What Are The Adverse Health Effects of Radiation Exposure? Why Is the Obama White House Minimizing This Urgent Question?
It's time to say NO to nuclear energy.
Copyright 2011-3011 Alternative News Forum, All Rights Reserved.
Re-posted on 3.16.2011 Courtesy of the BBC website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12722435
As American families scramble to procure potassium iodide tablets and to learn all they can about the health effects of radiation exposure, I have been at first baffled, and eventually irate over the lack of intelligent truthful and accurate reporting on this issue from the mainstream press. Scouring the web daily for good and helpful easy to read and understand articles on the topic of radiation exposure, I have noted with alarm and dismay that our US news media is putting out a steady stream of conflicting, confusing, incomplete and misleading articles on this topic.
American media outlets, elected local officials, Barack Obama: Get your story straight!
As the Los Angeles County health official was just quoted as saying that iodine pills are not needed, the US Surgeon General was quoted the same day saying just the opposite. To make matters worse our own clearly incompetent and clueless Commander-in-Chief chimed in with the L.A. officials’ remarks, reiterating that “no nuclear fallout would reach the U.S”. Since when is Barack Obama a soothsayer on the nuances of the pacific jet stream? It’s an ill-informed misstatement at least, and an overt blunder at worst to just assume that “no radioactive fallout will reach this country.” How absurd for him to make such an ill informed comment at this particular time. It does nothing to bolster the people’s flagging faith in this man leadership, which is always suspiciously missing in action when needed.
It’s just one more WTF moment in observing the apparent incompetence of elected US public high officials in dealing adequately with a very serious potential national health crisis that is unfolding hourly. Minimizing the imminent threat of radiation clouds that could blow over the USA mainland and even stall over certain regions seems more than a little bit wicked to me.
What in the hell is our local and national leadership thinking at this urgent moment? Are local public officials actually trying to convince Americans NOT to look at the potential nuclear fallout elephant in the living room? For God’s sake, why?
No one in their right mind, as far as I am concerned, should be telling Americans NOT to procure supplies of potassium iodide tablets, yet that is exactly what one Los Angeles County public health official was just quoted as saying. Honestly, were it not for the UK, Canadian and Australian press, I would be hard pressed to locate good educational materials on the topic of radiation exposure at all.
Why are our health and public safety leaders sticking their heads in the sand at this particular moment, when serious and strenuous national leadership and a unified health and safety message for the American public is so desperately needed?
I’d like to thank the BBC, Australian and Canadian press for their helpful essays and reporting on both the nuclear events in Japan as they occurred, and the possible adverse health effects of exposure to airborne radiation. I could not locate a single article like this one below in the US press. What’s wrong with that picture?
Chase Kyla Hunter
Cited:
What are the immediate health effects of exposure to radiation?
Exposure to moderate levels of radiation – above one gray – can result in radiation sickness, which produces a range of symptoms.
Nausea and vomiting often begin within hours of exposure, followed by diarrhoea, headaches and fever.
After the first round of symptoms, there may be a brief period with no apparent illness, but this may be followed within weeks by new, more serious symptoms.
At higher levels of radiation, all of these symptoms may be immediately apparent, along with widespread – and potentially fatal – damage to internal organs.
Exposure to a radiation dose of four gray will typically kill about half of all healthy adults.
For comparison, radiation therapy for cancer typically involves several doses of between one and seven gray at a time – but these doses are highly controlled, and usually specifically targeted at small areas of the body.
| Radiation dose | Effect |
|---|---|
| Source: World Nuclear Association: See http://worldnuclear.org/auswahl.cfm?select=1 | |
| 2 mSv/yr (millisieverts per year) | Typical background radiation experienced by everyone (average 1.5 mSv in Australia, 3 mSv in North America) |
| 9 mSv/yr | Exposure by airline crew flying New York-Tokyo polar route |
| 20 mSv/yr | Current limit (averaged) for nuclear industry employees |
| 50 mSv/yr | Former routine limit for nuclear industry employees. It is also the dose rate which arises from natural background levels in several places in Iran, India and Europe |
| 100 mSv/yr | Lowest level at which any increase in cancer is clearly evident. |
| 350 mSv/lifetime | Criterion for relocating people after Chernobyl accident |
| 1,000 mSv single dose | Causes (temporary) radiation sickness such as nausea and decreased white blood cell count, but not death. Above this, severity of illness increases with dose |
| 5,000 mSv single dose | Would kill about half those receiving it within a month |
How is radiation sickness treated?
