MNeagle
28th January 2013, 05:52 PM
http://media-cache-lt0.pinterest.com/upload/114982596706602958_cAlWuJMP_b.jpg
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that any
amount of radiation – no matter how small – can cause cancer (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/11/meta-review-of-42-studies-even-the-lowest-level-radiation-is-damaging-to-human-health.html)
and other serious health effects.
(Current safety standards are based on the ridiculous assumption that everyone
exposed is a healthy man in his 20s – and that radioactive particles ingested
into the body cause no more damage than radiation hitting the outside of the
body (http://www.ieer.org/reports/referenceman.pdf). In the real world, however, even
low doses of radiation (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/04/how-to-help-protect-yourself-from-low-level-radiation.html) can cause cancer. Moreover, small particles of
radiation – called “internal emitters” – which get inside the body are much more
dangerous than general exposures to radiation. See this (http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/27/3A/S11) and
this (http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/3/149.short). And radiation affects small
children much more than full-grown adults (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/04/killing-the-unborn-with-radiation.html).)
But the Department of Energy – the agency which is responsible for the design, testing and production of all U.S. nuclear weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy#Responsibility_ for_nuclear_weapons), promotes nuclear energy (http://www.ne.doe.gov/) as one of its core functions, which
has been covering
up nuclear accidents for decades (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/governments-have-been-covering-up-nuclear-meltdowns-for-fifty-years-to-protect-the-nuclear-power-industry.html), and has used mutant
lines of human cells (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/05/nuclear-cheerleaders-use-voodoo-science-to-pretend-low-levels-of-radiation-are-safe-or-even-good-for-you.html) to promote voodoo, anti-scientific arguments – proposes
letting radiation into our silverware.
Counterpunch notes (http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/23/nuclear-weapons-waste-in-your-water-bottle-hip-replacement-babys-toys-jungle-gym/):
Even the deregulation-happy Wall St. Journal sounded shocked: “The Department
of Energy is proposing to allow the sale of tons of scrap metal from government
nuclear sites — an attempt to reduce waste that critics say
could lead to radiation-tainted belt buckles, surgical implants and other
consumer products.”
Having failed in the ‘80s and ‘90s to free the nuclear bomb factories
and national laboratories of millions of tons of their radioactively
contaminated scrap and nickel, the DOE is trying again. Its latest
proposal is moving ahead without even an Environmental Impact Statement. Those
messy EISs involve public hearings, so you can imagine the DOE’s reluctance to
face the public over adding yet more radiation to the doses we’re already
accumulating.
Congressman Markey writes (http://markey.house.gov/press-release/markey-questions-doe%E2%80%99s-radioactive-recycling-proposal):
A Department of Energy proposal to allow up to 14,000 metric tons of
its radioactive scrap metal to be recycled into consumer products was
called into question today by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) due to concerns over
public health. In a letter sent to DOE head Steven Chu, Rep. Markey expressed
“grave concerns” over the potential of these metals becoming jewelry,
cutlery, or other consumer products that could exceed healthy doses of radiation
without any knowledge by the consumer. DOE made the proposal to rescind
its earlier moratorium on radioactive scrap metal recycling in December,
2012.
The proposal follows an incident from 2012 involving Bed, Bath & Beyond
stores in America recalling tissue holders made in India that were contaminated
with the radio-isotope cobalt-60. Those products were shipped to 200 stores in
20 states. In response to that incident, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission
spokesperson advised members of the public to return the products even though
the amount of contamination was not considered to be a health
risk.
This is not the first time this has happened.
As the Progressive reported (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/65790505/Nuclear-spoons-hot-metal-may-find-its-way-to-your-dinner-table-%28Dept-of-Energys-proposal-to-recycle-radioactive-metal-into-household-products%29%28Cover-Story%29) in 1998, radioactive scrap metal was ending up in
everything from silverware to frying pans and belt buckles (http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/4-recycled-radioactive-metals-may-be-in-your-home/):
The Department of Energy has a problem: what to do with millions of
tons of radioactive material. So the DOE has come up with an ingenious
plan to dispose of its troublesome tons of nickel, copper, steel and
aluminum. It wants to let scrap companies collect the metal, try to take the
radioactivity out, and sell the metal to foundries, which would in turn sell it
to manufacturers who could use it for everyday household products: pots, pans,
forks, spoons, even your eyeglasses.
You may not know this, but the government already permits some companies
under special licenses, to buy, reprocess and sell radioactive metal: 7,500 tons
in 1996, by one industry estimate. But the amount of this reprocessing could
increase drastically if the DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission … and the
burgeoning radioactive metal processing industry get their way.
