[ RadSafe ] RE: Is there an answer to the query on damage to tritium decay?

[Thomas Potter]

I'm not inclined to take on the Scientific Secretary of the ICRP, but I
would point out that the question was examined decades ago by the NCRP:

NCRP Report No. 62 (1979), "Tritium in the Environment,"
NCRP Report No. 63 (1979), "Tritium and Other Radionuclide Labeled Organic
Compounds Incorporated in Genetic Material," and
NCRP Report No. 81 (1985), "Carbon-14 in the Environment"

NCRP Report No. 63 concludes that the genetic damage from transmutation of
H-3 or C-14 incorporated in DNA would be small relative to the radiation
effect of beta particles emitted by those nuclides in the cell nucleus.
Intake of H-3 or C-14 primarily as labeled DNA precursors can lead to
nucleus doses higher than tissue-average doses.  But this phenomenon is
judged to be significant only for administration of intentionally labeled
DNA precursors, and is judged unimportant for environmental H-3 or C-14.

Thomas E. Potter 

-----Original Message-----
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2005 07:50:44 +0100 (BST)
From: parthasarathy k s <ksparth at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Is there an answer to the query on damage to
	tissue due	to tritium decay?
To: "Muckerheide, James" <jimm at WPI.EDU>, radsafe at radlab.nl,
	rad-sci-l at WPI.EDU
Cc: cdn-nucl-l at mailman1.cis.mcmaster.ca, mbrexchange at list.ans.org
Message-ID: <20050822065044.41278.qmail at web26401.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Dear Dr Muckerheide,
 
The health impact of the decay of C-14 atoms and Tritium atoms incorporated
in to tissue (impact due to the absorption of beta particle energy and
effect, if any, due to the tarnsmutation of one element into another.) has
not been (as far I know) a subject of study.I do not think that we have to
lose sleep on the effects. But at the same time, we need scientific answers
to them.
 
In an interview, I had with Dr Jack Valentin, Scientific Secretary, ICRP  I
asked this question. Let me reproduce the text of that part of the
interview:

KSP: DNA molecule may have some molecules of radioactive carbon or H3
associated with it. What will be the impact of radioactive decay and
transmutation of the element to another element? ICRP is ignoring such
events. 

Dr.Valentin: I would not say that we are ignoring such events. As a matter
of fact, we do not know what the effects are. There has been, similarly, the
effects of Auger electrons. For want of adequate information, we are unable
to comment on them.

[Full text of the interview was published in AERB Newsletter Vol 13 no1,
2000. It is available at AERB home page www.aerb.gov.in under the caption
Newsletters]

Can Any one can provide more information on related research.

Regards


K.S.Parthasarathy Ph.D

Raja Ramanna Fellow

Department of Atomic Energy 

GN 18,

Vikram sarabhai Bhavan

Mumbai 400 094,India

 

"Muckerheide, James" <jimm at WPI.EDU> wrote:

Friends,

Note the following intended use of the explicitly fraudulent BEIR VII
report:


But Diane D'Arrigo, a low-level radiation specialist with the Nuclear
Information and Referral Service in Washington, said that when tritium
enters
the human body, "if it were to displace a hydrogen atom in our DNA we would
have potential genetic damage."

Because tritium is almost always found as a water contaminant, it goes
directly into soft tissues and organs, according to the EPA.

Tritium "is very much something that can be taken up by the body," D'Arrigo
said. "It gives off beta emissions, so wherever it lodges it will give off
radioactivity in that region."

A National Academy of Sciences panel in June said that even very low doses
of
radiation pose a cancer risk over a person's lifetime. "It is unlikely that
there is a threshold [of radiation exposure] below which cancers are not
induced," the scientists stated.

Of course, the electric ratepayers are stuck with the $ millions for such
ludicrous "decisions," continuing to profit the "rad protectionists" while
continuing to destroy the economics of all things nuclear.

Now, maybe we can get $ billions to prevent cosmic radiation from constantly
manufacturing tritium in the atmosphere? Can we sequester tritium to reduce
the world equilibrium tritium inventory of 50 million curies? (How about
reducing the legacy of the 2,000 million curies in the early '60s from
above-ground weapons tests - now about 700 million curies? :-)

But we explicitly suppress the data that shows that biology ceases to
function without radiation (including biology studies from removing K-40
from
natural potassium in the Oak Ridge calutrons). 

All relevant data is discarded by the BEIR VII Committee.

(Note also that these foundations are above a "tritium plume" in ground
water
from 1960's leakage from the below-ground spent fuel pool.)

Regards, Jim Muckerheide

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