The first thing to do is to try to minimise further contamination by removing clothes and shoes, and gently washing the skin with soap and water.
Drugs are available that increase white blood-cell production to counter any damage that may have occurred to the bone marrow, and to reduce the risk of further infections due to immune-system damage.
There are also specific drugs that can help to reduce the damage to internal organs caused by radioactive particles.
How does radiation have an impact on health?
Radioactive materials that decay spontaneously produce ionising radiation, which has the capacity to cause significant damage to the body’s internal chemistry, breaking the chemical bonds between the atoms and molecules that make up our tissues.
The body responds by trying to repair this damage, but sometimes it is too severe or widespread to make repair possible. There is also a danger of mistakes in the natural repair process.
Regions of the body that are most vulnerable to radiation damage include the cells lining the intestine and stomach, and the blood-cell producing cells in the bone marrow.
The extent of the damage caused is dependent on how long people are exposed to radiation, and at what level.
Radiation and cancer
- Most experts agree even small doses of ionising radiation – as low as 100 millisieverts – can increase the risk of cancer, but by a very small amount.
- In general, the risk of cancer increases as the dose of radiation increases. Exposure to one sievert of radiation is estimated to increase the lifetime risk of fatal cancer by around 5%.
- The thyroid gland and bone marrow are particularly sensitive to ionising radiation.
- Leukemia, a type of cancer that arises in the bone marrow, is the most common radiation-induced cancer. Leukemias may appear as early as a few years after radiation exposure.
- Other cancer can also result from exposure to radiation, but may not develop for at least a decade. These include cancers of the lung, skin, thyroid, breast and stomach.
What are the most likely long-term health effects?
Cancer is the biggest long-term risk. Usually when the body’s cells reach their “sell-by date” they commit suicide. Cancer results when cells lose this ability, and effectively become immortal, continuing to divide and divide in an uncontrolled fashion.
The body has various processes for ensuring that cells do not become cancerous, and for replacing damaged tissue.
But the damage caused by exposure to radiation can completely disrupt these control processes, making it much more likely that cancer will result.
Failure to properly repair the damage caused by radiation can also result in changes – or mutations – to the body’s genetic material, which are not only associated with cancer, but may also be potentially passed down to offspring, leading to deformities in future generations. These can include smaller head or brain size, poorly formed eyes, slow growth and severe learning difficulties.
Are children at greater risk?
Potentially yes. Because they are growing more rapidly, more cells are dividing, and so the potential for things to go wrong is greater.
Following the Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in the Ukraine in 1986, the World Health Organization recorded a dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among children in the vicinity.
This was because the radioactive materials released during the accident contained high levels of radioactive iodine, a material that accumulates in the thyroid.
What risk does Fukushima pose currently?
The Japanese authorities have recorded a radiation level of up 400 millisieverts per hour at the nuclear plant itself.
A sievert is essentially equivalent to a gray, but tends to be used to measure lower levels of radiation, and for assessing long-term risk, rather than the short-term acute impact of exposure.
Professor Richard Wakeford, an expert in radiation exposure at the University of Manchester, said exposure to a dose of 400 millisieverts was unlikely to cause radiation sickness – that would require a dose of around twice that level (one sievert/one gray).
However, it could start to depress the production of blood cells in the bone marrow, and was likely to raise the lifetime risk of fatal cancer by 2-4%. Typically, a Japanese person has a lifetime risk of fatal cancer of 20-25%.
Prof Wakeford stressed only emergency workers at the plant were at risk of exposure to such a dose – but it was likely that they would only be exposed for short periods of time to minimise their risk.
The level of exposure for the general population, even those living close to the plant, was unlikely to be anywhere near as high.
How can the Japanese authorities minimise the cost to human health?
Prof Wakeford said that provided the Japanese authorities acted quickly, most of the general population should be spared significant health problems.
He said in those circumstances the only people likely to be at risk of serious health effects were nuclear workers at the plant or emergency workers exposed to high levels of radiation.
He said the top priority would be to evacuate people from the area and to make sure they did not eat contaminated food. The biggest risk was that radioactive iodine could get into their system, raising the risk of thyroid cancer.
To counter that risk, people – in particular children – could be given tablets containing stable iodine which would prevent the body absorbing the radioactive version.
The Japanese already have a lot of iodine in their natural diet, so that should help too.
How does Fukushima compare to Chernobyl?
