RE: Tooth Fairy Project in G&M

["Lamothe, Emelie" <lamothee@aecl.ca>]

Well, to start of with, Hal Tracy died many years ago.  I should know - I
worked for him in 1979 as a summer tour guide and attended his funeral in
the mid-80s when I returned to AECL.

Emelie

> ----------
> From: 	Franta, Jaroslav[SMTP:frantaj@aecl.ca]
> Reply To: 	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
> Sent: 	Thursday, December 02, 1999 10:56 AM
> To: 	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: 	FW: Tooth Fairy Project in G&M
> 
> 
> This e-mail from a colleague (forwarded with his permission) may be of
> interest to some Radsafers....
> ....comments are invited.
> 
> thanks,
> Jaro
> frantaj@aecl.ca
> > ----------
> > From: 	Brown, Morgan
> > Sent: 	Thursday, December 02, 1999 10:04 AM
> > Subject: 	Tooth Fairy Project
> > 
> > Here's a negative article in todays G&M. ["Globe and Mail," a Canadian
> > newspaper with nation-wide coverage]  Amongst other things, author
> Downey
> > (a science writer who should research things a little better) calls AECL
> > "Atomic Energy Commission".  Hmmm, when did the AEC get transformed into
> > the USNRC and DoE?  Early 1970's?
> > 
> > And what about "Radiation also works its questionable magic on some
> > elements found naturally in the environment. After a brush with
> radiation,
> > about 300 previously innocent chemicals take on radioactive forms that
> > before 1943 were found only in trace quantities here and there in
> isolated
> > places."  This makes it sound as if one just has to bring substances
> (what
> > on earth is an "innocent chemical"?) near another radioactive substance
> > (as opposed to irradiating them with neutrons).
> > 
> > "Two nuclear workers at a research plant in Chalk River, Ont., would
> > disagree -- if they could. In 1981, they received full pensions as a
> > result of getting cancer caused by radiation exposure. One pension went
> > immediately to the widow of one of the workers and other claims soon
> > followed."  What was this about?
> > 
> > "where it can be left to decay for 240,000 years, the half-life of
> > plutonium."  (out by a factor of 10)
> > 
> > "(AECL) spokesman Hal Tracy says the nuclear industry in Canada now
> > accepts the theory that there is no safe threshold limit for radiation
> > exposure. Any dose, no matter how small, has the potential to cause harm
> > and eventually there will be evidence of this harm, he says."  I'll
> leave
> > that to [others] !
> > <snip>
> [usual disclaimers]
> > <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> > 
> > The fallout factor
> > Long after it should have begun to fade away, one of
> > the worst byproducts of the atomic age continues
> > to show up in our teeth, bones and tissue in
> > alarming amounts. And no one really knows why. 
> > MICHAEL DOWNEY
> > Special to The Globe and Mail
> > Thursday, December 2, 1999 
> > Toronto -- Strontium 90, the atomic-age horror of 40 years ago, is still
> > with us -- deep within us. An element unknown to science until spawned
> by
> > the first nuclear-weapons tests, Sr90 continues to be found in our very
> > bones. Suddenly, children born 30 years after the last bomb exploded in
> > the atmosphere are exhibiting unexpectedly significant amounts of Sr90.
> > Back in the 1950s, its presence in baby teeth was blamed for a surge in
> > cancer among children, and public pressure led in 1963 to then U.S.
> > president John F. Kennedy's decision to sign a nuclear test-ban treaty
> > with the Soviet Union.
> > A byproduct of nuclear fission, Sr90 is a marker for radiation poisoning
> > that damages DNA much more quickly, even before birth, than any
> > environmental pollutants. Nuclear particles remain lodged -- often for
> > life -- in human tissues, where they continue to give off radiation and
> > result in cancer, birth defects and premature aging.
> > And to make matters worse, industrial chemicals in water or milk are
> > doubly carcinogenic when in contact with Sr90.
> > Where all this new radiation comes from is a matter of debate.
> > For scientists like Dr. Jay Gould of the U.S. Radiation and Public
> Health
> > Project, there are only two possibilities: accidents of the kind that
> > damaged the nuclear power plant at Three Mile Island, Pa., in 1976, or
> > radiation escaping from properly functioning facilities. Evidence, he
> > says, comes from data released by the U.S. Department of Energy that
> shows
> > a decline in the amount of Sr90 in adult bone and diet from 1964 to 1970
> > -- after above-ground bomb testing ended.
> > "The amount declined on average by 16 per cent each year," he says. "If
> > this decline had continued, there would be only trace amounts of Sr90 in
> > baby teeth today." Amounts should be barely measurable -- about .3 or .4
> > picocuries per gram of calcium, he says. This would be in keeping with
> the
> > half-life of radioactive material. In the case of Sr90 it is 29 years,
> or
> > the time it takes for half its radioactive matter to decay.
> > Instead, scientists found levels as high as 2 to 17 picocuries per gram
> of
> > calcium, he says.
> > "This could not possibly be attributed to past bomb tests."
> > Dr. Gould, who served on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
> Science
> > Advisory Board under President Jimmy Carter, also says anyone living
> > within 150 kilometres of a nuclear facility has a greater risk of breast
> > or prostate cancer. Recent studies suggest people stand to suffer 20
> times
> > more cell damage than was suspected at the time safety standards were
> set
> > in the mid-1950s.
> > On the other hand, Dr. Murray Stewart, president and CEO of the Canadian
> > Nuclear Association, says any increase in radiation is much more likely
> to
> > be caused by previous above-ground testing. Radiation released from
> > Canadian plants is "infinitesimally small," he says. "Studies have never
> > shown any link between commercial reactors or commercial uranium to any