They are pressing for a new, lax standard that would do away with
special permits and allow companies to buy and resell millions of tons of
low-level radioactive metal.
***
The standard the companies seek could cause nearly 100,000 cancer
fatalities in the United States, by the NRC’s own
estimate.
(A couple of years later, Congressman Markey successfully banned (http://markey.house.gov/press-release/markey-questions-doe%E2%80%99s-radioactive-recycling-proposal) most radioactive scrap … but now DOE is trying to bring
it back.)
Radioactive scrap is a global problem. As Bloomberg reported (http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2017827107_radioactivescrap25.html) last year:
“The major risk we face in our industry is radiation,” said Paul de Bruin,
radiation-safety chief for Jewometaal Stainless Processing, one of the world’s
biggest stainless-steel scrap yards. “You can talk about security all
you want, but I’ve found weapons-grade uranium in scrap. Where was the
security?”
More than 120 shipments of contaminated goods, including cutlery, buckles and
work tools such as hammers and screwdrivers, were denied U.S. entry between 2003
and 2008 after customs and the Department of Homeland Security boosted radiation
monitoring at borders.
The department declined to provide updated figures or comment on how the
metal tissue boxes at Bed, Bath & Beyond, tainted with cobalt-60 used in
medical instruments to diagnose and treat cancer, evaded detection.
***
“The general public basically isn’t aware that they’re living in a
radioactive world,” according to Ross Bartley, technical director for
the recycling bureau, who said the contamination has led to lost sales. “Those
tissue boxes are problematic because they’re radioactive and they had to be put
in radioactive disposal.”
Abandoned medical scanners, food-processing devices and mining equipment
containing radioactive metals such as cesium-137 and cobalt-60 are picked up by
scrap collectors, sold to recyclers and melted down by foundries, the IAEA
says.
Dangerous scrap comes from derelict hospitals and military bases, as well as
defunct government agencies that have lost tools with radioactive elements.
Chronic exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cataracts, cancer and
birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A 2005
study of more than 6,000 Taiwanese who lived in apartments built with
radioactive reinforcing steel from 1983 to 2005 showed a statistically
significant increase in leukemia and breast cancer.
***
India and China were the top sources of radioactive goods shipped to the U.S.
through 2008, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Bartley, a
metallurgist who has tracked radioactive contamination since the early 1990s,
said there’s no evidence the situation has improved.
***
Two years after an Indian scrap-metal worker died from radiation exposure,
the world’s second-most populous country hasn’t installed alarms, the Ministry
of Shipping said in December.
***
“The same thing could easily happen again tomorrow,” said
Deepak Jain, 65, who owns the yard where the worker died. “We have no
protection. The government promised a lot, but has delivered absolutely
nothing.”
Indeed, we are being bombarded with low-level radiation from all sides:
Above-ground nuclear tests created “background”
levels of radioactive cesium and iodine for the first time (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/comparing-japans-radiation-release-to-background-radiation.html)
Countries dump everything from radiation from nuclear
meltdowns (http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/25-1) to radioactive
submarines (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/09/russia-dumped-19-radioactive-ships-plus-14-nuclear-reactors-into-the-ocean.html) in the ocean
And
the air (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/12/tokyo-almost-as-irradiated-as-fukushima.html)
In Japan, radioactive crops are being mixed (http://enenews.com/professor-japans-radioactive-crops-shipped-clean-areas-mixed-food-supply-video) into non-irradiated foods
The U.S. apparently signed a pact with Japan agreeing that the U.S. will
continue buying seafood from Japan (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/01/governments-worldwide-raise-acceptable-radiation-levels-based-upon-politics-not-science.html), despite that food is not being tested
for radioactive materials (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/fukushima-fish-2500-times-radiation-limit-nuclear-disaster_n_2536775.html)
Much of our food is now intentionally irradiated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation)
(The government would never treat us as guinea pigs ... would it (http://www.democracynow.org/2004/5/5/plutonium_files_how_the_u_s)?)
What can we do? Counterpunch notes:
You can tell the DOE to continue to keep its radioactive metal out of the
commercial metal supply, commerce, and our personal items. You can demand a full
environmental impact statement. Comment deadline is Feb. 9, 2013. Email to: scrap_PEAcomments@hq.doe.gov
(with an underscore after “scrap_”). Snail mail to: Jane Summerson / DOE NNSA /
PO Box 5400, Bldg. 401K. AFB East / Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-28/government-dispose-radioactive-waste-putting-it-our-silverware
The overwhelming scientific consensus is that any
amount of radiation – no matter how small – can cause cancer (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/11/meta-review-of-42-studies-even-the-lowest-level-radiation-is-damaging-to-human-health.html)
and other serious health effects.
