Doctors who own radiation stress machines order more tests on healthy patients
“We have to remember that unnecessary testing puts patients at
unnecessary risk of exposure to radiation …
Doctors Who Own Stress Machines More Likely to Order Heart Test, By Pat Wechsler Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) –– Doctors who own and bill for nuclear cardiac stress-test technology are twice as likely to order the procedure as those who aren’t paid for it, researchers said.
The widest variation in whether a doctor prescribed a nuclear stress test, which uses radiation to track blood flow, occurred when patients had no symptoms of coronary disease following bypass surgery or other heart procedures, according to a study published today in the Journal
of the American Medical Association. Physicians who owned the equipment ordered tests in 10 percent of the cases versus 4.3 percent
for those who didn’t…… Continue reading
Radiation airport scanners – US govt backs corporate profit rather than public health
Incredibly, the government has continued to dismiss the medical and scientific community’s concerns about these X-ray machines, relying instead on safety assurances from profit-driven corporations such as Rapiscan.
The ProPublica/PBS NewsHour report, which is available at propublica.org, traces the history of the scanners, details exactly how the decision to deploy these scanners came about, and documents the gaps in regulation that allowed them to avoid rigorous safety evaluation. This report is a damning indictment of the extent to which the American people have been sold to the highest corporate bidder by government leaders……
Cancer-Causing Airport Scanners? Enough Is Enough, NJ TODAY , November 7, 2011, By John W. Whitehead Just when you started to think it might be safe to fly again… Remember those whole-body, X-ray scanners the government installed in airports across the country and kept insisting were so safe? It turns out that they’re not so safe, after all. According to an investigative report by ProPublica/PBS NewsHour, anywhere from six to 100 U.S. airline passengers each year could get cancer from the machines. Continue reading
Solyndra solar power failure now backfiring on nuclear industry
nuclear loans are not strict enough either. So the whole Solyundra solar power failure was a matter for nuclear rejoicing – but it’s now backfiring on them! – Christina Macpherson As conservative broadcast outlets make hay of taxpayer loan guarantees to the failed solar module manufacturer Solyndra, more guarantees to the nuclear industry are awaiting approval.
Points made as vociferous politicians and others decry green energy loan guarantees will apply to the nuclear industry, and that makes some people very nervous about almost identical — and much, much bigger — loan guarantees made and pending for new nuke plant construction. Continue reading
Finally some justice for Spokane Tribe uranium workers
a recently completed epidemiology study of the 2,700-member tribe conducted by the state Department of Health and the Northwest Indian Health Board concluded there were high rates of cancer among tribal members who worked at the mine.
Women of the tribe have contracted cancer from cleaning the clothes of the men who worked in the mines,
Progress made toward cleaning up uranium mine, Canadian Business By AP | November 06, 2011 SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The Spokane Tribe of Indians has recently won big victories in its long fight against uranium contamination, including a deal reached this fall between the federal government and mining companies to clean up the long-closed Midnite Mine on the reservation.
In addition, tribal members in September became eligible to receive federal compensation if they became sick while working at the mine. Continue reading
In Washington, huge and costly lobbying by nuclear company Entergy
glimpses into Entergy’s extensive lobbying efforts in Washington.
It’s impossible to tell how much Entergy spent on its efforts to try to get the NRC and Justice Department to intervene in the Vermont Yankee case
Entergy Services reported spending $670,000 on lobbying in the second quarter of this year, when the question of government intervention in the Vermont Yankee case was most in play, and that Entergy Nuclear Northeast, another company unit, spent $90,000…..
The reports do not include money the company spent on lawyers involved in the Vermont Yankee matter; the documents indicate that involvement was extensive…..
