AN OVERVIEW
HAZARDS OF LOW LEVEL RADIOACTIVITY
by Sara Shannon
--------------------
Winter, 1998
--------------------------------------------------------
Low level radioactivity includes the on-going amount of
radiation released from the everyday operation of the
world's 433 nuclear power plants, plus leaks and accidents.
--------------------------------------------------------
(1) INFERTILITY Radiation causes infertility. The global
fertility rate has dropped nearly half
since 1955.
(2) WEAKENED IMMUNE Radiation weakens the immune system. A
SYSTEM hundred nation study on quality of
health found the United States was
number one in 1943. By 1992, the United
States was number 100, according to a
U.S. Public Health Statistics Report.
Globally health is deteriorating with
incidence of cancer, heart, allergies
and infectious diseases increasing.
(3) MUTATED VIRUS AND Even at low levels radiation may
BACTERIA increase mutations of bacteria and
virus. Mutations are causing the
appearance of new diseases such as Reyes
Syndrome, Legionnaire's Disease and Lyme
Disease.
(4) LOSS OF OXYGEN The percentage of oxygen in the air is
GLOBALLY down to about 19 percent. The expected
amount is 21 percent of oxygen. Oxygen
is formed by trees and plankton. Trees
and plankton are killed by radiation.
(5) OZONE BREAKDOWN Large-scale breakdown of the protective
ozone layer in the stratosphere was
initiated in 1958 by high atmosphere
bomb tests, and continues due to
releases from power plants and
reprocessing plants. Radioactive
Krypton-85 goes to the stratosphere
where it greatly enhances CFC ozone
damage.
(6) SOLUTIONS Clean, renewable energies: solar,
thermal, photovoltaic, wind, biomass,
hydro and other renewable technologies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1) INFERTILITY
The global fertility rate has dropped by nearly half since 1955!
The cumulative effects of radiation-caused infertility raise the
possibility of gradual human extinction. We may be concerned about
the Pentagon backed globalization of trade, but there are more
important worries. This trade scenario to sell more goods is built
on the quicksand assumption that there will continue to be
consumers.
Projected sales and quarterly growth are predicated on one
variable that can no longer be counted on -- living consumers.
Escalating infertility in the United States has forced couples to
turn to the fast emerging new world of assisted reproduction and
pre-made embryos in ever-growing numbers.
A front page New York Times article of November 23, 1997, "Clinics
Selling Embryos Made for Adoption" explains "Anguished infertile
couples are more than willing to pay for whatever infertility
clinics can offer."
Fear of the "population bomb" of the 1960's has turned into the
"birth dearth" of the 1990's.
The so-called replacement rate is 2.1 children, which is needed to
keep the population from falling. The current fertility rate in
the developed nations is 1.6 children per woman. In the less
developed countries it is now 3 and falling.
United States rates are below replacement for the last 25 years.
From 1950 to 1955 the global fertility rate was 5. Today the total
fertility rate is 2.8.
According to a 1996 United Nations report, "World Population
prospects: The 1996 Revision," fifty one nations with 44 percent
of the world's people are now at, or below the replacement
requirements.
Dr. John Gofman, an eminent scientist, medical doctor and eloquent
spokesman against the hazards of nuclear power, explained back in
the 1970's, in his book Population Control Through Nuclear
Pollution, "that the worry about over-population would become a
non-worry due to radioactivity."
This is confirmed in the decline in fertility among those born at
the time of atmospheric bomb testing (1955-1963) see chart on next
page.
Dr. Rosalie Bertell, mathematician, epidemiologist and President
of International Institute of Concern for Public Health has been
researching infertility for some years and feels it is the
"cutting edge" of radiation health damage, surpassing immune
damage in the extent of its implications, as it raises the
possibility of human extinction.
In response to questions on the status of this research, Dr.
Rosalie Bertell writes in a personal correspondence (November
1997): "We found in Kerala, India, that when comparing people
matched for socioeconomic status, class, religion, occupation and
life style, those living on the high radiation background (300 to
3000 mrad per year) had twice the rate of couples who want
children but are unable to have children, than we found for those
living on the normal background soil (below 300 mrad per year).
