Is Radiation Ever Really Safe?
Every Dose of Radiation Has the Potential to Cause Cancers, Says
Medical Expert
Growing public concern about
possible radiation exposure during the 2011 nuclear crisis in Japan raised questions
about radiation safety:
· What
is the relative safety of radiation at various levels?
· How much radiation is safe?
· How much radiation is dangerous or, potentially, lethal?
Such concerns about radiation
safety and public health prompted officials in many countries to quickly offer
assurances that the radiation exposure experienced by people in the United
States and other countries, and most parts of Japan, is "safe" and
poses no health risk.
In their eagerness to calm
public fears about the safety of radiation and the short-term health risks of
radiation exposure from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan, however,
government officials may have ignored or glossed over the potential long-term
health risks and cumulative effects of radiation.
RADIATION IS NEVER SAFE
"There is no safe level of radiation," said
Dr. Jeff Patterson, immediate past president of Physicians for Social
Responsibility, a radiation exposure expert, and a practicing family doctor in Madison,
Wisconsin.
"Every dose of radiation has the
potential to cause cancers, and we know that there are other damaging effects
of radiation as well. The history of the radiation industry, all the way back
[to] the discovery of X-rays ... is one of understanding that principle."
RADIATION DAMAGE IS CUMULATIVE
"We know that radiation is not safe. The damage is
cumulative, and so we try and limit how much radiation exposure we get,"
Patterson said, noting that even during medical procedures, such as dental or
orthopedic X-rays, patients wear thyroid shields and lead aprons to protect
them from radiation.
Radiologists
may add to their protective wardrobe lead-lined gloves and special glasses to
protect their corneas "because you
can get cataracts from radiation."
Patterson made his remarks to
reporters during a panel discussion about the Japan nuclear crisis at the
National Press Club in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2011.
The
event was hosted by Friends of the Earth and featured two other nuclear
experts: Peter Bradford, who was a member of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission during the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in 1979 and is a
former chair of the Maine and New York utility commissions; and Robert Alvarez,
senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies and former senior policy
adviser for six years to the U.S. Energy Secretary and the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for National Security and the Environment.
To
support his statements, Patterson cited a National Academy of Sciences report, "The
Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation," which concluded "that
radiation is a direct linear relationship [of] dose to damage, and that every
dose of radiation has the potential to cause cancers."
RADIATION EFFECTS LAST FOREVER
Patterson
also addressed the difficulty of managing the risks of nuclear energy, and
assessing the health and environmental damage caused by nuclear accidents such
as Chernobyl, Three Mile Island and the earthquake-and-tsunami-generated crisis
at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex in Japan.
"Most accidents [and] natural
[disasters], like Hurricare Katrina, have a beginning, a middle, and an
end," Patterson said.
"We pack up, we repair things, and
we carry on. But nuclear accidents are much, much different ... They have a
beginning, and ... the middle may go on for some time ... but the end never
comes. This just goes on forever. Because the effects of radiation go on
forever.
"How many of these incidents can we
tolerate before we realize that this is absolutely the wrong path to be taking?
It’s an attempt to manage the unmanageable,"
Patterson said.
"There’s no way to be sure that this
won’t happen again. In fact, it will happen
again. History repeats itself."
MORE HONESTY ABOUT RADIATION SAFETY
NEEDED
And
speaking of history, "the history of
the nuclear industry has been one of minimization and cover up ... in regard to
the effects of radiation [and] what has happened in these accidents,"
Patterson said.
"And that really has to change. Our
government has to be open and honest with us about what’s happening there.
Otherwise the fear, the concerns, just get greater."
RADIATION SAFETY AND DAMAGE CANNOT BE
ASSESSED SHORT-TERM
Asked
by a reporter to explain reports that the Chernobyl nuclear accident has
had no serious lasting effects on people or wildlife in the area, Patterson
said the official reports on Chernobyl don't match the scientific data.
Documented effects of
radiation released during the Chernobyl accident include thousands of deaths
due to thyroid cancer, studies showing genetic defects in many insect species
around Chernobyl, and animals hundreds of miles from Chernobyl that still can't
be slaughtered for meat because of the radioactive Cesium in their bodies.
Yet Patterson pointed out
that even those assessments are inevitably premature and incomplete.
Twenty-five
years after the Chernobyl accident, "the
people in Belarus are still eating radiation from the mushrooms and things that
they gather in the forest that are high in Cesium," Patterson said.
"And so this does, indeed, go on and
on. It’s one thing to say in a brief picture that there’s no damage. It’s
another thing to look at this over 60 or 70 or 100 years, which is the time
length we have to follow this.
"Most of us are not going to be
around for the end of that experiment," he said. "We’re putting it on our children and
grandchildren."
Edited
by Frederic Beaudry
Frederic
Beaudry is an associate professor of environmental
science and a wildlife biologist with interests in a broad range of
environmental issues.
EXPERIENCE
Dr.
Beaudry teaches courses in environmental sciences at Alfred University, New York. Prior to teaching,
he worked as a wildlife biologist focusing on the ecology and conservation of
birds and turtles. He has authored several scientific papers on land use and
conservation. His current research examines land use changes and their effects
on bird and amphibian communities.
EDUCATION
Dr.
Beaudry has a BS in Biology from the Université du Québec à Rimouski, a
master's degree in Natural Resources from Humboldt State University, and a PhD
in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Maine. He conducted postdoctoral
research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
FREDERIC BEAUDRY
"Strong
science has greatly developed our understanding of environmental issues in the
last decade. I am hoping to connect readers with sound information about new
developments affecting our air, water, soil, and biodiversity. We are in charge
of our health, that of our land, and of the plants and animals that depend on
it."
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