Professor Gerry Thomas, who has studied the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, said: “It is very unlikely that this will turn into anything that resembles Chernobyl.
“In Chernobyl you had a steam explosion which exposed the reactor core, which meant you had a lot of radiation shooting up into the atmosphere.”
Prof Thomas said although the Chernobyl disaster had led to a rise in thyroid cancer cases, the only people affected were those living in the immediate area of the explosion and who were young at the time.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12722435
Japan’s Emperor Addresses the Nation, An Indication of the Seriousness of Conditions in Japan
Related Articles
- Radiation exposure: a quick guide to what each level means (guardian.co.uk)
- Factbox: How much radiation is dangerous? (reuters.com)
- Anti-Radiation Pills Bought as U.S. Fears Rise (abcnews.go.com)
- Radiation’s health effects (cbc.ca)
- How Does Nuclear Radiation Harm the Body? (livescience.com)
- Factbox: How much radiation is dangerous? (thegreatone22.wordpress.com)
- How much radiation is dangerous? (newstatesman.com)
- Radiation Exposure Guide: How Much is Too Much? (nowpublic.com)
- UPDATE: Major radiation release at Fukushima Daiichi (blogs.nature.com)
- Careful, not fearful of nuclear radiation (cnn.com)
- Q&A: Health effects of radiation exposure – BBC News (news.google.com)
Acute radiation poisoning is one of the worse ways to go! Iodines in liquid form is next to very difficult to find! Tetraglycine Hydroperiodide (this can be found on line or surplus ‘military’ will treat water for radiation but will still need to filter (first) treat it by boiling or other forms, you will need a neutralizer (P.A. plus tablets) to get rid of the taste of the iodine! Potassium iodine can be found w/o much trouble, time is of essence. Learn everything you can, it’s coming, prepare for life w/o home services (utility’s). have plenty of food, ‘cash on hand’, water, personals, meds and be ready to move on a short notice, don’t forget TP! PRAY for wisdom, trust in Him fully!
It is interesting of the stance Japan’s officials made concerning Israel right before the quake, I care for ‘them’ and we need to help ‘them’, if you (we)can, pray for them!
natural disasters make a great case for population control, almost at no cost to those who control! they can just sit back, claim they’re unable to help and that they’re out of iodine pills (all those huge corps that are “sold out” of tablets… have strong ties with the White House and the Fed), and that nobody should panic because there’s no risk. AKA… everyone just sit there, ignore your instincts to protect yourself, listen to the mass media, and essentially allow yourself to be consumed by radiation poisoning, having taken no precautionary measures… and if the plan goes as hoped, you’ll die. and make more room for the elitists.
How to Detox Your Body of Depleted Uranium
Residues, the Effects of Radiation, and Radioactive Contamination
These Herbs and foods can also be used for
many other Health challenges– This sure gives me a lot of peace of mind. ~J
It’s sad but true that there are thousands of scientific references
and medical studies out there on the fact that radiation and
radioactivity can harm you, yet despite millions of dollars spent by
the government to study radiation, virtually nothing is available
about a detoxification diet or nutritional supplements you might use
if you are exposed to radioactive contamination.
Here’s some of the information we do know from the only book in the
world on the topic. Keep this information in the back of your mind
as it may one day help save you or someone you know.
Most people are aware taking potassium iodide (KI) or potassium
iodate (KIO3) tablets will help block your thyroid gland from
absorbing radioactive iodine should there ever be a dirty bomb
explosion or nuclear power plant mishap such as the Three Mile
Island incident. In 1999, another such accident happened in
Tokaimura, Japan where several individuals died from radiation
exposure in a fuel processing facility.
What people don’t recognize is that potassium iodide or iodate
tablets only protect the thyroid gland and do not provide protection
from any other radiation exposure, so taking them should not give
you a false sense of security. It’s important to detox your body
after radioactive exposure!
One question is, what do you do if KI or KIO3 tablets aren’t
available during an emergency? Interestingly enough, according to
research by Ken Miller, health physicist at the Hershey Medical
Center, he found that an adult could get a blocking dose of stable
iodine by painting 8 ml of a 2 percent tincture of Iodine on the
abdomen or forearm approximately 2 hours prior to I-131
contamination. Potassium iodine tablets are best, but if they’re not
available this is the next best thing.