This has been released in press statements but it is not
published. You will have to take my word for it."
The Baby Boomers are the group born in the USA after the war, the
years 1945 through 1963, and these are the years of atmospheric
bomb testing as well as the start of the nuclear power industry.
They show a high rate of immune related diseases and also an
increasing rate of infertility. Data from the U.S. Public Health
Service illustrate the difference between fertility in the Baby
Boomers and those who are called Pre-Baby Boomers:
Percent Women Infertile, by Age
U.S. 1965 and 1976
Percent Percent
Infertile Infertile Percent
in 1965 in 1976 Change
Baby Boomers
Age 15-19 0.6 2.0 +1.4
Age 20-24 3.4 5.6 +2.2
Age 25-29 6.1 8.4 +2.3
Pre-Baby Boomers
Age 30-34 10.8 9.5 -1.3
Age 35-39 13.4 11.4 -2.0
Age 40-44 18.5 14.6 -3.9
(Reproductive Impairments Among Married Couples United
States U.S. Public Health Service, Washington, D.C.,
December 1982)
Two surveys, in 1965 and 1976, show that the percent of
infertility of the baby boomers increased, and the percent of
infertility of the pre-baby boomers born before bomb testing and
nuclear power, decreased.
(2) WEAKENED IMMUNITY
On the correlation between low dose radiation and weakened
immunity, radiation physicist, Dr. Ernest Sternglass, states in a
1986 article: "It appears that perhaps the most serious
unanticipated effects of fallout is long-term, persistent immune
deficiency." And he clarifies, "It can weaken the immune defenses
of the body at very low total doses leading to unexpectedly large
increases in infectious diseases and cancers." (Int. J. Biosocial
Res., July 1986, p. 18)
Initially zealous misrepresentation of the facts led the public to
understand that small amounts of radiation were of no special
concern. Yet these low levels are exactly the cause of weak
immunity and resulting diseases.
Authorities couldn't ignore emerging data and in December 1989,
the government sponsored National Academy of Sciences stated in a
report titled Biological Effects of Radiation that there was no
safe level of radiation.
Low protracted doses of radiation cause physiological damage
through the formation of free radicals. A free radical is a
molecule with an imbalance in electrons which can destabilize
other molecules resulting in cellular damage and disease.
In high, short doses like the Hiroshima bomb blast, radiation
primarily causes direct damage to the nucleus of cells where the
genes are located that control the functioning of the cell. In
contrast, low doses acting continuously over time produce their
damage indirectly through the generation of free radicals that
destroy cell-membranes, hundreds to thousands of times more
efficiently than might be expected in calculations related to
high-dose damage. So the everyday amount of radiation that is
released as part of the normal operation of the world's 400
nuclear power plants is a very grave concern. Nuclear power plants
must have releases in order to function, and these releases, even
though they may be partially filtered, allow radiation to go into
our air and drinking water, and onto farmland and into our food.
The everyday releases of low-level radioactivity by nuclear power
plants has been found to cause several kinds of health damage
including premature births, congenital defects, infant mortality,
mental retardation, heart ailments, arthritis, diabetes,
allergies, asthma, cancer, genetic damage and chronic fatigue
syndrome. It has been linked to previously unknown infectious
diseases, and the resurgence of old ones by damaging the
developing white blood cells originating in the bone marrow and
thus weakening the immune system.
Dr. Sternglass conjectures what could happen: "With countless
thousands of persons having a weaker and weaker immune system as
the result of increasing radioactive contamination of the air and
food chain, an AIDS mutation-like disease could become a new Black
Plague. It's not inconceivable that entire nations could be
decimated." (Interview in National Catholic Reporter, October 16,
1997)
(3) MUTATED BACTERIA AND VIRUS
It is well known that radiation can cause mutations in bacteria
and viruses. Andrei Sakharov, the famous Russian physicist,
described in his 1992 Memoirs that even at low levels radiation
could increase mutations of bacteria and viruses. His predictions
which were originally made in 1958, have come true and we are
seeing new ailments such as Reyes Syndrome which first appeared in
1963, and Legionnaire's Disease which is cased by a bacteria that
was not threatening prior to 1976. AIDS may be related to a
mutated virus combined with a weakened immunity in a generation
born after the first nuclear weapons were detonated.
