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Re: [Fwd: [graffis-l] Plutonium cancer risk may be higher than thought]
I had thought that plutonium was considered to be the most hazardous substance known to man. Now we find it is even much more dangerous than that. Considering that over ten tons of Pu was released to the environment during atmospheric nuclear explosives testing and everyone has been exposed to it, I guess we are all doomed! Too bad--- I was hoping to live forever.
-------- 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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