(Current safety standards are based on the ridiculous assumption that everyone
exposed is a healthy man in his 20s – and that radioactive particles ingested
into the body cause no more damage than radiation hitting the outside of the
body (http://www.ieer.org/reports/referenceman.pdf). In the real world, however, even
low doses of radiation (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/04/how-to-help-protect-yourself-from-low-level-radiation.html) can cause cancer. Moreover, small particles of
radiation – called “internal emitters” – which get inside the body are much more
dangerous than general exposures to radiation. See this (http://iopscience.iop.org/0952-4746/27/3A/S11) and
this (http://rpd.oxfordjournals.org/content/22/3/149.short). And radiation affects small
children much more than full-grown adults (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/04/killing-the-unborn-with-radiation.html).)
But the Department of Energy – the agency which is responsible for the design, testing and production of all U.S. nuclear weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Energy#Responsibility_ for_nuclear_weapons), promotes nuclear energy (http://www.ne.doe.gov/) as one of its core functions, which
has been covering
up nuclear accidents for decades (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/governments-have-been-covering-up-nuclear-meltdowns-for-fifty-years-to-protect-the-nuclear-power-industry.html), and has used mutant
lines of human cells (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/05/nuclear-cheerleaders-use-voodoo-science-to-pretend-low-levels-of-radiation-are-safe-or-even-good-for-you.html) to promote voodoo, anti-scientific arguments – proposes
letting radiation into our silverware.
Counterpunch notes (http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/01/23/nuclear-weapons-waste-in-your-water-bottle-hip-replacement-babys-toys-jungle-gym/):
Even the deregulation-happy Wall St. Journal sounded shocked: “The Department
of Energy is proposing to allow the sale of tons of scrap metal from government
nuclear sites — an attempt to reduce waste that critics say
could lead to radiation-tainted belt buckles, surgical implants and other
consumer products.”
Having failed in the ‘80s and ‘90s to free the nuclear bomb factories
and national laboratories of millions of tons of their radioactively
contaminated scrap and nickel, the DOE is trying again. Its latest
proposal is moving ahead without even an Environmental Impact Statement. Those
messy EISs involve public hearings, so you can imagine the DOE’s reluctance to
face the public over adding yet more radiation to the doses we’re already
accumulating.
Congressman Markey writes (http://markey.house.gov/press-release/markey-questions-doe%E2%80%99s-radioactive-recycling-proposal):
A Department of Energy proposal to allow up to 14,000 metric tons of
its radioactive scrap metal to be recycled into consumer products was
called into question today by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) due to concerns over
public health. In a letter sent to DOE head Steven Chu, Rep. Markey expressed
“grave concerns” over the potential of these metals becoming jewelry,
cutlery, or other consumer products that could exceed healthy doses of radiation
without any knowledge by the consumer. DOE made the proposal to rescind
its earlier moratorium on radioactive scrap metal recycling in December,
2012.
The proposal follows an incident from 2012 involving Bed, Bath & Beyond
stores in America recalling tissue holders made in India that were contaminated
with the radio-isotope cobalt-60. Those products were shipped to 200 stores in
20 states. In response to that incident, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission
spokesperson advised members of the public to return the products even though
the amount of contamination was not considered to be a health
risk.
This is not the first time this has happened.
As the Progressive reported (http://www.docstoc.com/docs/65790505/Nuclear-spoons-hot-metal-may-find-its-way-to-your-dinner-table-%28Dept-of-Energys-proposal-to-recycle-radioactive-metal-into-household-products%29%28Cover-Story%29) in 1998, radioactive scrap metal was ending up in
everything from silverware to frying pans and belt buckles (http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/4-recycled-radioactive-metals-may-be-in-your-home/):
The Department of Energy has a problem: what to do with millions of
tons of radioactive material. So the DOE has come up with an ingenious
plan to dispose of its troublesome tons of nickel, copper, steel and
aluminum. It wants to let scrap companies collect the metal, try to take the
radioactivity out, and sell the metal to foundries, which would in turn sell it
to manufacturers who could use it for everyday household products: pots, pans,
forks, spoons, even your eyeglasses.
You may not know this, but the government already permits some companies
under special licenses, to buy, reprocess and sell radioactive metal: 7,500 tons
in 1996, by one industry estimate. But the amount of this reprocessing could
increase drastically if the DOE, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission … and the
burgeoning radioactive metal processing industry get their way.
