[ RadSafe ] FW: Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-News Hype High radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
Stewart Farber
SAFarber at optonline.net
Tue Jul 17 12:05:28 CDT 2012
Please Note: I had intended to send this to the List in regard to Dr. Schoenhofer's post yesterday to the List at 11:33 am but Radsafe was overlooked in the To: field.
Stewart Farber
======================
-----Original Message-----
From: Stewart Farber [mailto:SAFarber at optonline.net]
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 1:59 PM
To: 'franz.schoenhofer at chello.at'
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-NewsHypeHighradiationlevel at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
Herr Doktor Professor Schoenhofer,
Thanks for your interesting comments.
It is not that I am not "aware about the tremendous research having been done on radionuclide uptake by wild animals in Europe" as you put it, but that I choose not to get arrogant about it.
This thread started related to a claim in an anti-nuclear publication of a single measurement, in lichen, of recent rad fallout in Japan--not an isolated event in the US. It branched into a broader discussion of lichen as a pathway to man. I mentioned the situation with the Laplanders [who I also referred to as the Sami people, as they much prefer]. However, the large scientific literature on their situation generally refers to these indigenous people as the Laplanders. The nuclear test fallout in lichen and the increased Cs-137 uptake in reindeer by the Sami people is probably the most studied case of actual world-wide excess fallout uptake by a general population since the start of open air testing of nuclear weapons began.
You ask a rhetorical question as to why I "and other RADSAFErs,....always refer to single; unrepresentative US events when there is such a bulk of knowledge, reports, results and research available in Europe." This doesn't seem to apply in this case, and it seems to be a criticism you've often directed at US Radsafe members.
Your comments remind me of a curmudgeonly comment I once read:
" They're a perfectly balanced individual. They have a big chip on each shoulder".
This comment appeared in a wonderful book [circa 1980] called "The Portable Curmudgeon" by Jon Winokur. This book collects and categorizes thousands of "irreverently outrageous quotations from world-class grumps and cantankerous commentators". I highly recommend it. In modern usage, a curmudgeon is defined as anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner.
Mit Herzliche Grüße,
Stewart
SAFarber at optonline.net
-----Original Message-----
From: franz.schoenhofer at chello.at [mailto:franz.schoenhofer at chello.at]
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 11:33 AM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) MailingList; safarber at optonline.net; 'John R Johnson'
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-NewsHypeHighradiationlevel at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
Stewart and others interested in this topic,
It seems that you are not aware about the tremendous research having been done on radionuclide uptake by wild animals in Europe - not only after the Chernobyl accident, but also long time before since the end of the fifties. There are excellent reports available especially from Finland and Sweden, partly from Norway, but even from middle European countries like Austria. The research was extremely intensified during and after the Chenobyl accident.
The role of lichen in contamination of reindeer (you call it caribou, but they seem to be pretty much the same) and elks (you call them moose) is well researched. Lichen are widely used as bioindicators for all kind of pollutants, not only radionuclides. Finland has a long tradition of research. They were also used as indicators for Americium. You may google for "Timo Jaakola".
Wholebody counting of what you call lapplanders (they do not like this expression, but refer to themselves as "sami") has been done for many decades - google for "Tuula Rahola".
Thousands of pages (if not millions) of literature are available in the open literature. This literature is available mostly even on the internet. The USA were hardly contaminated compared to Europe (close to the then USSR) , so what to bother?
May I ask you and other RADSAFErs, why you always refer to single; unrepresentative US events when there is such a bulk of knowledge, reports, results and research available in Europe. I would agree that 100 years ago it was difficult to correspond across what we call the "big pond", but now there is telephone and internet. In case you regard it as criticism - yes, you are right!!!!!!
Best regards,
Franz
---- Stewart Farber <SAFarber at optonline.net> schrieb:
> During the 1970s I?m familiar with many situations where nuclear plant
> workers who were hunters showed unexpected measurable elevated Cs-137
> which confused interpreting WBC and the source of contamination. The
> source was often the hunter eating deer. The deer, in the absence of
> normal browse [which can have elevated Cs based on soil to plant], eat
> anything they can find in the winter like lichen or stripping tree park.
>
>
>
> As mentioned earlier in this thread, lichen can concentrate fallout
> nuclides, but also a deer can injest Cs-137 from eating not just
> leaves but tree bark. which concentrates minerals. I have observed
> deer stripping bark off trees during the winter in the yard of a home
> I visted many times over
> 20 years, when there are no tree leaves or other plant browse.
>
>
>
> Trees try to hold onto their K [ + Cs unwittingly] when they drop
> their leaves in fall, and otherwise lose their K. Minerals like K [and
> Cs with it] are stored in the roots and saved in the bark and resorbed
> to a certain degree when the tree blooms in spring.
>
>
>
> Bottom line:
>
> [ Fallout concentrates in lichen and bark + in plant based on soil
> deposition initially ] deer concentrate Cs when eating certain foods
> => to man when deer meat is consumed, leading to elevated Cs-137.
>
>
>
> So hunting and eating deer [and other animals like moose, or squirrels
> ? no joke some people do hunt and eat the little rodents] can lead to
> elevated levels of Cs-137 in man, and have made WBC interpretation
> more interesting in certain cases.