Documents show heavy Entergy lobbying on Vt. nuke, Boston.com By Dave Gram, Associated Press / November 6, 2011 MONTPELIER, Vt.—Entergy Corp. heavily lobbied multiple federal agencies last spring as it unsuccessfully pleaded with them to join its lawsuit against the state of Vermont’s efforts to close the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, internal Nuclear Regulatory Commission documents show. Continue reading
Brakes put on Colorado uranium mining
in the rush to develop this infamous resource (again), there was a rare moment of rationality two weeks ago when a federal judge ordered DOE officials to halt permits for exploring and mining in Colorado. U.S. District Judge William Martinez said the agency “acted arbitrarily and capriciously in failing to analyze site-specific impacts” on the people and places in the path of the mining boom. He said the DOE violated environmental laws, including the Endangered Species Act, by failing to consult U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists about the potential impacts of the extractions.
In the rush for uranium, cooler heads prevail — for now High Country News, By Heather Hansen, Red Lodge Clearing House, 4 Nov 11 Greens got what seemed like a rare bit of good news when the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) last week released their Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Northern Arizona Proposed Withdrawal. The report looks at the potential impacts of removing federal lands near the Grand Canyon from mining consideration for the next two decades. Continue reading
Florida schools save money while kids manage mini solar power plants
The systems also will be used year-round to save schools an estimated $1,200 a year in electricity costs. Schools are already thrilled with the educational prospects.
the newest program has created several much-needed small-business and contractor jobs.
Solar power is coming to a school near you, $10 million federal project will be educational, ease utility costs By Erica Rodriguez, Orlando Sentinel, November 3, 2011 Schoolchildren across Florida will soon be managing mini solar-energy power plants this fall designed to ease utility costs, educate kids and supply campuses with power during natural disasters. Continue reading
USA Republican politicians crusade for uranium mining around Grand Canyon
Republicans Continue Crusade To Mine Around the Grand Canyon, Think Progress Nov 3, 2011 by Jessica Goad, Manager of Research and Outreach, Center for American Progress Action Fund. Last week, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced plans to withdraw 1 million acres around Grand Canyon National Park from new mining claims for 20 years. After a two-year stakeholder involvement process, nearly 300,000 public commentswere received on this proposal, 90 percent of which were in favor of the full withdrawal according to Bureau of Land Management Director Bob Abbey. But that has only caused Republicans from both chambers to hurriedly introduce bills that would prevent the Department of the Interior from taking this action and throw open the areas to new mining. Continue reading
Opt out of the cancer risk X ray scanners at USA airports
How Homeland Security Increases Your Cancer Risk,The Nation, Jon Wiener on November 2, 2011 In the airport security screening line in Kauai a few months ago, I
asked an American Airlines pilot what he thought about the new X-ray scanners in front of us—the ones that are replacing metal detectors at airports around the country. He offered a startling one-word answer: “reprehensible.”
I said “Usually I opt out, because I didn’t like being X-rayed by people who are not X-ray technicians.” He replied, “If enough people opted out, they’d have to get rid of the scanners.”
Now ProPublica’s Michael Grabell reports that the cancer danger from the new scanners—which look under a traveler’s clothing—is greater than we had feared. “Research suggests that anywhere from six to 100 Americans could get cancer each year from the machines,” Grabell says.
“Still, the TSA has repeatedly defined the scanners as ‘safe,’ glossing over the accepted scientific view that even low doses of ionizing radiation—the kind beamed directly at the body by the X-ray scanners—increase the risk of cancer.”
Nevertheless, millions of Americans are now being sent thru the scanners. Continue reading
Airport radiation scanners are not stringently regulated
The US government skirted over the radiation safety concerns of airport X-ray machines 109 2 Nov 11One of the most important principles of radiation safety is that X-ray machines should only be used when there’s a clear medical benefit. But now backscatter X-ray machines are found throughout America’s airports. How did we get here?
