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UNITE! Info #163en: Chernobyl: No thyroid cancers
[Posted: 11.02.02]
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INTRO NOTE:
With Anders Eklöf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and also with
others, I've been discussing on NG 'swnet.politik' the ques-
tion of low-dose ionizing radiation.
On the arch-reactionary political motives behind those *enor-
mous lies* on this question which you encounter in *all* the
bourgeois mass media, see various earlier Infos.
I wrote a posting "Varför vi mår bra av lite mer strålning"
("Why a little more radiation is good for us"), citing and
also separately reproducing an article by Myron Pollycove
from 1998 which explained the biological mechanism behind
this, "Human Biology, Epidemology, and Low-Dose Ionizing Ra-
diation", and once more pointing to one excellent website
where this article and others on the subject can be found:
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/radioadaptive/.
Anders (who, as it turned out, likewise advocates nuclear
energy and who has long studied the question of radiation, in
accordance with the current teachings on it at universities
here in Sweden) replied i.a. that one statement of mine, con-
cerning the actual effects of the nasty reactionary manipula-
tion of one nuclear reactor at Chernobyl in the then Soviet
Union in 1986, was (in translation by me now):
"...a sheer mockery of the Ukraine, where thousands of people
have been made invalids by radiation damage. Also, many have
been hit by leukemia and thyroid cancer".
Or in Swedish:
[Anders E. to 'swnet.politik', 07.02.2002:]
>Ditt uttalande är ett rent hån mot Ukraina, där tusentals
>människor har invalidiserats av strålskador. Många har också
>drabbats av leukemi och sköldkörtelcancer.
I replied in some equally harsh terms - probably unjustified-
ly so, as it later turned out - that these propositions were
part of a very infamous reactionary lying campaign, possibly,
though, with the exception of the one concerning thyroid can-
cers. Some additional cases of such *had* been reported on
also by sources which were not obviously untrustworthy.
According to one article which I've seen later, it seems that
*not even* those extra thyroid cancers which were reported to
be caused by the Chernobyl disaster *were* caused by that
nasty manipulation.
I'd like to bring the relevant part of that article to the
attention of Anders E., to begin with, as part of a perhaps
continued debate, and also to that of others. It's reproduced
below in this Info.
Before that, I shall quote again, for general orientation,
two earlier statements, both as reproduced by me, on Cherno-
byl health effects.
End of intro note
From "Committee Save Barsebäck: STOP THE DESTRUCTION!" (state-
ment 06.01.2002, posted in English translation from my address
on 09.01.2002):
[QUOTE:]
After the serious so-called accident in a nuclear power plant
at Chernobyl in the then Soviet Union in 1986, the result of a
so-called "experiment", which killed 42 people and caused
large material damage, enormous amounts of foodstuffs were
destroyed without any factual reason whatsoever for this, in
areas rather far away, even some here in Sweden, and Soviet
authorities ordered the evacuation of tens of thousands of
people on account of, they said, "radiation hazards".
For this large forced relocation there were, and are, in re-
ality, only *propagandistic* reasons. That "limit" for evacu-
ation which was set up was designed to prevent anybody from
receiving 350 mSv of radiation during his or her lifetime. But
that is what people here in Sweden on the average are always
getting - and in many other places, the amount is much larger
too, see table above. That is, according to the same "logic",
even everybody here in Sweden would "have to have been evacua-
ted" long ago.
In mass media around the world, it has been maintained that
"thousands" or "tens of thousands" of people "have died" or
"will die" "because of extra radiation from Chernobyl". These
are some really absurd inventions. This scare propaganda and
a large number of purported "countermeasures" which have been
"justified" by it have caused a much larger catastrophe than
that which was caused by this serious event itself.
Precisely contrary to what this and other propaganda wants to
have people believe concerning radiation, it has been demon-
strated that a somewhat larger annual dosis of such than that
most common in the world today - instead of some 2.4 mSv per
year, something like 10-20 mSv per year, or that level which
there was when life arose, some billions of years ago - is
*beneficial* for people's health.
