[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Dr Bertell - Comments on the History of Permissable Dose Standards
OK Guys and Gals, go ahead and take some potshots at this.....
Norm
Bill Smirnow wrote:
> MOTHERSALERT HOME SITE:
> http://www.mothersalert.org
> http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html
>
> http://www.mothersalert.org/bertell2.html
> Comments on the History of
> Permissable Dose Standards
> by Dr. Rosalie Bertell
>
> In October 1945, after the US Occupation Force
> had taken over Japan, it was officially announced
> that there would be no more deaths at Hiroshima
> and Nagasaki due to the atomic bombs. Under the
> Occupation Force direction, no Japanese physicians
> or scientists were allowed to study the atomic
> bomb survivors, and no reporting about the
> survivors was allowed until the 1951 treaty was
> drawn up and signed in Tokyo.
>
> In spite of these prohibitions and difficult
> circumstances, a Japanese Haematologist discovered
> the increase in leukemia among the survivors. It
> began within a year of the bombing. He reported
> this at a professional meeting and was roundly
> denounced by the US researchers in Hiroshima and
> Atomic Bomb Casualty Commissiion (now called the
> Radiation Effects Research Foundation).
>
> The physician was sure he was right, and he
> persuaded a medical student to take two years off
> from his studies and document all of the atomic
> bomb victims with leukemia. This was a difficult
> job since they were being treated at many
> different hospitals. The student obtained blood
> slides for each patient and also verified where
> they were when the bombs were dropped. After two
> years of study, it was about five years after the
> boming at that time, the results of this study
> were released. The US researchers could no longer
> deny the fact, and they turned around and claimed
> credit for the research.
>
> When the atomic bomb studies were actually set
> up, using persons identified in the1950 Japanese
> census, they omitted counting these early,
> significantly increased number of cases. The
> Atomic bomb studies were not actually published
> with dose information until after the1965 doses
> were devised by John Auxier of Oak Ridge Labs.
> These doses were, in 1980, denounced as wrong, and
> a new set of doses constructed in 1986. Although
> the justification for the new doses was
> improvement of the science, the journal Science
> gave a wonderful description of John Auxier's
> inability to produce the worksheets which showed
> the derivation of the dose estimates he had
> assigned. It seems that he lost these work sheets
> accidently to a shredder when he moved offices.
> This lead to the unanimous recommendation to lower
> permissible doses of radiation by the ICRP in
> 1990.
>
> The US has still not lowered the permissible
> doses, and it also claims wrongly that its
> radiation protection standards, set in 1952, were
> based on Atomic bomb studies. This is, of couse
> absurd. Most people in the nuclear industry
> equate "legal" with "safe", and if you try to
> explain that even within permissible levels of
> exposure there is significant risk of radiation
> damage, they think you are "emotional" and
> "unscientific".
>
> The US appears to have used its 1952 estimates
> of permissible doses for nuclear workers for the
> DU exposure in the Gulf War.
>
> More about this history can be found in my book:
> "No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a
> Radioactive Earth". The Women's Press, London UK,
> 1985. There are still copies around in libraries,
> but it was taken off of seller's shelves in 1995
> because I hope to update it. I have copies
> available for $12.50 US if anyone would like one.
>
> Dr. Rosalie Bertell
>
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);
ncohen12@home.com UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://www.unplugsalem.org/
COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE WEBSITE:
http:/www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org The Coalition for Peace and
Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you
win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
************************************************************************
You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To unsubscribe,
send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu Put the text "unsubscribe
radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail, with no subject line.