Atomic Radiation is More Harmful to Women and Children
Mary Olson
Nuclear Information & Resource Service
www.nirs.org
No Safe Dose of Radiation
• All it takes is a single living cell and a single emission from a radioactive nucleus to start a fatal cancer
• Does cancer result from every dose?
No, but death is possible from a dose so small it is not measurable – or other impacts such as loss of an embryo
No Safe Dose is not a folk song
• EPA Standards explicitly state “there is no safe dose”
• US Nuclear Regulatory Commission – Chapter 10 of the US Code of Regulations, part 20 and an additional regulation called ALARA reflect this
• National Academy of Sciences Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR I – VII) affirm “No Safe Dose”
• ! And data from human populations supports
Nuclear Energy is thought of as “CLEAN”
Only because DIRTY radiation is INVISIBLE
Nuclear Factories have Routine Releases of Radioactivity
People can get sick from theseBUT
On a BAD DAY the whole world can get contaminated with
radioactive fall-out
APRIL 26 1986 – CHERNOBYL EXPLODES and FIRE STARTSNote Spain on lower left, Scandinavia center top, “Black Tornado is the PLUME of HIGHLY RADIOACTIVE FUEL PARTICLES
40% of Europe contaminated above 4,000 Bq / meter2
Radiation impacts our cells
Ionizing radiation part of the electromagnetic spectrum
Charged and energized subatomic
waves (X-rays, Gamma) and
particles (beta, alpha, neutron)
Can damage living cells and tissues
At very high doses, radation damage can be seen
Radiation burn from accident or malfunction
At Lower doses it takes a microscope but we can see Radiation Induced Chromosomal Aberrations
Common from high-end of “low-dose” spectrum
US and international radiation standards assume that the individual getting the “dose” is an adult male. Turns out they are the most resistant part of the lifecycle to radiation. Women and children are not protected to the same level by these standards.
Life-cycle “dose – response” curve to ionizing radiation
PROTECT FIRST, STUDY SECOND – WE DON’T YET KNOW WHY GIRLS AND WOMEN ARE MORE VULNERABLE TO RADIATION –BUT WE KNOW ENOUGH NOW TO DEMAND BETTER PROTECTION
Eating, drinking, breathing in radioactivity is very different than getting an X-ray. All the radioactivity results in radiation exposure –and continues until it (hopefully) leaves the body.
Visible damage to lung tissue from Plutonium
On alpha emitting particle will result in an extremely low dose to body - - but VERY HIGH dose to tissue
National Academy of Science: Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation BEIR VII Phase 2
Women and Children not Protected
Regulation of Ionizing Radiation
US Nuclear Regulatory Com.
• 3.5 fatal cancers in every 1000 (men) exposed
• = 1 death in every 286 men
• JAPAN –
• 2000 millirem/ year goal for school children – from time in school only
• 2 rems = 1 in 4 children getting cancer
EPA -- Superfund
• 1 cancer in a million
• 1 cancer in 100,000
• 1 cancer in 10,000
We can be pro-nuclear: the best nuclear reactor is a nice safe 93 million miles away – requires no cooling water, waste disposal or special security. THE SUN!