[END OF QUOTE]
From "UNITE! Info #119en: More Chernobyl horror hoaxes", part
2/2, 07.05.2000, APPENDIX 2: ATOMIC ENERGY INSIGHTS (ROD
ADAMS) ON CHERNOBYL HEALTH EFFECTS, 1996,
Article reproduced from homepage of Adams Atomic Engines, Inc:
<http://www.openweb.com/AAE/>:
[QUOTE:]
Long Term Radiation Effects
That answer [above; not repeated here in Info #163en - RM]
rarely satisfies people who are curious about the effects of
the accident. There have been far too many widely published
stories about cancers, birth defects, thyroid disorders or
other symptoms.
The best estimate of radiation related illness is that there
have been approximately 500-600 excess cases of thyroid can-
cer, mostly in children, in the areas most affected by the
radioactive fallout. As of early 1996, three deaths have been
associated with this disease. There is some speculation among
scientists that the potassium iodide pills given to prevent
I-131 uptake by the thyroid may have contributed to the can-
cers. In areas where iodide was not administered, only two
cancers have appeared.
There have been no excess leukemias, congenital abnormalities,
adverse pregnancy outcomes or any other radiation induced
disease in the general population.
[END OF QUOTE]
And now for the main content of this Info:
An excerpt from the article, in the magazine "21st Century
Science & Technology", Fall 2001, pp. 48-57, by Jerry M. Cutt-
ler, D.Sc:
"THE SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS OF NUCLEAR RADIATION".
[Note: I don't agree with the political line of the magazine
in question. But it sometimes brings some information which
is suppressed almost everywhere else. - RM]
The excerpt reproduced here is the last part of the article,
pp. 55-57 (except the figure on p. 55).
On the author, the magazine says on p. 48:
"Dr. Cuttler, a nuclear engineer, works as a consultant in
Ontario, Canada. He is a past president of the Canadian Nuc-
lear Society. This article was adapted from a speech he gave
at the Annual Conference of the Canadian Nuclear Society in
Toronto, June 2001. <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>"
[QUOTE:]
.....
CHERNOBYL AND UNSCEAR 2000
April 26, 2001 was the 15th anniversary of the tragic Cherno-
byl accident, an accident that set off immediate, very strong
reactions of fear and outrage throughout the world. Many
people expected that the radioactivity released at Chernobyl
would cause millions of cancer deaths and the birth of abnor-
mal babies. The reality, however, is totally different.
The reality was documented in the 1,220-page *UNSCEAR 2000
Report: Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation*, that was
released in June 2000 (31) and tabled in September 2000 at
the United Nations General Assembly. (UNSCEAR is the United
Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radia-
tion.)
[Author's note (31), p. 57:
United Nations, 2000. "UNSCEAR Focuses on Chernobyl
Accident in General Assembly Report," Press Release
No: UNIS/UNSCEAR/1 (June 6).
http://www.un.org/ha/chernobyl/unscear.htm]
It took the 146 committee members and staff from 21 countries
six years to collect and study the facts in 5,400 documents,
in order to prepare the 20-page summary and 10 annexes of
technical details. (32)
[Author's note (32), p. 57:
UNSCEAR, 2000. *Sources and Effects of Ionizing Ra-
diation, The UNSCEAR 2000 Report - Summary*,
http://www.cns-snc.ca/branches/Toronto/radiation/
UNSCEAR2000Report.rtf]
This report is the most credible information on this subject,
and was written by an independent, non-nuclear organization.
The UNSCEAR report compares the radiation dose that an ave-
rage person receives from all types of natural and human-made
sources. It estimates the health effects of this radiation,
including those caused by the Chernobyl accident.
The average natural radiation dose is 2.4 mSv (0.24 rem) per
year, but the report presents data (Figure 10 [not repro-
duced here - RM]) indicating that ambient radiation levels
are many tens and hundreds times higher in some geographic
regions where many people live. No adverse health effects
related to radiation were ever observed among populations ex-
posed to such high natural doses.
