Radiation Contamination In Our Waters – We Should Be Worried

By Theodora Filis

Generally, one thinks in terms of a nuclear war when considering pollution that involves radiation.

The background level of radiation in oceans and seas varies around the globe. The primary source of radiation pollution has been nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific Ocean, but some regions have experienced additional inputs. The Irish Sea in 2008 showed elevated levels compared to large ocean basins as a result of radioactive releases from the Sellafield reprocessing facility at Seacastle, U.K. Levels in the Baltic and Black Seas are elevated due to fallout from the 1986 explosion and fire at the Chornobyl nuclear reactor. --Data courtesy of MARIS/IAEA and CMER

Scientists continue to track the many pathways by which radioisotopes from the damaged nuclear reactors at Fukushima make their way into and out of seawater, marine life, and seafloor sediments. 

These depend on the behavior and metabolism of an individual animal, the nature of complex coastal and open-ocean processes, and the physical and chemical properties of individual isotopes. Most marine life that becomes contaminated with Fukushima radiation remains near the reactor, but some species, like Bluefin tuna, are far-ranging and even migrate across the Pacific. When these animals leave the Northeast coast of Japan, some isotopes remain in their body, but others, like cesium, naturally flush out of their system.

There are many other sources of radiation pollution. In New Mexico, for example, there was much concern expressed in 1988 over the WIPP Site (Waste Isolation Pilot Project) used to store low-level nuclear waste. Radioactive waste is especially troublesome because some of it has to be secured for up to 250,000 years. This period of time represents about one-fourth of the entire time that humans have been considered a separate species.

Yucca Mountain, in Nevada, is an often proposed site for nuclear waste storage. Unlike WIPP, Yucca Mountain would store waste from nuclear power plants. At the moment, however, Yucca Mountain is off the table as a place to store nuclear waste.

Radioactive waste includes:

• used nuclear cores
  
• uranium tailings
  
• waste generated by hospitals, universities, and industrial plants.
  

Much radioactive waste is dumped into the ocean.

From 1946 to 1970 the U.S. dumped 11,000 tons of radioactive waste into the ocean. The Farallon Islands, located just west of San Francisco, have 50,000 barrels of radioactive waste located in that area. Near the Farallon site, radioactive levels are 2000 times greater than would be normally expected.

Even more dramatic are the levels of contamination found off the New Jersey shore. 

The New Jersey Salem and Hope Creek Generating Stations and Oyster Creek Generating Station have levels of radiation that are 260,000 times the normal level expected. 

Fish caught near the New Jersey sites were found to contain levels of Plutonium 5000 times the expected level.
Government and industry experts have identified a wide array of these nuclear power plants including a leaky generator, unreliable controls on a reactor, and workers who were so discouraged by a lack of maintenance that they stopped calling for repairs. 

Watchdog groups, like the Union of Concerned Scientists, have called on the commission to close the plants until everything is fixed, but regulators say such drastic action is not needed now.

It is up to each reader to decide if they will trust what the regulators say, or not.

What Would You Do If Your Government Knowingly and Willfully Put Your Life At Risk From Asbestos Exposure?

By Theodora Filis

Every year, over 10,000 people die from complications related to asbestos exposure in the US alone. Despite everything known about the danger of asbestos, halting its use has been a difficult process in Canada and the United States.

In the 1990s, many countries adopted bans on the use and importation of asbestos to protect their citizens – except the US and Canada – strong economic and political forces still conspire against the movement to ban asbestos.

When France announced in 1996 that it would ban the use of asbestos, Canada (a major exporter of chrysotile asbestos) felt threatened. The Canadian government took its concerns to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to argue that the ban was an “unreasonable restriction of international trade.”

However, disputing the resolution panel, the WTO rejected Canada’s argument, finding that France and other countries involved in the ban had valid public health concerns. Today, asbestos has been banned in more than 55 countries around the world, including all 25 countries in the European Union.

Why no Asbestos ban in the US and Canada? In 1989 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the Asbestos Ban and Phase Out Rule – later overturned in 1991 in the case of Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA.

Asbestos exposure has been known to cause malignant and non-malignant diseases such as lung cancer, asbestosis, and mesothelioma. Mesothelioma is a rare type of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, heart, abdomen, and other organs. The average age at diagnosis is 62 years of age, occurs about four times more frequently in men than in women, and is almost always caused by exposure to asbestos.

The life expectancy for mesothelioma patients is generally reported as less than one year following diagnosis, however, a patient's prognosis can be positively affected by numerous factors including how early the cancer is diagnosed and how aggressively it is treated.

The three widely accepted ways to treat mesothelioma are surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. Studies show that a combination of these treatments can ease pain, help eliminate symptoms and slow the progress of mesothelioma cancer. Treatment options that are available depend heavily on what stage the mesothelioma is in when diagnosed.

Asbestos is a mineral fiber that has been used commonly in a variety of building construction materials for insulation and as a fire-retardant. Because of its fiber strength and heat-resistant properties, asbestos has been used for a wide range of manufactured goods, mostly in building materials (roofing shingles, ceiling and floor tiles, paper products, and asbestos cement products), friction products (automobile clutch, brake, and transmission parts), heat-resistant fabrics, packaging, gaskets, and coatings.

When asbestos-containing materials are damaged or disturbed by repair, remodeling, or demolition activities, microscopic fibers become airborne and can be inhaled into the lungs, where they can cause significant health problems.

Most Common Sources of Asbestos Exposure:
Workplace exposure to people that work in industries that mine make or use asbestos products and those living near these industries, including the construction industry (particularly building demolition and renovation activities), the manufacture of asbestos products (such as textiles, friction products, insulation, and other building materials), and during automotive brake and clutch repair work. Deteriorating, damaged, or disturbed asbestos-containing products such as insulation, fireproofing, acoustical materials, and floor tiles.

There are other countries where asbestos use is legal and, in some cases, on the rise. The Canadian government, having failed to win over the WTO, realized that it would have to work directly with developing countries to support a market for its asbestos.

In some countries, especially the developing nations of Asia, asbestos use, and exposure, are increasing.