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Journal: 70,000 reports of suspected health damage every year among German nuclear workers exposed to less than 20 milliSv

Published: February 3rd, 2012 at 5:44 am ET
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Title: The low-level nuclear threat
Source: Nature (International Weekly Journal of Science)
Author: Editorial
Date: Feb 2, 2012

[...] Epidemiological studies, backed by animal experiments, have established beyond doubt that exposure to radiation levels above 100 millisieverts increases the risk of cancer in a predictable, dose-dependent way. But the risk to health at lower exposure levels is harder to pin down. In Germany, for example, the dose limit for occupational exposure is 20 millisieverts per year. But even when this limit is respected, there are more than 70,000 reports of suspected health damage among exposed workers each year, more than double the number in 1960. Some epidemiological studies suggest that low doses of radiation — as few as 10 millisieverts in children — may increase cancer risk in susceptible individuals, and may be associated with other conditions, such as heart disease and stroke. People living close to Fukushima are anticipated to receive around 10 millisieverts of accumulated radiation exposure each over the next decade. [...]

Read the report here

Feel free to post actual annual radiation doses for people living close to Fukushima in the comments so the Nature author has the correct facts.

Published: February 3rd, 2012 at 5:44 am ET
By
Email Article Email Article
49 comments

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February 3rd, 2012 | Category: Germany
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49 comments to Journal: 70,000 reports of suspected health damage every year among German nuclear workers exposed to less than 20 milliSv

  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 6:45 am

    For the past year the KHOU 11 News I-Team has been investigating the quality of the tap water in Texas.

    What they found was surprising: That many of the states’ communities have a real problem with radioactive contamination in their local drinking water.

    However, the team also discovered that many of those consuming it didn’t know they were also being exposed to a health risk.

    With these latest discoveries, KHOU 11 News is presenting Investigative Reporter Mark Greenblatt’s findings in a comprehensive one-hour special.

    In the program (seen in the five parts below), you’ll find out how state scientists found some of Texas’ water could pose a 1 in 400 cancer risk.

    You’ll also find out how neighborhoods across the state have been getting illegal amounts of a particularly damaging form of radiation, an exposure that some say was “covered-up” by Texas officials.

    We’ll present how water with under-the-legal-limit amounts of radiation still might not be “safe”.

    You’ll also hear from the nation’s top radiation and health experts, learn the risks and even what to do if your water is contaminated. And you’ll see the KHOU 11 News I-team ask local and state government officials the questions that you want answered.

    prt2
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CIi3vn5IMA
    part3
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWJBYJcphQc
    part3
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWJBYJcphQc
    part4
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YGyPCSuNsI
    part5
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUS0J5saxRI


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 6:55 am

    April 7, 2011

    P R E S S R E L E A S E
    More Stringent, Coordinated Fukushima Fallout Monitoring Needed
    to Determine Radioactive Iodine Risk to U.S. Milk and Water
    Food, Water and Air Monitoring Should Continue in Government Shutdown
    U.S. Agency Claims on Radiation Danger and Risk Are Contradictory, Misleading

    “It is lamentable that the U.S. government is not speaking with a coherent, science-based voice on the risks of radiation,” said Dr. Makhijani. “There is no safe level of radiation exposure in the sense of zero risk. Period. This has been repeatedly concluded by official studies, most recently a 2006 study done by the National Academies. Yet there is no shortage of unfortunate official statements on radiation that may seek to placate the public about ‘safe’ levels of radiation, but actually undermine confidence.”

    http://www.ieer.org/comments/FukushimaFallout_in_US_20110407.html

    this is an interesting site…

    http://www.ieer.org/


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 7:01 am

    Jargon and Abbreviation Buster
    Radiation Protection is stiff with jargon, acronyms and abbreviations.

    http://www.llrc.org/jargonbuster.htm

    CERRIE Majority Report says
    Dose is meaningless

    http://www.llrc.org/wobblyscience/subtopic/dosemeaningless.htm


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 7:22 am

    “….and may be associated with other conditions, such as heart disease and stroke.”

    heres how they fight the real evidence of heart effects.. new argument from imperial college london

    “The work of the Tissue Bank is subject to strict ethical controls and it is approved by the local Ethics Boards at the Russian and Ukrainian Institutes, by the Imperial College Research Ethics Committee and by the NCI Institutional Review Board in the US.”
    “Professor Thomas says that that there is no evidence for an increase in heart disease in the general population as a result of the radiation leak at Chernobyl. She has provided the following information, which may be useful:

    “Thyroid cancer is the only cancer to have increased post Chernobyl, and there has been no evidence of an increase in any other disease as a result of exposure to radioactive isotopes of Caesium.