They are pressing for a new, lax standard that would do away with
special permits and allow companies to buy and resell millions of tons of
low-level radioactive metal.
***
The standard the companies seek could cause nearly 100,000 cancer
fatalities in the United States, by the NRC’s own
estimate.
(A couple of years later, Congressman Markey successfully banned (http://markey.house.gov/press-release/markey-questions-doe%E2%80%99s-radioactive-recycling-proposal) most radioactive scrap … but now DOE is trying to bring
it back.)
Radioactive scrap is a global problem. As Bloomberg reported (http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2017827107_radioactivescrap25.html) last year:
“The major risk we face in our industry is radiation,” said Paul de Bruin,
radiation-safety chief for Jewometaal Stainless Processing, one of the world’s
biggest stainless-steel scrap yards. “You can talk about security all
you want, but I’ve found weapons-grade uranium in scrap. Where was the
security?”
More than 120 shipments of contaminated goods, including cutlery, buckles and
work tools such as hammers and screwdrivers, were denied U.S. entry between 2003
and 2008 after customs and the Department of Homeland Security boosted radiation
monitoring at borders.
The department declined to provide updated figures or comment on how the
metal tissue boxes at Bed, Bath & Beyond, tainted with cobalt-60 used in
medical instruments to diagnose and treat cancer, evaded detection.
***
“The general public basically isn’t aware that they’re living in a
radioactive world,” according to Ross Bartley, technical director for
the recycling bureau, who said the contamination has led to lost sales. “Those
tissue boxes are problematic because they’re radioactive and they had to be put
in radioactive disposal.”
Abandoned medical scanners, food-processing devices and mining equipment
containing radioactive metals such as cesium-137 and cobalt-60 are picked up by
scrap collectors, sold to recyclers and melted down by foundries, the IAEA
says.
Dangerous scrap comes from derelict hospitals and military bases, as well as
defunct government agencies that have lost tools with radioactive elements.
Chronic exposure to low doses of radiation can lead to cataracts, cancer and
birth defects, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A 2005
study of more than 6,000 Taiwanese who lived in apartments built with
radioactive reinforcing steel from 1983 to 2005 showed a statistically
significant increase in leukemia and breast cancer.
***
India and China were the top sources of radioactive goods shipped to the U.S.
through 2008, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Bartley, a
metallurgist who has tracked radioactive contamination since the early 1990s,
said there’s no evidence the situation has improved.
***
Two years after an Indian scrap-metal worker died from radiation exposure,
the world’s second-most populous country hasn’t installed alarms, the Ministry
of Shipping said in December.
***
“The same thing could easily happen again tomorrow,” said
Deepak Jain, 65, who owns the yard where the worker died. “We have no
protection. The government promised a lot, but has delivered absolutely
nothing.”
Indeed, we are being bombarded with low-level radiation from all sides:
Above-ground nuclear tests created “background”
levels of radioactive cesium and iodine for the first time (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/03/comparing-japans-radiation-release-to-background-radiation.html)
Countries dump everything from radiation from nuclear
meltdowns (http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/01/25-1) to radioactive
submarines (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/09/russia-dumped-19-radioactive-ships-plus-14-nuclear-reactors-into-the-ocean.html) in the ocean
And
the air (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/12/tokyo-almost-as-irradiated-as-fukushima.html)
In Japan, radioactive crops are being mixed (http://enenews.com/professor-japans-radioactive-crops-shipped-clean-areas-mixed-food-supply-video) into non-irradiated foods
The U.S. apparently signed a pact with Japan agreeing that the U.S. will
continue buying seafood from Japan (http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/01/governments-worldwide-raise-acceptable-radiation-levels-based-upon-politics-not-science.html), despite that food is not being tested
for radioactive materials (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/fukushima-fish-2500-times-radiation-limit-nuclear-disaster_n_2536775.html)
Much of our food is now intentionally irradiated (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_irradiation)
(The government would never treat us as guinea pigs ... would it (http://www.democracynow.org/2004/5/5/plutonium_files_how_the_u_s)?)
What can we do? Counterpunch notes:
You can tell the DOE to continue to keep its radioactive metal out of the
commercial metal supply, commerce, and our personal items. You can demand a full
environmental impact statement. Comment deadline is Feb. 9, 2013. Email to: scrap_PEAcomments@hq.doe.gov
(with an underscore after “scrap_”). Snail mail to: Jane Summerson / DOE NNSA /
PO Box 5400, Bldg. 401K. AFB East / Albuquerque, New Mexico 87185
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-01-28/government-dispose-radioactive-waste-putting-it-our-silverware