percent or more above normal would have to be reported to the health department.

The bill also sets up a new accreditation program for CT technicians……,New California regulation could limit medical radiation | abc7news.com

September 10, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

More uranium workers eligible for nuclear compensation

Mallinckrodt refined uranium at its plant in north St. Louis during World War II for the nation’s first atomic bombs, and continued work there and at other locations until 1966. Waste from uranium processing at Mallinckrodt was dumped at the airport site.

Compensation for nuclear-bomb workers expanded to new site, BY TIM O’NEIL , September 8, 2010 St. louis • Special federal compensation for workers who handled material for nuclear weapons has been expanded to include those who worked at a waste-storage site near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

Former workers or their survivors are eligible for $150,000 and payment of medical expenses Continue reading →

September 9, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, cancer, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear weapons, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Ionising radiation is especially dangerous for children

Department of Health (DOH ) recommends practices to reduce radiation exposure in pediatric imaging, including using alternative, non-radiation diagnostic imaging procedures such as MRIs and ultrasounds when possible;…The pamphlets and pocket cards are available for download at the state Health Department website.

(USA) Parents can track kids’ radiation exposure, Times Union, By CATHLEEN CROWLEY Staff Writer ccrowley@timesunion.com. September 3, 2010 ALBANY — Doctors track your child’s height, weight and inoculations. Now, add radiation exposure to the list.

The state Department of Health wants your parents and pediatricians to keep a list of your child’s exposure to X-rays and more potent CT scans. Continue reading →

September 4, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Near a nuclear power plant? – better have some pills!

The pills may help prevent illnesses associated with radioactive iodine if an accident were to occur.

Free pills available for those near nuclear plants, Detroit Free Press, ASSOCIATED PRESS, Sept. 2, 2010 Michigan health officials are making potassium iodide pills available to people who live, work or visit within 10 miles of a nuclear power plant. Continue reading →

September 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear spin, radiation, radioactive, reactor | Leave a comment

Danger to workers and community at Honeywell uranium enrichment facility

This is a uranium enrichment facility from which even the slightest leak of UF6 could wipe out the entire town.

Nuclear Regulators Prohibit Honeywell to Resume Production at Facility With Locked-Out Workets, THE HUFFINGTON POST Mike Elk. 2 Sept 10 “…………The Metropolis facility is the only conversion facility in the world that can distill uranium. While the scab workers Honeywell brought in from Louisiana have worked in nuclear facilities, they haven’t worked on the process that converts uranium from the somewhat toxic UF4 solid state to the extraordinarily more lethal liquid UF6. Continue reading →

September 3, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, Uranium, USA | antinuclear, enriched, nuclear, nuclear costs, nuclear secrecy, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Doctor urges more caution in radiation breast screening

Unfortunately, she said, “this is something that isn’t well understood, not just by the public — but by physicians who order the tests.”….

Radiation, Risks Are Focus of Breast Screening Studies, New York Times, By RONI CARYN RABIN : August 24, 2010 When Dr. Deborah Rhodes orders a diagnostic test that involves radiation, she consults a chart in her office that lists the amount of radiation exposure from each test. She considers the patient’s total past exposure, and then carefully weighs the risks and benefits of each test and any alternative approaches she can take. Continue reading →

August 28, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear costs, radiation, radioactive | 1 Comment

Breast Cancer risk increased with new medical radiation techniques

A single BSGI exam was estimated to involve a lifetime risk of fatal cancer 20 to 30 times that of digital mammography in women aged 40 years, while the lifetime risk of a single PEM was 23 times greater than that of digital mammography.

New nuclear breast imaging technologies associated with higher cancer risks — Science Blog, Aug 23 2010, OAK BROOK, Ill. — Some nuclear-based breast imaging exams may increase a woman’s risk of developing radiation-induced cancer, according to a special report appearing online and in the October issue of Radiology. Continue reading →

August 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, cancer, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Airport scanning: radiation dangers raised in U.S. Congress

certain travelers may be particularly vulnerable to emissions from the scanners including seniors, women prone to breast cancer, expectant mothers and children for which the impact hasn’t been fully evaluated….…

Lawmakers continue to voice concerns over whole-body imagers | Center for Investigative Reporting, G. W. Shultz, August 24, 2010, It wasn’t a lead story when scientists from the University of California at San Francisco first publicly expressed their unease earlier this year about the possible negative health effects caused by full-body airport scanners now being used across the United States to stop explosives from making it onto jet airliners. Continue reading →

August 25, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Radiologists warn on overuse of medical radiation

Recent studies on radiation risks from computed tomography, or CT scans, and several cases of accidental radiation overdoses have drawn new focus on medical imaging.

Radiologists call for curbs on overuse of imaging By Julie Steenhuysen, Aug 24, 2010 CHICAGO (Reuters) – Doctors are ordering too many unnecessary imaging tests, raising the cost of healthcare and exposing patients to excess amounts of radiation, imaging experts said on Tuesday…… Continue reading →

August 24, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

How low doses of ionising radiation can cause cancer

Apoptosis is the study of programmed cell death….the body’s natural cell-suicide program can fuel tumour development.”….this could happen if cellular DNA was damaged, say, by repeated exposure to low doses of radiation

Cells’ demise provides clues about cancer | The Australian, 21 Aug 2010, Research into apoptosis is taking place worldwide, with several large drug companies pouring money into the area, but critical work is being undertaken in Australia. Continue reading →

August 21, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | AUSTRALIA, health | antinuclear, AUSTRALIA, cancer, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radiation, radioactive, uranium | Leave a comment

Cancer on the increase due to chemicals and radiation

It pointed to chemicals and radiation as major causes of cancer

Cancer — The Number One Killer — And Its Environmental Causes, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Karl Grossman, 17 Aug 2010, The World Health Organization projects that this year cancer will become the world’s leading cause of death. Continue reading →

August 20, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive | Leave a comment

Medical radiation a major source of human exposure

The findings are contained in the first of the two volumes of supporting evidence underpinning the UNSCEAR report for 2008 covering medical radiation exposures; the second covers exposures of the public and workers from various sources of radiation.……

UN Identifies Medical Use of Radiation as Main Source of Human Exposure, Turkish Weekly, 18 August 2010 The use of radiation in medicine accounts for most human exposure to ionizing radiation, according to a report issued on 17 August by the United Nations scientific committee on the effects of atomic radiation. Continue reading →

August 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear technology, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment

Impact of radiation on workers ignored in India’s Nuclear Liability Bill

In its haste to introduce the N-liability bill, the government ignored the health ministry

(India) Nuclear liability bill silent on impact of radiation on plant workers, Daily News and Analysis, (DNA) , Aug 19, 2010, By Vineeta Pandey | One basic problem with a nuclear installation is radiation, which affects the health of workers at the plant and the people living around it. Yet this factor has been completely ignored in the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill. Continue reading →

August 19, 2010 Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, India | antinuclear, nuclear, nuclear secrecy, radiation, radioactive | Leave a comment