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Nukes close, infant deaths go down - Tooth Fairy Project - NY Times
mailbox@gsenet.org wrote:
> 020430
>
> GARDEN STATE ENVIRONEWS
>
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> TABLE OF CONTENTS
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> {*} NUCLEAR POWER OPPONENTS CITE LINK TO INFANT DEATH RATES
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> NUCLEAR POWER OPPONENTS CITE LINK TO INFANT DEATH RATES
>
> Date: 30 Apr 2002
> From: MerBenzRN@aol.com
>
> By Andrew C. Revkin, NY Times, April 30, 2002
>
> Antinuclear campaigners plan to announce today that a new study shows
> that infant death rates downwind of eight American nuclear power
> plants dropped significantly after they were shut down.
>
> Some plan to use the findings to support calls for closing the
> nuclear reactors at Indian Point, the plant closest to New York City,
> in Westchester County.
>
> But federal officials, some radiation experts and representatives of
> the nuclear power industry said that there was no evidence to link
> illness and proximity to nuclear plants and that minute, occasional
> releases from such plants were much lower than natural radiation
> levels.
>
> The new statistical study, which is being published in the next issue
> of The Archives of Environmental Health, was conducted by a group of
> scientists who for many years have purported to show a link between
> mortality and illness and low levels of radiation from power plants,
> bomb tests and other sources.
>
> But their past work has never been replicated by federal health
> researchers, and the statistical analysis they used in some earlier
> studies has been challenged by the National Cancer Institute.
>
> The study said the infant death rate in communities for two years
> preceding the plant shutdowns averaged 8.44 deaths per 1,000 births
> and, when all the mortality data for two years after the plant
> shutdowns were combined, the infant mortality rate dropped to 7.01 per
> 1,000 births.
>
> The difference was statistically significant, the authors said, and
> the drop was greater than the general drop in infant death rates
> around the country in recent years.
>
> The scientists, from the Radiation and Public Health Project, a
> nonprofit group, defended their new findings and cited the need for
> much more research.
>
> Joseph J. Mangano, a public health statistician and the national
> coordinator for the group, said a statistical link does not prove a
> cause and effect, but points to the need for more work.
>
> "A lot of things could affect infant deaths," he said. "The list is
> literally endless. This doesn't mean we've proved anything beyond a
> shadow of a doubt, but what I will say is we really need to do more
> follow-up."
>
> Among other things, the study examined statistics from counties and
> cities downwind of eight nuclear plants that shut down either for a
> prolonged period or permanently - in Connecticut, Maine,
> Massachusetts, California, Oregon, Colorado, Michigan and Wisconsin.
>
> Dr. John Boice Jr., who directed a 1991 National Cancer Institute
> study of disease patterns around nuclear plants and other institutions
> using radiation, said no link emerged.
>
> "There are so many other important things to worry about in terms of
> radiation - like what are we doing to do with the waste and the
> terrorism issue," he said last night.
>
> * * *
>
> Copyright 2002 The New York Times Company
>
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