> > incidence of cancer."
> > Two nuclear workers at a research plant in Chalk River, Ont., would
> > disagree -- if they could. In 1981, they received full pensions as a
> > result of getting cancer caused by radiation exposure. One pension went
> > immediately to the widow of one of the workers and other claims soon
> > followed.
> > Atomic Energy Commission (AECL) spokesman Hal Tracy says the nuclear
> > industry in Canada now accepts the theory that there is no safe
> threshold
> > limit for radiation exposure. Any dose, no matter how small, has the
> > potential to cause harm and eventually there will be evidence of this
> > harm, he says.
> > Tell that to the nuclear neighbourhood. Fish near the Pickering nuclear
> > plant on Lake Ontario, and at the Bruce site on Lake Huron, have been
> > found to be radioactive -- likely caused by the tonnes of mildly
> > radioactive water routinely flushed into the lakes. And Ontario Hydro
> > admits that some apples and onions grown near its powerplants are up to
> > 100 times more radioactive than "normal," yet are still well within
> > official "safe" limits.
> > In all, about 80 radioactive byproducts in some way manage to reach the
> > air, soil, water, where they remain active and eventually enter our
> food.
> > Radiation also works its questionable magic on some elements found
> > naturally in the environment. After a brush with radiation, about 300
> > previously innocent chemicals take on radioactive forms that before 1943
> > were found only in trace quantities here and there in isolated places.
> > Sr90 itself did not exist in nature prior to the nuclear age. While some
> > radiation existed, only radionuclides or radiated atoms can be created
> via
> > atomic fission.
> > If all this is considered normal, then so is the problem of nuclear
> waste.
> > When removed from the reactor core, it is about a million times more
> > radioactive than when it was loaded. A freshly spent fuel bundle is
> > reckoned to be so deadly that a person standing only a metre away would
> > die of radiation poisoning within an hour.
> > There is no antidote to its toxicity and never will be. Each year, we
> > produce 100 tonnes of nuclear waste per plant and manage only to isolate
> > the stuff some place where it can be left to decay for 240,000 years,
> the
> > half-life of plutonium.
> > The technique could hardly be described as safe. After all, the Egyptian
> > pharaohs were supposed to be entombed forever, too. According to a 1991
> > AECL workshop, the industry could never simply put waste out of mind.
> "We
> > cannot think we have done a perfect job, seal it, and forget about it .
> .
> > . Future generations must be able to repair the facility."
> > None of this sounds very encouraging to Dr. Gould. His study group, also
> > known as the Tooth Fairy project, has been measuring the presence of
> Sr90
> > in the baby teeth of American children born some 20 years ago, and early
> > results show levels to be "100 times higher than we expected."
> > Some 1,500 teeth have been collected from parents who had kept the teeth
> > as keepsakes. The collection includes 550 teeth from children born
> between
> > 1979 and 1982. These teeth had the same level of Sr90 as that found in a
> > similar study conducted in 1953, says Dr. Gould.
> > Colleague Dr. Janet Sherman, a Virginia internal-medicine specialist and
> > toxicologist, says the results are frightening.
> > "We're finding that Sr90 levels in baby teeth of children born since
> 1990
> > are reaching levels that were in existence during the above-ground
> testing
> > years, which is very scary," she says.
> > The finding is not entirely unprecedented. Tests on baby teeth in
> Germany
> > after fallout from the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986
> > showed a tenfold increase in Sr-90. Fallout also reached North America,
> > says Dr. Gould. Radiation carried in wind patterns and released in
> > rainfall caused profound effects upon birth weights and auto-immune
> > functions, he says.
> > For Dr. Gould, who next wants to test the teeth of Canadian children,
> > Chernobyl and other similar accidents all point to responsibility for
> the
> > continued presence of Sr90.
> > For the moment, his Tooth Fairy project offers no solutions, only deeply
> > disturbing questions. Long after it should have diminished in potency,
> > Sr90 promises to be a terrifying threat well into the next century. 
> > Michael Downey is a Toronto writer specializing in science.
> > HOW STRONTIUM 90 STRIKES
> > Strontium 90 and other radioactive material gets into vegetation,
> > including grass and vegetables. If cows eat tainted grass, their milk
> > picks up radioactive material which stays active for years.
> > "The mother consumes milk, vegetables and cheese and the Sr90 goes up
> the
> > food chain," says Dr. Janet Sherman of the Tooth Fairy Project. "These
> > kids are getting it in utero [in the womb] . . . So if you're talking
> > about healthy [nuclear] workers, they may not drink much milk. And
> they're
> > already developed."
> > Children are vulnerable in a way that adults are not. Radioactive
> > particles can settle in any part of our bodies; but children knit Sr90
> > into growing bones and teeth when their bodies mistake it for calcium.
> Dr.
> > Sherman says children who exhibit high levels of Sr90 show a
> > higher-than-normal rate of a rare form of bone cancer. Other effects can
> > be delayed for years or generations.
> > Radiation takes the form of high-energy rays and particles. Beta rays
> for
> > example, are fast electrons that lose energy as they pass through our
> > cells. The transferred energy disrupts chemical bonds; the strands of
> our
> > DNA break. Improper rejoining of these DNA ends causes key sections of
> DNA
> > to be lost. While some cells die, others -- forever changed -- become
> > altered blueprints for mutated or cancerous cells.
> > 
> > 
> > 
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