An entirely different problem arises after you’ve been exposed to
radioactive contamination because now you have to get rid of any
radioactive particles you may have ingested through the air you
breathed, water you drank, or food you ate. Some people suggest
Epson salt, Clorox or clay baths to remove any residues on your skin
and to leach out any heavy metals you may have absorbed, but the big
worry is internal contamination. To gain some insights into what to
do, we have to turn to the story of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.
At the time of the atomic bombing, Tatsuichiro Akizuki, M.D. was
Director of the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Francis’s
Hospital in Nagasaki and he fed his staff and patients a strict diet of brown rice, miso and tamari soy
soup, wakame, kombu and other seaweed, Hokkaido pumpkin, and sea
salt. He also prohibited the
consumption of sugar and sweets since they suppress the
immune system.
By imposing this diet on his staff and patients, no one succumbed to
radiation poisoning whereas the occupants of hospitals located much
further away from the blast incident suffered severe radiation
fatalities.
Much of this positive result has to do with the fact that the sea vegetables contain substances that bind
radioactive particles and escort them out of the body. This is why
seaweed sales usually skyrocket after radiation disasters, and why
various seaweeds and algae are typically used to treat radiation
victims.
In Chernobyl, for instance, spirulina
was used to help save many children from radiation poisoning. By
taking 5 grams of spirulina a day for 45 days, the Institute of
Radiation Medicine in Minsk even proved that children on this
protocol experienced enhanced immune systems, T-cell counts and
reduced radioactivity. Israeli scientists have since treated
Chernobyl children with doses of natural beta
carotene from Dunaliella algae and proved that it helped
normalize their blood chemistry. Chlorella
algae, a known immune system builder and heavy metal
detoxifier, has also shown radioprotective effects. Because they
bind heavy metals, algae should therefore be consumed after exposure
to any type of radioactive contamination.
In 1968 a group of Canadian researchers at McGill University of
Montreal, headed by Dr. Stanley Skoryna, actually set out to devise
a method to counteract the effects of nuclear fallout. The key
finding from their studies was that sea
vegetables contained a polysaccharide substance, called sodium alginate, which selectively bound
radioactive strontium and eliminated it from the body.
Sodium alginate is found in many seaweeds, especially kelp, and
since that time the Russians have been seriously researching the use
of their own kelps from Vladivlostok, from which they have isolated
the polysaccharide U-Fucoidan, which is another radioactive
detoxifier. Because miso soup was so
effective in helping prevent radiation sickness, the Japanese have
also done research identifying the presence of an active ingredient
called zybicolin, discovered in 1972,
which acts as a binding agent to also detoxify
and eliminate radioactive elements (such as strontium) and
other pollutants from the body.
The kelps and algaes aren’t the only natural foods with
radio-detoxifying effects. In terms of fluids to drink, black and green tea have shown “radioprotective
effects” whether consumed either before or after exposure
to radiation. This anti-radiation effect was observed in several
Japanese studies, and studies from China also suggest that the
ingredients in tea are radioactive antagonists.
In short, after any sort of radioactive exposure you want to be
eating seaweeds and algaes along with almost any type of commercial
heavy metal chelating formula to bind radioactive particles and help
escort them out of the body. Whether you’re worried about depleted
uranium, plutonium or other isotopes, this is the wise thing to do
which can possibly help, and certainly won’t hurt. Many nutritional
supplements have been developed for the purpose of detoxifying heavy
metals, most of which contain the algaes and plant fibers and other
binding substances.
Basically, an anti-radiation diet should focus
on the following foods:
· Miso soup
· Spirulina, chlorella and the algaes (kelp, etc.)
· Brassica vegetables and high beta carotene vegetables
· Beans and lentils
· Potassium, calcium and mineral rich foods
· High nucleotide content foods to assist in cellular repair
including spirulina, chlorella, algae, yeast, sardines, liver,
anchovies and mackerel
· Cod liver oil and olive oil
· Avoid sugars and sweets and wheat
· A good multivitamin/multimineral supplement
Yet another benefit of the sea vegetables rarely discussed is their
high mineral content, which is a bonus in the case of radioactive
exposure. Consuming natural iodine, such as in the seaweeds, helps
prevent the uptake of iodine-131 while iron inhibits the absorption
of plutonium-238 and plutonium-239. Vitamin B-12 inhibits cobalt-60
uptake (used in nuclear medicine), zinc inhibits zinc-65 uptake and
sulfur is preventative for sulfur-35 (a product of nuclear reactors)
incorporation by the body.