Of particular interest is Lyme Disease which first appeared in
1975 near the Millstone and Haddam Neck nuclear power plants in
Connecticut. Dr. Jay Gould in Deadly Deceit (1990, Four Walls
Eight Windows) describes: "In 1975 there were 59 cases of Lyme
Disease recorded; in 1985 the number increased to 863, mainly in
the two counties of Middlesex and New London, CT near the
Millstone Nuclear Power Plant. Just as increases in cancer may be
linked to the huge radiation release from Millstone in 1975, so
too may be the tick-borne Lyme Disease epidemic. The Lyme Disease
is carried by a spirochete that had not been as harmful to humans
prior to 1975. It is well known that radiation can cause mutations
in bacteria. The enormous 1975 Millstone radiation release may
have caused just such a mutation in the tick-borne spirochete." So
we have a double challenge -- the weaker immune system, and the
new diseases resulting from mutated pathogens.
Dr. Ernest Sternglass explains:
"When the radiation from such isotopes as strontium-89
and 90 in the bone marrow mutates an existing virus that
invades the T-cells of the immune system and kills them
in the process of replication, the stage is set for the
complete collapse of the immune defenses, and resulting
death from opportunistic infections or cancer." ("The
Implications of Chernobyl for Human Health",
International Journal of Biosocial Research, p. 19, July
1986)
(4) LOSS OF OXYGEN GLOBALLY
Walter Russell, a visionary artist and scientist, predicted in his
book Atomic Suicide? published in 1957 that due to man-made
radioactivity we would experience a loss of oxygen in the air that
we breathe. In a similar way to the predictions of Andrei Sakharov
in the 1950's, Walter Russell's foresight is now coming true. Our
current oxygen resources are low. The percentage of oxygen in the
air is down to about 19 percent. (BioTech News 1997) The expected
amount is 21 percent oxygen. Some experts say that we may have
originally evolved in an atmosphere of 38 percent oxygen. But now,
due to the loss of forests and ocean plankton, our two sources of
oxygen production, measurements of oxygen as low as 12 percent and
15 percent have been made in heavily industrialized areas. This
oxygen-depleted condition is a contributing cause of the
generalized lack of well-being that many are experiencing. And it
does not look good for the future. We need oxygen to live!
Trees and green plants provide about half, and plankton provide
the other half of our oxygen. Phytoplankton, which are the base of
the marine food chain, is declining. Various studies confirm this:
plankton in parts of the Antarctic Ocean is declining up to 12
percent. (S. Weiler. Testimony to Senate Commerce Committee,
November 15, 1991)
Trees absorb radioactive carbon-14 in place of stable forms of
carbon and in this way they are gradually killed. The book, The
Petkau Effect, by Ralph Graeub tells how radioactivity has harmed
trees and forests: "It is assumed that the decisive physiological
damage resulting in current forest death must have begun during
the 1950's. This is depicted in a reduction in density and width
of tree rings, and in reduced growth, which is true in the
Northern Hemisphere and in the Himalayas.... Neither aging,
location, nor climate can be considered as the possible sole cause
of damage.... The growth ring of a tree shows exactly what effects
the tree has experienced, both in terms of time and
seriousness.... During the 1950's and 1960's, there must have been
a global wave of air pollution which caused the initial damage."
The author speculates that it could not be just the usual
chemicals which are so damaging the trees. And he explains that
these trees are mainly within the 30th to 60th parallels of
northern latitude. "This zone contains the most nuclear power
plants -- over 300 -- and almost all nuclear reprocessing centers.