>
>
>
>
>
> Stewart Farber, MSPH
>
> Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
>
> Bridgeport, CT 06604
>
> SAFarber at optonline.net
>
> 203-441-8433
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: John R Johnson [mailto:idiasjrj at gmail.com]
> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 6:35 PM
> To: safarber at optonline.net; The International Radiation Protection
> (Health
> Physics) Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Lichen: was: RE: More Nuclear-News Hype High
> radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
>
>
>
> Stewart
>
>
>
> Information that you probably know. When I worked at CRNL (now CRL) we
> could always tell when one of the staff had been eating meat from
> animals in the "far" north if tyhey had detectable Cs-137 in their
> whole body counts (WBC) and we would ask if they had when we measured Cs-137 in their WBC.
>
>
>
> John
>
> On Sat, Jul 14, 2012 at 12:25 PM, Stewart Farber
> <SAFarber at optonline.net>
> wrote:
>
> A bit of relevant history about Lichen and atmospheric fallout of Cs-137.
>
> Lichen makes a very interesting sampling media which shows the unique
> ability to greatly concentrate Cs-137 in fallout. It is basically a
> filter, concentrating fallout. This issue was studied in great detail
> during the peak levels of atmospheric fallout observed from open air
> nuclear weapons testing around 1965. See the reference below:
>
> Hanson, Health Physics Society Journal, April 1967 - Volume 13 - Issue
> 4,
> Cesium-137 in Alaskan Lichens, Caribou and Eskimos
>
> Levels of Cs-137 were measured up to 100 pCi/gram dried lichen in
> Alaska in 1965. This equates to 100,000 pCi/kg dried lichen. This was
> in some samples of lichen sampled from locations that had Cs-137
> deposition of about 50,000 pCi/square meter.
>
> The number claimed in the cited report from Japan near Fukushima was a
> bit less than 1,000,000 Bq/kg, or 37,000,000 pCi/kg dried lichen.
> Anti-nuclear activists/scaremongers always want to make any measured
> activity look bigger to their target audience [other anti-nukes,
> media, legislators, and many members of the public] by stating any
> measured activity [which may be accurate in this case] in terms of
> activity/kg of media which multiplies any measured value by 1,000 vs.
> reporting activity/gram which is appropriate to a media like lichen.
>
> 37,000,000 pCi/kg lichen as claimed in Japan would be about 37 times
> higher than the 100,000 pCi/kg of lichen at peak fallout levels
> measured in Alaska in 1965 [and across the the northernmost areas like
> Sweden, Norway, and Finland where there is a lot of lichen]. The
> elevated levels of Cs-137 in lichen in the 1960s in many areas of the
> far North presented an interesting case because caribou there eat
> large amounts of lichen. In places like Lapland [the region comprised
> of near Arctic regions of Norway, Sweden, and Finland occupied by the
> indigenous Laplanders or Sami people] caribou was a major food source
> for these indiginous Laplanders, as they are called who showed very
> elevated body burdens of Cs-137 during the 1960s which declined over time.
>
> Could the airborne deposition of Cs-137 in isolated areas of Japan be
> 37 times higher than the generalized areal deposition in Alaska in
> 1965 from bomb fallout? Seems reasonable. However, I don't have the data at hand, and
> have wasted enough time today. Does 37E6 pCi Cs-137/kg dried lichen mean
> anything other than lichen is an interesting sampling media? Doesn't
> appear to be a concern in Japan, even if true ---UNLESS large numbers
> of caribou are wandering around Japan near Fukushima eating large
> amounts of lichen as a major source of their food, and people in Japan
> are eating caribou as a large fraction of their diet! Seems unlikely.
> Have any caribou been reported in Japan of late?
>
>
> Stewart Farber, MSPH
> Farber Medical Solutions, LLC
> Bridgeport, CT 06604
> SAFarber at optonline.net
> 203-441-8433
> =========================
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
> Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 6:47 AM
> To: RADSAFE
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] More Nuclear-News Hype High radiation level at
> Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
>
> This level of Cesium contamination seems unusally high like someone
> misread or just misreported a meter reading. They are also claiming
> high number of birth defects at Fukushima hospital. They should
> perhaps check with the Radiation Effects Research Foundation in
> Hirsoshima/Nagasaki before taking a page from the Iraqi propagandists in Fallujah.
>
> Roger Helbig
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- New post on nuclear-news
>
> High radiation level at Fukushima school, even after 'decontamination'
>
> by Christina MacPherson
>
> 1,000,000 Bq/kg of cesium detected at Fukushima school. after being
> 'decontaminated' - "It's obvious they will just leave it" - Local
> Official y 13th, 2012 By ENENews July 11, 2012 post by Koichi
> Oyama, Minamisoma city council member, translated by Dissensus Japan:
>
> 1.000.000 Bq detected in a school after a decontamination conducted!
>
> A University's research team collected lichen at the entrance of the
> gymnastic hall of a school that restarted after a decontamination
> operation, and the sample measured the Cesium radiation level, 989.000 Bq/Kg.
>
> It's obvious they will just leave it. I told them my ideas at least,
> but I'm not sure if this inspired them to do anything. No one makes
> decision to get rid of dangers.
> I want to believe that at least "school principal" won't leave the
> danger at the place where students walk by. I would go there tomorrow
> to make sure. Read the report here
>
> Christina MacPherson | July 14, 2012 at 6:03 am | Categories:
> environment, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties | URL:
> http://wp.me/phgse-6Gb
>
> http://nuclear-news.net/2012/07/14/high-radiation-level-at-fukushima-s
> chool-
> <http://nuclear-news.net/2012/07/14/high-radiation-level-at-fukushima-
> school
> -even-after-decontamination/>
> even-after-decontamination/
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--
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD, MinRat
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Vienna
Austria
mobile: ++43 699 1706 1227
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