Human-made radiation sources expose the average person annual-
ly to much less radiation; for example, 0.4 mSv (0.04 rem)
from medical diagnosis; 0.1 mSv (0.01 rem) from A-bomb tests
in the 1960s; 0.05 mSv (5 millirem) from the Chernobyl acci-
dent; and less than 0.01 mSv (1 millirem) from nuclear elec-
tricity.
Because radiation from natural or human-made sources affects
living things in the same way, we should not expect the
health effects to be any different for those who receive the
same dose from either source, in the short-term or the long-
term.
Now, on Chernobyl: Of the 134 Chernobyl engineers who deve-
loped symptoms of acute radiation disease, 28 died from ra-
diation sickness and two died as a result of the fire and
falling objects - all the others with the symptoms of acute
radiation disease recovered.
Many emergency workers came to the station to remove radio-
active debris, so as to allow the staff to continue operating
the other three reactors. No increase above the normal inci-
dences of cancers or leukemias for the population as a whole
was observed among these 381,000 clean-up workers.
The authorities moved 116,000 people from their homes in 1986,
and 220,000 more later, in order to avert a lifetime (70-year)
dose of more than 350 mSv (which is double the world's natural
average background radiation), even though many people live
very healthy lives in areas that are much more radioactive.
Careful screening of all the people in the Chernobyl area be-
gan in 1986. Nothing like this thorough health program had
existed before in the area. So far, this has identified a to-
tal of 1,800 thyroid cancers.
Before the accident, the incidence of thyroid cancers noticed
in children was ~0.2 per 100,000 in Belarus and Ukraine; no
data are available from Russia. The maximum incidence rates
registered in 1987 to 1998 were as follows: Belarus 17.9,
Ukraine 4.9 and Russia 26.6 per 100,000 children.
Does this mean that these cancers were caused by the accident?
Normally, it takes 10 or more years for cancers to develop, if
radiation is the cause, but half of these thyroid cancers were
found sooner than that (in Russia, for instance, in the second
year after the accident, there were 9.1 cases per 100,000).
Also, the number of these thyroid cancers is *lower* in areas
of higher dose! Could they be occult (small, stable) thyroid
cancers? These happen naturally, and rarely cause medical
problems. (33)
[Author's note (33), p. 57:
M. Moosa, E.L. Mazzaferri, 1997. "Occult Thyorid Car-
cinoma," *Cancer Journal*, Vol. 10 No. 4 (July-Aug.).
http://www.fr.embnet.org/agora/journals/cancer/
articles/10-4/moos.htm]
Typically, there are many thousands of such thyroid cancers in
a population of 100,000. The number varies according to geo-
graphic location, and depends on many different factors.
In the United States, there are 13,000 such cancers per
100,000 people (and 24,000 thyroid cancers per 100,000 in Ha-
waii). Is it therefore valid to conclude that there was an in-
crease in thyroid cancer incidence after the Chernobyl acci-
dent, when there was no equivalent screening before the acci-
dent?
In a report of the U.S. National Council on Radiation Protec-
tion on thyroid cancer (34), we have the remarkable statement
that "available human data on low dose I-131 [Iodine-131] ex-
posures have not shown I-131 to be carcinogenic in the human
thyroid".
[Author's note (34), p. 57:
National Council on Radiation Protection, 1985. *In-
duction of Thyroid Cancer by Ionizing Radiation*,
NCRP Report No. 80, Chapter 4, "Human Experience after
Exposure to Iodine-131".]
