Title: Summary of New Available Reports
Author:
Section/SPIG: Environment
Issue Date:
BEIR Report
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued on June 29, 2005 the latest report on radiation risk, the “BEIR VII report,” or Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation. The last report was in 1990, the “BEIR V report.” The BEIR’s series of reports are the most authoritative basis for radiation risk estimation and radiation protection regulations in the United States. The report estimates risks for cancer incidence rates as well as mortality and also provides detailed risk figures according to age of exposure for males and females by cancer type. Using cellular level studies, the report thoroughly reviewed available human and animal cancer data. The study found the following:
• The risks for all solid tumors, like lung, breast, and kidney, liver, and other solid tumors added together are almost 50 percent greater for women than men. Risks for specific cancers, including leukemia, are higher for men. See http://books.nap.edu/books/030909156X/html/28.html
• The cancer risk for children is even greater. For example, the same radiation in the first year of life for boys produces three to four times the cancer risk as exposure between ages of 20 and 50. See http://books.nap.edu/books/030909156X/html/550.html
• Female infants have almost double the risk as male infants.
• In animal studies, harm was found when parents were exposed to radiation. While there is no direct evidence of harm to human offspring, there is “…no reason to believe that humans would be immune to this sort of harm.”
(From page 20, prepublication copy, on the Web at http://books.nap.edu/books/0303909156X/html/20.html)
• The committee also noted that relatively high levels of radiation exposure increase the risk of heart disease and stroke, though it did not give specific risk estimates.
The BEIR VII report reaffirmed the conclusion of the prior report that every exposure to radiation produces a corresponding increase in cancer risk. Radiation exposures are cumulative over a lifetime.
For a complete copy go to http://books.nap.edu/books/030909156X/html/
The information is this article is from the report from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), see http://IEER.org or contact Arjun Makhijani at Arjun@ieer.org.
Furthermore, IEER stated plutonium is threatening drinking water. In a letter to the U.S. EPA, they are requesting that the Drinking Water Standard for alpha-emitting, long-lived transuranic radionuclides be reduced from 15 picocuries per liter to 0.15 picocuries per liter. They are asking groups to sign onto the letter to U.S. EPA. For further information contact Arjun Makhijani at arjun@ieer.org
--Marica Marks
fragermark@mindspring.com
Methamphetamine Labs, How Do They Affect Public Health?
Methamphetamine laboratories (meth labs) are not laboratories in the traditional sense. These labs are illegal, clandestine setups with very crude and dangerous materials. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive, synthetic drug that is easy to obtain and widely abused throughout the United States. Meth, as it is commonly called, is also known as ice, crystal meth, crank, tina, crissy, speed, and hundreds of other street names. It is commonly sold in a white powder form that dissolves in water, but has also been distributed in colorful tablets or as crystals referred to as glass or ice. Methamphetamine can be smoked, snorted, injected or taken orally. [EDITOR NOTE: Thus, the issue is it is a chemical agent people are exposed to through multiple media and multiple pathways.] It stimulates the central nervous system and is psychologically addictive. Although methamphetamine has existed on the West Coast and in rural America for many years, how prevalent is it around the nation today? Meth lab incidents were reported in every state in 2004 except Connecticut and Rhode Island; numbers of incidents were especially high in the southeast.
For a complete copy of the article, based on her 2004 APHA presentation, please contact the author (see below).
Sheila Davidson Pressley
sheila.pressley@eku.edu