RE: Are nukes making you fat?

["Neil, David M" <neildm@id.doe.gov>]

Thank you, Norm.  I needed a laugh this morning.

 

Dave Neil



-----Original Message-----

From: Norm Cohen [mailto:ncohen12@comcast.net]

Sent: Wednesday, October 08, 2003 7:13 PM

To: Know_Nukes@yahoogroups.com; radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: Are nukes making you fat?







	

re Nukes Making You Fat?



By Penney Kome rabble.ca



10-8-3







Could radioactive iodine from nuclear tests and power plants be the reason so many North Americans are overweight? The evidence is surprising. 



  



Is America's nuclear policy making you fat? This is a deadly serious question. Nuclear materials emit radioactive iodine, which has been linked with thyroid damage. Thyroid disorders, recently discovered to occur twice as frequently as previously believed, are linked with weight gain. Therefore, this question: is U.S. nuclear policy adding inches to our waistlines? 



  



Let's start with your thyroid. According to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE), "Thyroid hormones play a vital role in the overall body function. Although relatively small, the thyroid gland produces a hormone that regulates the body's overall metabolism - the rate at which the body produces energy from nutrients. It influences the heart, brain, liver, kidneys and skin and affects muscle strength, reproductive functions and appetite." 



  



I'll repeat those key points: the thyroid regulates both metabolism and appetite - two factors out of kilter in most overweight people. 



  



In January 2003, AACE revised longstanding guidelines for diagnosing underactive thyroids, and now estimates that, "Thyroid disease affects 1 in 10 Americans (more than diabetes and cancer combined), yet half of those affected remain undiagnosed." 



  



Radioactive iodine is the first and fastest-traveling element released in any nuclear "event" (whether an explosion or a leak), as the U.S. government tacitly acknowledged when it encouraged cities to stockpile potassium iodide pills against the possibility that terrorists might target one of the 103 nuclear power plants in the U.S. 



  



Here is how Dr. Rosalie Bertell explained the connection between nukes and thyroids: "...Radioactive iodine is routinely released in small quantities by nuclear power plants and in large quantities by nuclear reprocessing plants. It is not part of the natural human environment...If radioactive iodine (I 131 or I 129) is ingested with food it will enter the blood and tend to accumulate in the thyroid.... 



  



"...A mild exposure experienced by a large population could cause a decrease in average thyroid hormone levels and an increase in average body weight, such as is occurring now in the North American population....The connection between this pollution and the overweight problem has, unfortunately, never been seriously researched." 



  



Dieters around the world are yelling, "Well, why not?" 



  



Nukes and health issues 



  



Although there is much reliable research on the effects of radioactive contamination, most of it inexplicably overlooks the relationship to weight gain. Bertell's work tends to focus on leukemia and other cancers. Dr Helen Caldicott says that her latest book, The New Nuclear Danger, exposes the connection between nukes and "an epidemic of cancers, leukemias and congenital diseases." The European Committee on Radiation Risk reported in January 2003, that nuclear weapons tests and power plant accidents before 1989 were responsible for up to 65 million deaths worldwide. Again, the ECRR focused on the same old cancers, leukemia and birth defects. Nothing about getting fat. 



  



Okay, we all know that plutonium is screamingly toxic. Inhale a thousandth of a gram and it will kill you fast, and probably all the people around you too. The U.K. Royal Society added a new wrinkle with its March 2002 report that soldiers who encounter depleted uranium shells on the battlefield (in Iraq, Afghanistan or Kosovo) could have their kidneys shut down "within days." So? Dead is dead. If you're dead, you don't have to worry about staying on your diet. 



  



The thing is, you can never diet away radiation exposure. A February 2003 report in the New Scientist magazine indicated that every single cell in our bodies contains a "human geiger counter," recording radiation traces that last our entire lifetimes. We might not even know when we've been exposed, but our cells remember. 



  



If your thyroid is out of whack, even dieting twice as hard might not work. Anyone who has ever tried to maintain a household, a career and a social life on 1200 calories a day will recognize that this is a really, really serious issue. It's bad enough that the Bush administration is making countries around the world mad at the U.S. by withdrawing from international treaties and going into Iraq all alone. But do they have to sabotage everybody's weight loss plans too? 



  



Who's been exposed? 



  



You may wonder if all North Americans have really been exposed to radiation. The Center for Disease Control says yes, in a report released in February 2003. "Any person living in the contiguous U.S. since 1951 has been and continues to be exposed to the remnants of fallout from nuclear testing." 



  



With a narrow mandate to study the health effects of 1950s atmospheric weapons tests, the CDC does not refer to nuclear power plants at all in this project. But a map from Women for Peace shows 1767 nuclear contaminated or potentially contaminated sites distributed all across the U.S. including nuclear power plants, weapons factories, missile silos and nuclear waste dumps. 



  



In addition to the existing contamination, invading armies have strewn depleted uranium shells all over Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia. The U.S. Congress has just approved $200 million for a new generation of nuclear weapons. U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney has talked about building 410 new nuclear power plants. Even if we don't blow ourselves up, we're going to be up to our oversize butts in radioactive dust. 



  



What, is the U.S. government funded by shares in Weight Watchers? 



  



Dieters of the world, unite! Contact your legislators right away, and demand an investigation into the relationship between nuclear pollution and those stubborn extra pounds. You have nothing to lose but your extra weight! 



  



- Penney Kome is an author and journalist and is currently Chair of The Writers Union of Canada. 



  



Copyright ?? 2001-2003 the authors 



  



http://www.rabble.ca/everyones_a_critic.shtml?sh_i



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