Calls for royal commission into Lucas Heights safety concerns

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Calls for royal commission into Lucas Heights safety concerns 

Planned student withdrawal over phone tower causes concern

Russians criticise reported U.S. nuclear planning

Rafsanjani says Iran not cowed by US nuclear plan

Doctors missing lung cancer on X-rays - UK report

US border commuters scanned for radioactive matter

======================================



Calls for royal commission into Lucas Heights safety concerns 



Mar 10  Australian Broadcasting Co. - Australia's peak anti-nuclear 

group is calling for a royal commission  into safety issues at 

Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear facility.  



A meeting of nuclear-free local councils from around Australia has  

demanded the Federal Government investigate alleged mismanagement at 

the  nuclear site. 



The Australian Local Government Nuclear-Free group says operations at 

 the Lucas Heights facility have been shrouded by secrecy for too 

long. 



Spokesman Councillor Brian Troy says there has been too little  

information getting out about dangerous incidents at the facility. 



"The facility is so bad that it leaks," he said. 



"The water was filling up holes in the ground where the fuel rods 

were  operating, they pumped that out when they took out some of the 

fuel rods  and then in transporting it around the site the water gets 

spilled all  over the road. 



"If you've got issues like that happening how many of them have 

happened  that we haven't found out about and what is the true 

running of that  reactor?"  

----------------



Planned student withdrawal over phone tower causes concern

  

Mar 7 - Australian Broadcasting Co - The Queensland Education 

Department says it is concerned that parents at  Federal, near Gympie 

in south-east Queensland, plan to withdraw their  children from the 

school if Vodafone goes ahead with plans to erect a  mobile phone 

tower near the school. 



Parents are concerned about the long-term effects of electromagnetic  

radiation, although the Federal Government has tried to assure them 

that  there is no risk. 



The assistant director-general for administration with Education  

Queensland, Jenny Cransten, says while the department is concerned 

for  the children, the best they can do is pass on to parents the 

information  that is provided by government agencies. 



She says all the information they have is that there will be no 

health  problems as a result of the tower, so it is now up to parents 

to decide  if they accept that information. 



"We're certainly concerned about that situation, we're concerned 

about  the children and the effects their parents concerns may have 

on them,"  she said. 



"We've sought advice in relation to the mobile tower and they concur  

with the Commonwealth agency that looks into these matters in 

relation  to the mobile tower not causing any adverse affects. 



"We've provided that information to the parents and the school  

community, but that's about all we can do given that it is a  

Commonwealth Government matter."  

-------------------



Russians criticise reported U.S. nuclear planning

  

MOSCOW, March 9 (Reuters) - Russian commentators on Saturday 

criticised a reported U.S. move to prepare contingency plans to use 

nuclear weapons against Russia and other countries. 



With Russia in the middle of a three-day holiday weekend, there was 

no official comment on the Los Angeles Times report that the Bush 

administration had ordered the Pentagon to draw up the plans. 



The paper said its story was based on a classified Pentagon report 

which mentioned China, Russia, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and 

Syria. The Pentagon refused to comment. 



Dmitry Rogozin, an influential member of Russia's parliament, said 

Washington could be trying to intimidate Russia after months of 

closer cooperation. 



"We have to understand that the United States has many strategic 

nuclear weapons trained on Russia and draw our own strategic 

conclusions," Rogozin, head of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 

lower house of parliament, told NTV television. 



"This is the policy of the big stick, a nuclear stick intended to 

intimidate us and put us in our place." 



NTV also quoted Leonid Ivashov, a former top Defence Ministry 

official and now an influential observer, as saying the report showed 

that the United States saw post-Soviet Russia as a "geo-political 

rival." 



The Los Angeles Times said it was the first time that an official 

list of target countries had come to light. 



Russia and the United States have greatly improved relations after a 

rocky start when President George W. Bush came to power last year. 



Cooperation drew closer when Russian President Vladimir Putin 

endorsed the U.S.-led war on terrorism and the Kremlin allowed 

Central Asian states to help Washington. 



Putin has been accused by military hawks and the Communist Party, 

which still secures 25 percent of the vote, of giving away too much 

to Washington and receiving too little in return. 



The two leaders are to meet in Russia in May with the aim of 

clinching an accord on reducing strategic nuclear arsenals. 



Vyacheslav Nikonov, president of the Politika think tank, told NTV 

the report would call into question all U.S. motives in international 

relations. 



"If America wants to cooperate in military operations... if it 

intends to reduce strategic nuclear warheads, the Bush directive is a 

very negative signal which will be received in an appropriate fashion 

by Russia's leadership," he told NTV. 

--------------------



Rafsanjani says Iran not cowed by US nuclear plan

  

TEHRAN, March 10 (Reuters) - Iran's influential former president 

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Sunday the United States was trying 

to intimidate other nations with reported contingency plans to use 

nuclear weapons. 



Rafsanjani, a close aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, 

was responding to a newspaper report that said U.S. President George 

W. Bush had ordered the Pentagon to prepare contingency plans for the 

use of nuclear arms against Iran and six other countries. 



"The United States believes that by threatening those countries, they 

will withdraw their logical demands. The widespread presence of 

American and allied troops around the world shows their policy is one 

of intimidation," the official IRNA news agency quoted Rafsanjani as 

saying. 



Besides Iran, China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Libya and Syria were 

listed as possible target countries in the Los Angeles Times report 

which cited a secret document provided to Congress on January 8. The 

Pentagon has declined comment on the report. 



