Must Read- "the most powerful and potent carcinogen ever discovered"

["Estabrooks, Bates (IHK)" <estabrookshb@Y12.doe.gov>]

Radsafers,



The following is an excerpt from a newspaper in northeastern Pennsylvania,

regarding the risks of abandoned strip mines. (

http://www.tnonline.com/online/localnews/01monday/part1.html )



The 5th paragraph (re. Pu) took my breath away.  I believe it would be

valuable for radsafers to send letters to the editor of this paper;

timesnews@tnonline.com <mailto:timesnews@tnonline.com>  and to the author

dserfass@tnonline.com <mailto:dserfass@tnonline.com>   .  I intend to do

such.  Does Ron Kathren still follow radsafe?  His input would be

invaluable.



Thanks.



Bates Estabrooks

Y-12

Oak Ridge



		Lasting scars pose lasting health dangers

		By DONALD R. SERFASS <mailto:dserfass@tnonline.com> 



		They're not just land scars.



		They're environmental time bombs with the capacity to poison

an entire population.

		Studies show that the deep voids left behind after more than

100 years of strip mining are the source of acid water runoff that kills

fish and pollutes streams.



		But maybe even worse, some experts say, is the danger they

pose to humans, especially through an emerging trend by profit-seeking

companies and mine owners to use the pits as industrial landfills.



		According to data from state and national environmental

groups, many toxin-forming compounds are either being dumped or proposed to

be dumped in strip mines throughout Pennsylvania. Among them: dangerous fly

ash, a byproduct of power plant operations and known to contain arsenic;

biosolids, or sewage sludge, largely untested and suspected in the deaths of

two Pennsylvania youngsters. Added to that are contaminated river dredge,

known to carry concentrations of heavy metals and arsenic, and other waste

such as lime kiln dust and cement kiln dust.



		"Cement kiln dust contains dangerous dioxins according to

information from the Environmental Research Foundation. Dioxins are

carcinogens in animals and humans. Also found is plutonium 238 and 239, the

most powerful and potent carcinogen ever discovered in human beings," says

Dr. Peter Baddick, West Penn Township.



		Baddick was one of three physicians testifying at a July

public hearing about the hazards of waste matter proposed as minefill

material by Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, Tamaqua.



		Much of the waste material never has been thoroughly

studied, experts say.



		For instance, Cornell University reports that over 60,000

toxic substances are found in biosolids, or sludge, and only 411 of those

have been analyzed.



		In central Pennsylvania, an 11-year-old boy died of an

infection a few days after riding his bike through a sludge-treated field,

according to state Rep. Camille George. . .



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