[Fwd: [graffis-l] Plutonium cancer risk may be higher than thought]

[Norm Cohen <ncohen12@comcast.net>]

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

Subject: 	[graffis-l] Plutonium cancer risk may be higher than thought

Date: 	Sun, 18 Jul 2004 08:03:34 -0400

From: 	Mark Graffis <mgraffis@vitelcom.net>

Reply-To: 	graffis-l@yahoogroups.com

To: 	x3 <graffis-l@yahoogroups.com>







New Scientist

09:30 18 July 04

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996152

Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.



Plutonium may be many times more dangerous than previously thought. The

cancer risk from exposure inside the body could be 10 times higher than is

allowed for in calculating international safety limits.

The danger is highlighted in a report written by radiation experts for the

UK government, which has been leaked to New Scientist. The experts are

unanimous in saying that low-level radiation emitted by plutonium may cause

more damage to human cells than previously believed. Their opinion could

provoke a rethink of the guidelines on exposure to radiation.

Several tonnes of plutonium have been released into the environment over the

last 60 years by nuclear weapons tests and nuclear plants.

Concern over the harmfulness of plutonium is growing because of discoveries

about the subtle effects of low-level radiation. Researchers in Europe and

North America have shown that the descendants of cells that seem to survive

radiation unharmed can suffer delayed damage, a phenomenon called "genomic

instability" (New Scientist print edition, 20 January 2001).



Bystander effect



Cells adjacent to those that are irradiated can also sustain damage, known

as "the bystander effect". And an increase was found in the number of

mutations in small pieces of DNA called mini-satellites that are passed from

one generation to the next. The fear is that these effects could trigger

cancers and other ill effects.

The report, which is due to be published in the next few months, has been

drawn up by the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters

(CERRIE). The committee includes 12 specialists from the UK government's

National Radiological Protection Board, the nuclear industry, universities

and environmental groups.

All members of the committee agree that the margin of uncertainty over the

risks of plutonium and similar radionuclides inside the body "could extend

over at least an order of magnitude".

This "should be borne in mind by those making judgements and policy

decisions on low-level internal radiation", says CERRIE's chairman, Dudley

Goodhead, the former director of the UK Medical Research Council's Radiation

and Genome Stability Unit at Harwell in Oxfordshire.



Rob Edwards









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