Re: RADSAFE digest 3135

[Norman & Karen Cohen <norco@bellatlantic.net>]

The breast cancer stats come from Dr Jay Gould's book "The Enemy Within", surely one
of this list's favorite books. ;) and from a flyer put out by RPHP. ON the flyer,
Gould's quote is"
of the 3000-odd counties in the US, women living in about 1300 nuclear counties
(located within 100 miles of a reactor) are at the greatest risk of dying from
breast cancer." (from pg 187 with map).

INfant mortality claims are all from Mangano's previous work. What I have on hand is
his Salem (NJ) study from June of 1999.

Now, I'm not a cancer expert (among the many things I'm not an expert on). I do
recall reading about the huge increases in breast cancer in this country. I'm sure
you all have the stats. The Tooth people would certainly consider breast cancer as
one of the 'soft tissue' cancers that are
affected by emissions from nuke plants.


peace
norm

Steven Dapra wrote:

> April 29
>
>         On April 28 Norm Cohen wrote:
>
>         "To say that there are no health problems associated with nuke plants is
> not accurate. There are higher levels of breast cancer nearer a plant than
> farther away. There are indications of higher infant mortality,e tc near
> nuke plants."
>
>         I obliquely addressed this in a posting of April 26, quoting from JAMA
> [265(11):1403-1408; 3-20-91].  Jablon et. al. did not find elevated rates
> of cancer near power reactors, nor were elevated rates of cancer found near
> DOE installations.  In fact, overall cancer rates decreased.
>
>         I don't know if you have read my Apr. 26 posting, Norm, but if you have
> you haven't addressed this overall decrease of cancer near reactors.
> Although it may be true that near some reactors breast cancer rates did
> increase, other types of cancer would have had to decrease in frequency to
> cause an overall lower rate of cancer.  These possible increases in breast
> cancer could be attributed to clusters, and clusters were addressed in an
> earlier posting by another RADSAFEr.
>
>         What is the source (journal and full citation) for the claim that breast
> cancer has increased near power plants?  Does the article or paper present
> breast cancer data for the five to ten years preceding and following the
> startup of the reactor?  Merely selecting one or two data points showing an
> increase in any type of cancer means nothing.  We need context.
>
>         I would also like to see a paper or article to support the claim about
> infant mortality -- but not Mangano's from Environmental Epidemiology and
> Toxicology.  It is plain by now that Mangano's study has some gaping holes
> in it.
>
> Steven Dapra
> sjd@swcp.com
>
> ************************************************************************
> The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
> information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html

--
Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave.,
Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8537 or 609-601-8583 (8583: fax, answer machine);
norco@bellatlantic.net;  UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE:  http://www.unplugsalem.org/
COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:  http://members.bellatlantic.net/~norco/
ICQ# 54268619; The Coalition for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
“We have two lives, the one we’re given, and the other one we make” (Mary Chapin
Carpenter)
“Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights...Get up, stand up, don’t give up the
fight!” (Bob Marley)




************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html