"The intimidating atmosphere created by the United States influences 

countries' security. In this atmosphere adventurers will be 

encouraged to create planned insecurity in the countries," said 

Rafsanjani. 



Bush has accused Iran of being a part of an "axis of evil" allegedly 

pursuing weapons of mass destruction. Washington has imposed 

sanctions on Tehran for its alleged sponsoring of terrorism. Iran 

strenuously denies the charges. 



Iran's moderate President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday said Iran would 

not fall into what he called the trap of U.S. war-mongering. 



"Iran's principled policy is peace-seeking, fighting against violence 

and opposing terrorism," state radio quoted Khatami as saying. 



Iran and the United States broke off relations after Iranian 

militants seized the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1979 and held 54 

Americans hostage for 444 days. 



Iranian newspapers and commentators also condemned the reported U.S. 

nuclear plans. 



"The order indicates that the U.S. administration is going to wreak 

havoc on the whole world in order to establish its hegemony and 

domination," the hardline English-language Tehran Times newspaper 

said on Sunday. 



"I believe it is part of Bush's propaganda policy which aims at 

pushing aside his competitors through threatening them," political 

analyst Hamid Reza Jalaipour told Reuters. "But those threats do not 

scare Iranians." 



While speculation over possible U.S. attacks is rife in Iran, leading 

reformists have called for the opening of direct talks with 

Washington. Iranian leaders have previously called for U.S. 

concessions before talks can begin. 



"Iran's policymakers should consider the necessity of taking a brave 

and historical decision for starting direct dialogue with the United 

States," said the Bonyan newspaper on Sunday. 

---------------------



Doctors missing lung cancer on X-rays - UK report

  

LONDON, March 7 (Reuters) - Doctors often miss lung cancer on chest X-

rays, leading to life-threatening delays in diagnosis and treatment, 

British researchers said on Thursday. 



Lung tumours hidden by the heart, ribs or the diaphragm were the most 

likely to go unnoticed, the five-year survey published in the 

Postgraduate Medical Journal found. 



"Successful surgery depends on diagnosis of patients at an early 

stage," said the researchers, from Castle Hill Hospital near Kingston 

upon Hull, northern England. 



"Our results have shown that the opportunity for an earlier diagnosis 

was lost in a considerable proportion of cases." Lung cancer is the 

world's leading cancer killer and causes 37,000 deaths each year in 

Britain. 



Dr Michael Greenstone and his colleagues studied the medical 

histories of 58 patients diagnosed with lung cancer in 1997 at their 

hospital. 



They found that 28 patients had undergone a chest X-ray some time 

before their cancer diagnosis, either because of acute chest 

symptoms or for a more general pre-operative screening. 



In half these cases, tumours had gone undetected in the earlier 

screenings. All these 14 patients died within a year of their 

eventual 

surgery. 



In the other 14, the doctors said the initial X-ray had been 

accurately read as cancer-free, even though these patients later went 

on 

to develop the disease. 



The researchers said similar "miss rates" had been reported in other 

hospitals in Britain and abroad, with some risks of litigation. 



"Indeed in the United States the second most common reason for 

litigation against radiologists is failure to diagnose lung cancer on 

a chest radiograph," the study said. 



If caught on time, some 75 percent of lung cancers are curable with 

surgery and radiation treatment. 



The researchers concluded that greater availability of highly 

sensitive Computed Tomography imaging (CT scans) could help lower 

diagnostic errors for lung cancer. 

----------------



US border commuters scanned for radioactive matter

  

EL PASO, Texas, March 5 (Reuters) - Millions of people who cross U.S. 

borders with Mexico and Canada have unknowingly been 

scanned for the presence of radioactive materials since Sept. 11, a 

U.S. Customs spokesman said on Tuesday. 



Vehicles, cargo and commercial trucks are also subject to the scans, 

which are now routinely performed by federal agents at ports 

of entry throughout the country. 



"They indicate if there is a radioactive source, like a weapon of 

mass destruction," said Customs spokesman Roger Maier. "It's just 

a new tool in the war against terrorism." 



Since the Sept. 11 attacks, inspectors at the border crossings have 

been at their highest level of alert, stopping every vehicle and 

asking drivers and passengers to get out so that the vehicle's 

interior can be examined. 



They tap on various spots under the vehicles and in the trunks to 

look for false compartments, and accompany drug-sniffing dogs. 

Now they also look for radioactive substances. 



Customs inspectors wear pager-size, personal radiation detectors on 

their belts. The device emits a signal if it comes within range of 

a radiation source. 



Maier said the devices have been available for years, but were not 

widely distributed until the Sept. 11 terror attacks prompted border 

officials to go to the highest level of alert. 



Now the devices are used "everywhere there is an inspector," Maier 

said. 



Every day Customs inspectors examine 1.3 million people, 355,000 

vehicles and more than 50,000 commercial trucks, the agency 

has estimated. 



The rigorous inspections have caused traffic snarls and a dramatic 

increase in the amount of time it takes to cross into the United 

States. 



In El Paso, Texas, which lies across the border from Ciudad Juarez, 

Chihuahua, commuters have reported that the wait time has 

increased from a maximum of 40 minutes to two hours, or longer, 

because of the tightened security. 



Border industries in Mexico and the United States have been among the 

economic victims of the terrorist attacks, as increased security 

boosts transportation costs and causes production slowdowns. 



U.S. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge is in the midst of a two-

day meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox to discuss the traffic 

and safety issues. 

**********************************************************************

****

Sandy Perle				Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100  

Director, Technical			Extension 2306 			

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service	Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.		E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 	

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  	E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626



Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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