According to a new report by ProPublica and the PBS NewHour, the US government has gone ahead with the controversial scanners despite serious concerns from radiation safety experts. The scanners are expected to be in place in every American airport security lane by as early as 2014. This is a big reversal from as recently as 1998, when the device’s own inventor, Steven W. Smith, told a panel of radiation safety experts, said he didn’t think such devices would be used at lower-security facilities – such as airports. Continue reading
Doubts on safety procedures at Los Alamos nuclear weapons laboratory
Questions about Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory safety program raised, Security Info watch BY JOHN FLECK, Albuquerque Journal, N.M. 11-2-2011 -Los Alamos National Laboratory has repeatedly missed deadlines to fix nuclear safety problems, according to two September letters to the lab from federal managers.
The letters suggest no immediate nuclear dangers. But they raise questions about a number of systems intended to reduce risk, most importantly procedures intended to prevent what are called “criticality” accidents — inadvertent nuclear chain reactions. Continue reading
USA companies want to sell nuclear to India, but not be liable for accidents
The crux of the issue is: Who will be held responsible in case there is an accident at a plant that is set up by foreign investors?
US may press India to amend
nuclear legislation, Business Standard New Delhi November 02, 2011, Friendly, but blunt. That will be the tone of the message from the
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to India.
When NRC chairman Gregory Jaczko comes here later this month to meet with his counterparts in the Atomic Energy Commission and the Nuclear Power Corporation of India, he would say that this country’s civil nuclear liability law would not pass muster in the US. For, as sourcesnote, it would require to be substantially amended if New Delhi hopes to get business from the US.
The US has discussed the law — The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 — with France and Russia. These are the other two countries with whom India wants to do business in nuclear power…. Continue reading
“Participatory fascism” – citizens can discuss, but Plutonium complex decisions made beforehand
” a totally state-controlled state investment in a very obsolete
technology. It’s weapons socialism.”
A Giant New Plutonium Complex at Los Alamos, HUFFINGTON POST Mary-Charlotte Domandi, 10/31/11 or, “How to spend $6 billion, create 600 jobs, and prop up the most unproductive sector of the military industrial complex for another generation.”
(National Nuclear Security Administration’s plans for a new Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement (CMRR) facility at LANL,)
“There’s the fake citizen input but not the real citizen input,” said Mello. “It’s what Robert Higgs called “participatory fascism.” We are allowed to participate in discussions which already have predetermined outcomes.” Continue reading
70 organisations and localities want to keep Virginia’s ban on uranium mining
“They want good quality jobs and they see a uranium mine as a deterrent to economic development,”
The Sierra Club said the NAACP is among 70 organizations and localities that want the ban to remain in place.
NAACP: Keep Va. ban on uranium mining, Canadian Business, By Steve Szkotak October 31, 2011 RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The state chapter of the NAACP wants Virginia to keep intact a 30-year ban on uranium mining, stating that opening one of the world’s largest known deposits of the radioactive ore is not worth the environmental risk.
The civil rights organization said the resolution is rooted in fears that poor and minority communities would be disproportionately affected if an accident occurred in mining the Southside Virginia deposit.
“This is a human right. The NAACP is about human rights and environmental justice,” said Naomi Hodge-Muse, president of the Martinsville-Henry County NAACP and sponsor of the resolution. Continue reading
New nuclear weapons complex makes a mockery of USA’s nuclear disarmament posture
“The warhead cores of these “plants,” would be “the successors to the bombs used on Nagasaki. They’d each have a yield that’s 50 times greater than the bomb used there in World War II.”Despite President Obama’s campaign rhetoric of a world without nuclear weapons, despite the recent catastrophe at Japan’s Fukushima complex, and despite the new START nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia last February, it seems the desire among our leaders for nuclear power and nuclear weaponry remains as strong today as it was at the height of the Cold War. What’s just as disturbing, though, is the disregard our government shows for any input from its citizenry — pro or con. Continue reading
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Shut down the radiation-damaged Heysham nuclear reactors now
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Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
Say No to NASA’s Reckless Nuclear Reactor on the Moon
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