Also, the vast majority of nuclear weapons tests occurred in this
area."
(5) OZONE BREAKDOWN
The protective layer of ozone around the Earth filters solar and
cosmic rays from reaching our planet. Ozone surrounds the Earth in
a layer between six and thirty miles above sea level. It is formed
when light rays strike molecules of oxygen, which is 02, and cause
them to break into two separate oxygen atoms, or 0 and 0. An atom
of oxygen then combines with a molecule of oxygen and forms ozone
which is 03. It breaks down again and then recombines again. And
so on; unless it is interfered with.
August 1954
"It will not take many years to utterly destroy the encircling
protective walls which surround this planet and protect the Earth
from burning up by the sun's hot rays."
(Walter Russell, Newsletter of the University of Science and
Philosophy)
1957
Walter Russell publishes his book Atomic Suicide? whose principle
message is that the development of the nuclear weaponry and
nuclear industry, if it continues, will eventually destroy the
planet's oxygen.
"The element of surprise which could delay the discovery
of the great danger, and thus allow more plutonium piles
to come into existence, is the fact that scientists are
looking near the ground for fallout dangers. The
greatest radioactive dangers are accumulating from eight
to twelve miles up in the stratosphere. The upper
atmosphere is already charged with death-dealing
radioactivity, for which it has not yet sent us the
bill. It is slowly coming and we will have to pay for it
in another century, even if atomic energy plants ceased
today." (Atomic Suicide?, p. 18)
Later in the book he predicts that these effects of radiation
would not be noticed "until the late seventies".
1982 and 1984
Two German reports cite that radioactive krypton, which is
released in the daily operation of nuclear plants and through the
reprocessing of used reactor fuel elements, is affecting the
distribution of the electric fields in the atmosphere.
1984
A team of British scientists find an ozone hole over the Antarctic
larger than the Continental U.S.
1987
The ozone hole is twice as large as the U.S. It is discovered that
ozone is not diminishing just over the south pole but globally.
March 1988
The ozone hole makes headlines.
1987-88
The consensus of opinion says that various man-made chemicals are
the sole cause of ozone breakdown; especially compounds of
chlorine (CFC's) and bromine (halon fire extinguishers) and a lot
of talk about hair spray and refrigerators. A leading authority on
the ozone problem, NASA's Dr. Robert Watson admitted many
scientists were "baffled" by findings of ozone depletion even in
areas where CFC's action was negligible. He called the extent of
the hole's growth "absolutely unexpected".
April 6, 1989
"Scientists reported yesterday that for the first time they have
detected an increase in ``biologically relevant'' levels of
ultraviolet radiation reaching the ground as a result of the ozone
hole over the Antarctica. This is the first indication that the
depletion of ozone is beginning to cause the potentially harmful
effect that has long been predicted." (The Washington Post)
Late 1990
University of California researchers publish their findings that
phytoplankton are reproducing less profusely than before.
Observing the plankton in the Belingshausen Sea they found that
increased UV appears to be suppressing the phytoplankton's
productivity by 6 to 12%.
1992
Both NASA and the World Meteorological Society reported 10 to 25
percent ozone depletion measured over the northern United States,
Canada, Europe and the Antarctica (ozone hole being three times
the size of the United States).
1994
An article in a German journal Strahlentelex (March 3, 1994)
explains that the nuclear industry is responsible for the ozone
hole. The authors, Giebel and Sternglass explains that radioactive
gases like krypton-85 from nuclear plants and from the nuclear
fuel recycling plants go up to the stratosphere where they create
water droplets from the moisture which in turn form ice crystals
on the surface of which the destruction of the ozone by the
fluorhydrocarbons is greatly accelerated.
A quote from this article explains:
"The nuclear industry is responsible for the ozone hole.
Radioactive gases like Krypton-85 appear in increasing
amounts due to the bomb tests, releases and accidents at
nuclear reactors and especially from the nuclear fuel
recycling plants. Krypton-85 goes up to the stratosphere
where it creates ice crystals which catalytically
enhance the destruction of ozone by the
fluorhydrocarbons."