    “It is important to realise that there are two main groups that were exposed to radiation post Chernobyl – the population at large and those involved in the clean-up of the accident at the plant site. They had vastly different amounts of radiation exposure – some of the liquidators had very large whole body doses of radiation, whereas the majority of the population that lived around the area near to the plant received low to middle range doses (most low) of radioiodine, and the equivalent of a CT scan accumulated dose of radiation from Caesium. Iodine concentrates in the thyroid, so the thyroid dose is higher than the whole body dose.

    cont…


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    • arclight arclight
      February 3, 2012 at 7:27 am

      “…“Caesium does not accumulate in any tissue, and so the dose received over a long period of time (Caesium has a half-life of 30 years, iodine a half-life of 8 days) is a low whole body dose. High doses of non-radioactive Caesium can damage the heart (several grams per day over a long period) and high doses of radioactive Caesium can be used as a cancer treatment. However, the amount of Caesium ingested by the population was small.””
      “If you are interested in further information about this, you may wish to look at the following scientific papers. These show that only the liquidators who received much higher doses than the resident population show any effects on the heart and the issue of whether or not these are genuine effects of radiation is still being debated.

      A review by Richard Wakeford, a UK Epidemiologist:

      http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/31/1/E02/pdf/0952-4746_31_1_E02.pdf

      A review written for a Special Edition of Clinical Oncology by Elisabeth Cardis and Maureen Hatch:

      http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21396807. “

      a pop at prof busby… and peer reviewed science perhaps??!!

      heres what he had to say

      heres what he did

      cont…


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 7:45 am

    Dr. Ernest Sternglass speaks on the bad effects of radiation



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  • Whoopie Whoopie
    February 3, 2012 at 8:00 am

    Bird numbers plummet around stricken Fukushima plant – Asia – World – The Independen­t http://t.co/B7B80pAM
    7 minutes ago


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 9:07 am

    this seems appropriate on this thread.. eh geraldine? (being mysterious :) )

    1140967 – CHERNOBYL HEART

    “Charitable objects ! TO FUND THE PURCHASE OF MEDICAL AND DIAGNOSTIC EQUIPMENT AND THE PROVISION OF RESOURCES FOR GOMEL CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL IN GOMEL, BELARUS IN ORDER TO PERFORM LIFE-SAVING OPERATIONS ON CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE AFFECTED BY THE CARDIAC DEGRADATION CONDITION KNOWN AS ‘CHERNOBYL HEART’ WHICH HAS BEEN DIRECTLY LINKED TO THE 1986 CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DISASTER.”

    definately effects on the heart.. hmmm ?? and the university system denies this? hmmm? yet the charity commision hasnt struck them off for fraud? whats with that then? hmmm?


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    • arclight arclight
      February 3, 2012 at 9:10 am

      heres some more of that reply from imperial college university

      “Belarus was an original partner in the project, but one of the conditions of the project was that each centre would provide samples to researchers. The Institute in Belarus did not do so and this is why they are no longer a partner.

      Although Belarus is not included in the Tissue Bank, the incidence of thyroid cancer in Belarus is the subject of on-going research, including studies in Belarus supported by the Japanese.”

      anyone have references to this japanese data.. imperial college university doesnt seem to have it either???????


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      • Jebus Jebus
        February 3, 2012 at 9:18 am

        Childhood thyroid cancer: comparison of Japan and Belarus.

        Abstract

        The high incidence of childhood thyroid cancer in Belarus is suspected to be due to radiation exposure after the Chernobyl reactor accident. To clarify the clinical and histological characteristics of childhood thyroid cancer in Belarus, we therefore compared these patients to a radiation non-exposed control series in Japan. In Belarus, 26 thyroid cancers in subjects aged 15 or younger were diagnosed among 25,000 screened between 1991 and 1995 by Chernobyl-Sasakawa Health and Medical Cooperation Project. The clinical and morphologic features of these 26 cases were compared to 37 childhood thyroid cancers in Japan diagnosed between 1962 and 1995. The age distribution at operation in Belarus showed a peak at 10 years old, with a subsequent fall in numbers. In contrast, the age distribution at operation in Japan showed a smooth increase between the ages of 8 and 14. The mean tumor diameter was smaller in Belarus than that in Japan (1.4 +/- 0.7 vs. 4.1 +/- 1.7 cm, P < 0.001). The sex ratio, regional lymph node metastasis, extension to surrounding tissues or lung metastasis did not differ significantly. Histologically, all cases in Belarus were papillary and in Japan 33 cases were papillary and 4 cases were follicular carcinomas. Among papillary carcinomas, the frequency of a solid growth pattern, a criteria for classifying a tumor as poorly differentiated, was higher in Belarus than that in Japan (61.5 vs. 18.2%, P < 0.001). The difference between the features of childhood thyroid cancer in Japan and Belarus may be due to the difference in the process of carcinogenesis, but more direct evidence and further analysis by molecular epidemiology are needed in Belarussian cases.

        http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9700473


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        • arclight arclight
          February 3, 2012 at 9:42 am

          lol! @jebus

          i think geraldine thomas DOES have a sense of humour after all!!

          i am going out to read the london radiation air quality… :) thanks for getting that link.. made my day… haha!!

          heres the link to the full email response from imperial college london as relayed from geraldine thomas.. kinda starts to fit together nicely… small club of scientists who support each others theories..

          http://enenews.com/cnn-fukushima-mothers-outraged-infants-being-exposed-radiation-officials-considering-widespread-testing-breast-milk/comment-page-1#comment-185547


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          • Mack Mack
            February 3, 2012 at 10:03 am

            They compared children in Belarus with a “radiation non-exposed control series in Japan.”