The National Cancer Institute carried out a 14-year study of
thyroid cancers found all over the United States, in the 30-
year period after the 100 A-bomb tests in Nevada, in the
1950s and early 1960s. The 1997 report compared the number in
each area with the amount of radiation, and did not find any
evidence to associate thyroid cancer to this radiation. (35-
36)
[Author's note (35), p. 57:
R.A. Brown, 1997. *Bomb Fallout and Thyroid Cancer:
Statistical Sheep in Real Wolves' Clothing*.
http://www.srv.net/~russb/thyroid/index.html]
[Author's note (36), p. 57:
National Cancer Institute, 1997. "NCI Releases Re-
sults of Nationwide Study of Radioactive Fallout from
Nuclear Tests", Press Release, Aug. 1 (Betsheda, Md.:
NCI). http://rex.nci.nih.gov/INTRFCE_GIFS/MASSMED_
INTR_DOC.htm]
So, it seems that the 1,800 "excess" tyroid cancers, in the
Chernobyl screening, were *not* caused by radiation.
The UNSCEAR report concludes that no increases in cancer inci-
dence or mortality have been observed that could be attribu-
ted to ionizing radiation; that the risk of leukemia does not
appear to be elevated, even for the clean-up workers; and that
there is no evidence of other non-malignant disorders that are
related to radiation.
There were many psychological reactions to the accident, the
UNSCEAR report states, but these were caused by fear of the
radiation, not the actual radiation. In other words, there is
no need for anyone to live in fear of serious health conse-
quences from the Chernobyl accident. For the most part people
were exposed to radiation levels comparable to, or only a few
times higher than, the average natural background radiation.
POLICIES AND MYTHS
Policies and myths that were created half a century ago by the
International Commission on Radiation Protection (ICRP) have
convinced many people that radiation is harmful in any amount.
The regulatory authorities, and many research scientists, con-
tinue to ignore statistically significant evidence that con-
tradicts this linear no-threshold view of radiation. They
simply ignore both the evidence that shows that there are no
adverse effects from high levels of natural radiation in many
regions, and the evidence that low doses of radiation received
by nuclear workers and medical patients (including cancer pa-
tients) provide significant overall beneficial health effects.
The ethics of the International Commission on Radiation Pro-
tection is being questioned and debated in the scientific com-
munity (37, 38), but there is enormous resistance to any
change that would disturb the billions of dollars of research
money and clean-up funding flowing as a result of the linear
no-threshold myth. (40)
[Author's note (37), p. 57:
Z. Jaworowski, 1999. "Radiation risk and ethics",
*Phys. Today*, (Sept), pp. 24-29.]
[Author's note (38), p. 57:
"Radiation risk and ethics: Health hazards, prevention
costs and radiophobia", Letters in *Physics Today*,
April 2000, p. 11 and May 2000, p. 11.]
[Author's note (40), p. 57:
J. Muckerheide, 2000. "It's Time to Tell the Truth
About the Health Benefits of Low-Dose Radiation",
*21st Century* (Winter), pp. 44-55. http:/www.
21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/nuclear.html]
Most damaging is the public fear that this myth perpetuates,
making it difficult for many scientists to present the real
evidence of the beneficial effects of low-level radiation that
have been observed on humans and other living things. It is,
therefore, not surprising that the very important UNSCEAR
2000 Report received very little publicity.
So, the myths about cancer and abnormal babies will continue,
as scientists carry out more and more politically correct and
politically funded research on the response of cells and mice
to radiation.
The linear no-threshold myth blocks efforts to supply re-
liable, environmentally friendly nuclear energy, to power the
world economies. It also blocks the widespread use of low-dose
radiation therapy to cure or control cancer and other dis-
eases. In the name of "protection", it is actually causing
harm.
How long will it be before concerns about energy supplies and
cancer death rates will cause people to pay attention to the
actual scientific results, and take action to reap the great
social benefits?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to Dr. Myron Pollycove, of the U.S. Nuclear Re-
gulatory Commission and the University of California, San
Fransisco, for his comprehensive review of this paper. Also,
Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski, of the Central Laboratory for Radio-
logical Protection in Warsaw, and Representative of Poland to
UNSCEAR, provided valuable clarifications on the UNSCEAR 2000
Report and important information on thyroid cancer studies
applicable to the Chernobyl accident.
[END OF QUOTE from Jerry M. Cuttler, D.Sc, 2001]
UNITE! / VEREINIGT EUCH! / UNISSEZ-VOUS! / ¡UNIOS! /
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