Since nuclear workers are potentially exposed to radioactive sulfur,
this means that workers in the atomic power industry need a higher
content of sulfur in their diet. MSM
supplements provide a source of dietary sulfur, but thiol
supplements such as cysteine, lipoic acid and
glutathione serve double-duty in this area because they
help detoxify the body and attack all sorts of other health problems
as well.
The immune system is usually hit hard after radiation exposure, and
a number of steps can be taken to help prevent opportunistic
infections after a radioactive incident. Though the full dimensions
of the protective mechanism is still unknown, Siberian
ginseng is one form of ginseng that exerts a definite
radioprotective effect and has been demonstrated to lessen the side
effects of radiation. It was widely distributed by the Soviet Union
to those exposed Chernobyl radiation and is commonly used to help
cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy.
Consuming Reishi mushrooms is another
proven way to bolster your immune system after radiation exposure
and helps reduce the damage from radiation. It’s been used to
decrease radiation sickness in animals and help them recover faster
after potentially deadly exposure.
Panax ginseng has prevented
hemorrhaging after radiation exposure, prevents bone marrow death
and stimulates blood cell formation, so it’s another supplement to
add to one’s protocol. In short, yeasts, beta glucans, bee pollen
and various forms of ginseng have all been shown to bolster the
immune system after radiation incidents. In terms of radiation
burns, aloe vera has a proven ability
to treat serious radiation burns and offers other radioprotective
effects, and can easily be grown in your house.
The amino acid L-Glutamine can be used
to help repair the intestine in case of the gastrointestinal
syndrome usually suffered due to radiation exposure, and a variety
of substances can help rebuild blood cells to prevent hematopoietic
syndrome. Those particular foods include beet
juice, liver extract, spleen extract, and shark alkyglycerols.
Most oncologists don’t know that shark liver oil, with
alkyglycerols, can help platelet counts rebound in days..
Depleted uranium is currently in the journalistic spotlight because
US weapons are made from this material, and after being fired leave
a legacy of depleted uranium dust in the environment, which anyone
can absorb. Because the kidneys are usually the first organs to show
chemical damage upon uranium exposure, military manuals suggest
doses or infusions of sodium bicarbonate
to help alkalinize the urine if this happens. This makes the uranyl
ion less kidney-toxic and promotes excretion of the nontoxic uranium
carbonate complex.
In areas contaminated by depleted uranium dusts, it therefore makes
sense to switch to drinking slightly alkaline
water and to favor a non-acidic diet
to assist in this detoxification. Any of the heavy metal
detoxifiers, such as miso soup, chlorella, spirulina and seaweeds,
are also commonsense warranted.
Another thing you can do is use homeopathics
for radiation exposure. People commonly argue over whether
homeopathics work or not, but if you assume the position that they
produce no results whatsoever then you must also assume that they
certainly won’t hurt you, which means the only loss from using them
is a few dollars. Frankly, there are countless cases and
double-blind studies where homeopathic tinctures do provoke physical
healing effects in the body. Therefore they are a viable adjunct
treatment option. One homeopathic, in particular, is URANIUM NITRICUM (nitrate of uranium) which
homeopaths suggest should be used in cases of depleted uranium
exposure or uranium poisoning. Not just soldiers or civilians
exposed to battlefield dusts, but uranium miners and radiation
workers may find it quite useful.
While we’ve discussed just a few of the many supplements and
protocols you can use to help detox the body of the lingering
results of radioactive contamination, including the residues of
depleted uranium, the last thing that might be of interest is that
there is a plant that is a natural geiger counter. The spiderwort
plant is so sensitive to changes in radiation levels (its petals
change color upon exposure) that it’s often used as a natural
radiation detector (dosimeter), just as they use canaries in mines
as detectors of poisonous gas. Some people like knowing that they
have an ongoing monitoring system for radiation in the environment,
and this is just another tip available in “How
to Neutralize the Harmful Effects of Radiation or Radioactive
Exposure”
Thank you. I am also posting this material separately as a regular post to give it more exposure.
Chase
We need to be prepared for anything including nuclear radiation, plutonium and other poisons entering our environment wherever we are. Radiation effects include cancer, genetic and DNA damage, reproductive damage, hormonal damage, and thyroid damage (that’s why they want you to take potassium iodine, another dangerous toxin) but I wouldn’t. There is a much safer substance (nascent iodine).
There are some natural substances strong enough to protect against radiation. A good article on what you can do is here:
Radiation Pills
And to make sure the water you drink is safe, look at the following article:
Radiation Water Purification