            Right there the study could be flawed, imo, because even before Fukushima, Japan had nuclear-power-plants emitting radioactive effluent into the environment during their “normal” operations (i.e., Iodine-131), and Japan had nuclear accidents that were covered up (see wikipedia).

            Therefore, the control series in Japan could already be pre-disposed to radiation-induced thyroid issues.

            This also could mean that the the ratio of children in Belarus who developed thyroid cancers from Chernobyl is even higher.

            If a study was done comparing children in Belarus with children raised in New Zealand, which is nuclear-energy-plant free, then the results would be interesting.

            And JEBUS, bring back the pup avatar!


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    • Bobby1
      February 3, 2012 at 9:46 am

      Stable cesium also causes problems with neurotransmitters and the heart. This is important because the huge release of xenon-133 decays into stable cesium-133. There is much more of this substance in the environment now than cs-137 or 134.

      “Increased vertical activity (rearing), but not horizontal activity, was observed in mice given repeated injections of cesium chloride (Johnson 1972). Rastogi et al. (1980) found no increase in behavioral
      activity in rats repeatedly injected with cesium chloride, but noted a number of biochemical changes in the brain that included a statistically significant rise in tyrosine hydroxylase activity that resulted in a slight but statistically significant increase in tyrosine levels, markedly enhanced levels of the neurotransmitters norepinephrine and dopamine, and increased levels of a norepinephrine metabolite (4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylglycol). Cesium appeared to block the uptake of norepinephrine by synaptosomes.

      Cesium was shown to alter normal cardiac rhythm, triggering short-lived early after depolarizations (EADs) and polymorphic ventricular tachyarrhythmias (VTs) in canine myocardial muscle fibers and
      Purkinje cells (Brachmann et al. 1983; Levine et al. 1985; Murakawa et al. 1997; Patterson et al. 1990), effects that are similar to those observed in humans with congenital and acquired long QT syndrome
      (Bonatti et al. 1983). Prolonged QT syndrome and associated cardiac arrhythmia have been observed in patients who consumed cesium chloride as a component of homeopathic remedies (Bangh et al. 2001; Harik et al. 2002; Saliba et al. 2001).”

      http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp.asp?id=578&tid=107


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      • arclight arclight
        February 3, 2012 at 9:54 am

        geraldine thomas didnt mention that!
        thanks bobby!


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        • Bobby1
          February 3, 2012 at 10:00 am

          Xenon is a gas that travels faster and farther than cesium aerosols. The NISA report had 6 times as much xenon-133 as Chernobyl just in the first 4 days. And you know that figure is probably lowballed.

          The increase in re-criticalities since October has caused another increase in xenon. Wherever you see iodine, you’re gonna see xenon, and therefore cesium. Who know how many Chernobyls worth it is by now. And it’s all over the planet.


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 9:26 am

    from your link.. one of the reports writers.. lol :)

    Unbelievable Comment by Mr. Yamashita



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  • or-well
    February 3, 2012 at 9:46 am

    There’s mountains ahead,
    systemically tall and decades wide
    made of coverup, studies & official lies.
    Toward them we fly with mounting dread -
    we’re flying too low to clear the peak,
    awaiting disaster – all passengers die
    or there’s poison in all our daily bread,
    but the pilots are gung-ho nuclear freaks
    below the everyday radar they hide,
    carrying licenses made of false creds
    so we have to hijack the cockpit crew
    and land this sucker without more ado.
    We are the hostages strapped in our seats
    soon to be ground as sausage for stew so
    unfasten seatbelts and crash THEIR position
    before they crash life & send by rendition
    us all to be tortured with untold regret
    we didn’t make this their final edition
    on how to decieve -send them all to Perdition.


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 10:04 am

    and to the nature editor/writer person

    heres a list of european “admitted” releases

    http://eurdep.jrc.ec.europa.eu/map3/NetworkDataTypesSummary.aspx

    we have covered the issues of “switch offs” and over averaged software.. gieger readings are most often higher than eurdep readings taken in the local vicinity..
    the averaging of these readings is a health and safety crime!!

    there will be no mention of the 207E+08 nanosievert/hr recorded in hungary yeaterday.. and the response we recieved from the IAEA concerning these matters was to obfuscate the data and ignore the releases recorded by CRIIRAD and others!

    all the above and more are needed to explain the bigger picture…

    peace


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  • arclight arclight
    February 3, 2012 at 5:19 pm

    repost
    radiation from hungary hits london

    pink floyd- pigs

    slightly timelapsed 15 minute reading to match the song…

    21.00 gmt london west uk

    cold dry slightly cloudy..

    5 or 6 minute pulses to 0.18 microsievert/hr with spikes (ignored)
    took about 30 hours to get here.. been waiting have been getting odd rises since 16.00 gmt



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