Note: Krypton-85 has a half-life of 10.7 years and a
whole life of 217 years.
"The ozone layer, if it disappears, disappears for all of us."
(Isaac Asimov)
1994-95
Hawaii reached its lowest level of ozone on record. The U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced a 40%
increase in dangerous ultraviolet light on the Big Island.
March 1996
The World Meteorological Agency reports "the extremely worrying"
development of an unprecedented 45 percent ozone thinning over
Greenland, Scandinavia and Western Siberia.
Summer 1997
Research from the Antarctic Marine Living Resources program find
"krill abundance in the Antarctic Peninsula region is down 60 to
90 percent since the early 1980's".
(6) SOLUTIONS
The other side of technology can save us. We could shift from
polluting energy sources. All that is required is scientific and
financial support for the non-polluting energy waiting in the
wings to end our reliance on nuclear energy and oil and coal.
Although the price of solar energy has declined over the last few
years, how could it be competitive with the enormous monetary
support nuclear power has had in the form of subsidies, tax breaks
and insurance coverage by the government?
The United States spends nearly $60 billion a year to defend the
$30 billion of oil we extract in the Persian Gulf area. This price
is too high, especially the human suffering and expenses from
thousands of our Gulf War soldiers brutally sick with Gulf War
Syndrome are factored in.
Let's use solar panels and electric vehicles to cancel out this
dollar extravangaza. Surely $60 billion could help renewable
energies get out to the public. Solar, thermal, photovoltaic,
wind, biomass, hydro, earth energy and other benign renewable
technologies are ready and waiting. Working models exist which
could be refined and rapidly spread around the world at affordable
cost. Let technology be put to some use that makes sense!
In searching for new energy sources, some inventors have revealed
that space is filled with motion -- the quantum fluctuations
within the atom and between the stars -- and that this energy
could be converted into electricity. Orthodox scientists have
overlooked the vacuum of space and that it might be utilized for
energy because they have not realized it consists of pure massless
charge.
Instead of being blinded by traditional ideas, let us look into
the spectrum of energy sources waiting to be harnessed to make
usable physical energy.
Once we install clean energies, radioactive waste remains a vast
challenge. United States' plans to transport radioactive waste in
thousands of shipments across the country to Nevada and to
deregulate radioactive waste and use it in commercial products do
not make sense! There are other possible solutions. One energy
technology that might offer hope is transmutation. Traditional
science says this is not possible. However, in recent years,
experiments by certain labs have been replicated and several
patents granted.
Transmutation is, in this application, used to describe the
conversion of radioactive elements into other radioactive elements
with shorter life spans, or into non-radioactive elements. In some
cases the process may change the radioactive element into another
element with a shorter half-life, so that the necessary storage
time is reduced. In other cases the element itself would be
changed.
If all nuclear power production were stopped and scientists
switched over to study the clean-up, and the very available
renewable energies were brought into place, we might have a chance
to save the Earth as a habitat for Life.
Of course, we will have to re-mineralize the soil, quadruple plant
life for absorbing CO2 and making oxygen, and stop using meat as a
protein source because it requires the abuse of so much land and
water.
Congress of the United States has served the corporate gang since
the mid-1970's, has exploited Nature and humans, impoverished the
people who are in a state of biological degeneration, and ruined
the land with the huge loss of topsoil, bankrupted the government
and allowed the perpetration of radioactive contamination all over
the Earth.
If enough people move beyond denial and disinformation, if enough
people move beyond rage and resentment, if enough people wake up,
unite and take action -- then we can affect changes.
Claim your right to clean water and air and food. Our future is a
matter of choice. We each have a role to play.
TECHNOLOGY'S CURSE Diet for the Atomic Age by Sara Shannon, the
definitive book on radiation protection, 355 pages with 18 pages
of references, is available from www.Earthpulse.com or telephone
888/690-1277.
Sara Shannon
POB 20570
Tompkins Station
New York NY 10009