Big atomic rhubarb alarms small Canadian town

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Wednesday September 29, 10:13 am Eastern Time

CORRECTED - Big atomic rhubarb alarms small
Canadian town

In September 28 Toronto story headlined ``Big atomic rhubarb 
alarms small Canadian town'' please read in eighth paragraph: 
``Radiation is not being emitted because the product is 
encapsulated, said company vice-president Stephane Levesque.'' 
(Corrects to product from plant, making it clear that the product is 
encapsulated, not the plant.)  

A corrected repeat follows.

TORONTO, Sept. 28 (Reuters) - A small Ontario town is in an 
uproar over the big rhubarb stalks that grow near a plant that uses 
radioactive waste, but officials said on Tuesday the atomic 
vegetables are safe enough for pies or jam.  

The atomic rhubarb, which is growing just southeast of a glow-in-
the-dark sign factory in the town of Pembroke, near Ottawa,
contains about 1,000 times the radioactive tritium ordinarily found 
in the area's rainwater.

That alarms residents living close to the plant, which is owned by 
SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc.

``We are against any involuntary exposure to radiation,'' said Lynn 
Jones, president of a 200-member citizens' group that collected 
samples for testing.  

``We're concerned because high levels of radioactivity are very 
dangerous to humans.''

But the Atomic Energy Control Board -- Canada's nuclear safety 
agency -- has decided the patch of unusually large rhubarb is
not hazardous and can still be used to bake a pie or make 
preserves, said Sunni Locatelli, a board spokesperson.

``We're naturally exposed to radioactivity everyday,'' said Locatelli. 
``High doses of of radioactivity can cause genetic defects and 
cancer, but at these levels there are no dangers.''  

The plant manufactures lights powered by the radioactive isotopes 
of hydrogen. Radiation is not being emitted because the product is 
encapsulated, said company vice-president Stephane Levesque.  

The company's assurances have yet to persuade Robert Drummie, 
the manager of a University of Waterloo, Ontario, laboratory that 
conducted tritium tests on the rhubarb this summer.  

He found the rhubarb had 2,000 becquerels (a unit of radioactivity) 
per liter of tritium - which is about 100 times more than an average 
garden rhubarb. 

------------------------
Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

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