Image by: Greenpeace
Nuclear Sponges for Radiation
Dr Helen Caldicott: NO safe levels of radiation, NO safe levels of food radionuclides
From: Claudia Cragg
Length: 00:13:09
The concerned citizens of Japan, through the auspices of some 160+ NGOs, are meeting with resistance from the Japanese government and, not surprisingly, with the operators of the stricken plant, The Tokyo Electric Power Company.
To bolster citizen claims that their concerns must not only taken seriously but must be acted upon immediately, Caldicott spoke with Claudia Cragg to underscore the dire seriousness of the situation.
In this interview:
Japanese 'experts' maintain constantly that there are no impacts on the population's health and that there is no risk of cancer. Caldicott refutes this saying here that either "they are lying" or that they are physicists who have no understanding of radiation biology, of medicine, or of genetics.
She points particularly to the futile measure of external gamma radiation using Geiger counters. It is, she says as an expert in the field, the internal emitters that cause concern, that is, even just one micro gram of radiation entering the lungs for example. This cannot be measured outside the body, she argues, only by a whole body measure using spectroscopy. There are some 200 such different isotopes which cannot be removed from the human body once it is engaged.
While potassium iodide may be moderately helpful in possibly, just possibly, countering the effects of radiation on the thyroid, she argues that there is nothing that can be done to stop large numbers of people from inhaling and ingesting elements of radiation.
She comments on the SPEEDI, System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, regarding radiation levels which it turns out, according to activists at several organisations, has not been implemented in the Japanese situation.
Of great significance is Calidcott's reference to the recent translation of some 5,000 articles on the effects of Chernobyl from their original Russian by the New York Academy of Sciences. This she maintains shows that the truth about the effects of radiation biology and its effects, particularly on the citizens of Japan, is not being told.
There is, she says, NO PERMISSIBLE RADIATION DOSE. Absolutely not. This is because the effects are cumulative. For this she refers listeners to the US National Academy of Sciences 'Biological Effects of Radiation, No. 7'. The 'Fukushima 50' battling to "minimize and contain" the fallout are, she says, "inhaling very high doses that will cause them to incubate cancer for many years if they survive". Again she points to the fact that the so-called levels of 'safety' are those largely being determined by nuclear physicists and operators not by radiation biologists.
Futhermore, Caldicott maintains that there are NO permissible levels of radionucleides in food. None. The food chain "bioconcentrates the radiation" magnifying the effects exponentially concentrating the 200 radionucleides.
To add to this hideous state of affairs, seismologists maintain that the March 11 earthquake has increased the likelihood of further earthquakes and possibly the 'Tokai' earthquake that has been predicted for some time. In spite of this, the Chubu Power Company continues to operate its nuclear reactors, saying that it will "reinforce earthquake safety". Caldicott argues that it is now "medically indicated to shut down the nuclear plants in Japan now".
Despite everything, some like Philip White, of the CNIC, Japan, believe that "humans may now hopefully choose to build a society not subject to catastrophic risks created by mankind". But, concludes Caldicott, "This disaster shows that nuclear power cannot be run safely. There are many ways for a meltdown to occur, catastrophic events like this and the compounding effects of global warming with tsunamis that can only continue to devastate nuclear power control rooms and emergency generations".
"Nuclear Power is not the answer to global warming".
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Piece Description
The concerned citizens of Japan, through the auspices of some 160+ NGOs, are meeting with resistance from the Japanese government and, not surprisingly, with the operators of the stricken plant, The Tokyo Electric Power Company.
To bolster citizen claims that their concerns must not only taken seriously but must be acted upon immediately, Caldicott spoke with Claudia Cragg to underscore the dire seriousness of the situation.
In this interview:
Japanese 'experts' maintain constantly that there are no impacts on the population's health and that there is no risk of cancer. Caldicott refutes this saying here that either "they are lying" or that they are physicists who have no understanding of radiation biology, of medicine, or of genetics.
She points particularly to the futile measure of external gamma radiation using Geiger counters. It is, she says as an expert in the field, the internal emitters that cause concern, that is, even just one micro gram of radiation entering the lungs for example. This cannot be measured outside the body, she argues, only by a whole body measure using spectroscopy. There are some 200 such different isotopes which cannot be removed from the human body once it is engaged.
While potassium iodide may be moderately helpful in possibly, just possibly, countering the effects of radiation on the thyroid, she argues that there is nothing that can be done to stop large numbers of people from inhaling and ingesting elements of radiation.
She comments on the SPEEDI, System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, regarding radiation levels which it turns out, according to activists at several organisations, has not been implemented in the Japanese situation.
Of great significance is Calidcott's reference to the recent translation of some 5,000 articles on the effects of Chernobyl from their original Russian by the New York Academy of Sciences. This she maintains shows that the truth about the effects of radiation biology and its effects, particularly on the citizens of Japan, is not being told.
There is, she says, NO PERMISSIBLE RADIATION DOSE. Absolutely not. This is because the effects are cumulative. For this she refers listeners to the US National Academy of Sciences 'Biological Effects of Radiation, No. 7'. The 'Fukushima 50' battling to "minimize and contain" the fallout are, she says, "inhaling very high doses that will cause them to incubate cancer for many years if they survive". Again she points to the fact that the so-called levels of 'safety' are those largely being determined by nuclear physicists and operators not by radiation biologists.
Futhermore, Caldicott maintains that there are NO permissible levels of radionucleides in food. None. The food chain "bioconcentrates the radiation" magnifying the effects exponentially concentrating the 200 radionucleides.
To add to this hideous state of affairs, seismologists maintain that the March 11 earthquake has increased the likelihood of further earthquakes and possibly the 'Tokai' earthquake that has been predicted for some time. In spite of this, the Chubu Power Company continues to operate its nuclear reactors, saying that it will "reinforce earthquake safety". Caldicott argues that it is now "medically indicated to shut down the nuclear plants in Japan now".
Despite everything, some like Philip White, of the CNIC, Japan, believe that "humans may now hopefully choose to build a society not subject to catastrophic risks created by mankind". But, concludes Caldicott, "This disaster shows that nuclear power cannot be run safely. There are many ways for a meltdown to occur, catastrophic events like this and the compounding effects of global warming with tsunamis that can only continue to devastate nuclear power control rooms and emergency generations".
"Nuclear Power is not the answer to global warming".
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