[ RadSafe ] FW: [westcan] Letters to the Editor: Tritium unsafe in any amount

[Norm Cohen]

Coalition for Peace and Justice; UNPLUG Salem Campaign, 321 Barr Ave,
Linwood; NJ08221; 609-601-8583

   _____  


Don DeBar <b.corti at worldnet.att.net> wrote: 

To: <westcan at yahoogroups.com>
From: "Don DeBar" <b.corti at worldnet.att.net>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2005 08:59:48 -0400
Subject: [westcan] Letters to the Editor: Tritium unsafe in any amount

Tritium unsafe in any amount 


 


(Original publication: October 29, 2005)

In "Indian Point 2 still leaking water" (Oct. 19 article), it would have
been helpful to include some of the well-documented dangers of radioactive
tritium so that we would be informed as to the risk we may be facing: 

• Tritiated water passes through the human body in 12 days. However, when it
unites with carbon in the human body, it can remain in the body for 450 to
650 days. One study found traces of tritium in the body 10 years after
exposure. 

• When and where tritium deposits its radioactivity, it creates at least one
lesion in the cell. This lesion must be repaired within 24 hours or the cell
becomes carcinogenic when it eventually divides. There may be a threshold
below which the repair mechanism is not activated in the body; therefore,
low levels of chronic radiation exposure can accumulate in the body without
the repair system being activated. Indeed, this is consistent with the
recent National Academy of Sciences report affirming that even extremely low
doses of ionizing radiation (such as tritium) pose a health and cancer risk.


• In addition, radiological research has found a correlation between tritium
and cumulative genetic injury. There was found in successive generations a
reduction in relative brain weight, increased re-absorption of embryos, and
correlations with Down syndrome. 

While Entergy scrambles to figure out the cause and extent of the tritium
leak, problems at Indian Point continue to increase. Remember, after Indian
Point has closed, we will no longer have to face headlines such as "Nuke
leak tainted wells."

 

Mark Jacobs

 

 0/28/2005


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