"In China, a meticulous study measured the radon level for 1 year in the houses of several hundred women with lung cancers and in homes of a similar number of healthy women. The results demonstrated at a 95% confidence level that women who lived in high-level radon houses (more than 350 Bq/m^3) had an 80% lower lung cancer risk than those living in low-level radon houses (4 to 70 Bq/m^3). For perspective, the EPA considers that remedial action at any level down to 70 Bq/m^3 would be cost effective, even for the cost of reducing the level from 150 to 70 Bq/m^3 at about $2 million per hypothetical life saved. (Schiager 1992)." [Blot, W.J., et al. Indoor radon and lung cancer in China. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 82, 1025, 1990.]
"While the poorly fed coastal population in Kerala, India, receives 400% - 800% more background radiation than neighboring areas, the people have a higher fertility rate with the fewest neonatal deaths of any other Indian state." [Auxier, J.A., Reactions to BRC. Health Physics Society Newsletter, 16, 5, 1988.]
Showing posts with label Kerala. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kerala. Show all posts
Thursday, March 10, 2016
Sunday, March 6, 2016
India
Indian researchers K.S.V. Nambi and S.D. Soman collected an analyzed cancer mortality data from a number of state hospitals along with the average background radiation in each locality. (Hospitals in Delhi, Kerala, Maharashtra, Pondi and Tamil Nadu were excluded as they are regional centers that take patients from several states.) A plot of these data, shown in Figure 23, show an unmistakable negative correlation between background radiation and overall cancer mortality. In an extended study, the investigators found a significant inverse relationship (the more radiation, the less cancer) between background radiation and all types of female cancers except those of the mouth and cervix. [Nambi, K.S.V., and Soman, S.D. Further observations on environmental radiation and cancer in India. Submitted to Health Physics, 1990.]
Source for Figure 23 Cancer Mortality vs. Background Radiation (India) Nambi, K.S.V. and Soman, S.D. Environmental radiation and cancer in India. Health Physics, 52, 653, 1987.
Thursday, February 4, 2016
Breaking News!! EPA Restricts Foreign Travel Because of Dangerous Radiation Levels
[Well, not yet really... but give them a little.]
The highest background radiation levels I could find are in China, India, Brazil, and Iran (more on this in chapter 17). All these countries have deposits of monazite - a black sand often found on beaches and in rare earth deposits - in which the principle radioisotopes are from the decay of thorium 232 and radium 226.
The 80,000 people of Kerala, India, receive up to 1,300 mrem (1.3 cSv or about three-and-a-half times our background exposure) per year and have been recognized for their healthfulness compared with neighboring states. The 10,000 citizens of Guarapari, Brazil, and the vacationers that flock to their beaches to bury themselves in the black sand absorb 0.03 mGy (3mrem) per hour - the equivalent of 26,280 mrem (2.6 cSv or about eighty-seven times our background) per year. [It is illegal to take the sand, but it has been done for centuries by tourists who have heard of its benefits and keep it under their beds. By so doing they receive little additional "through skin" radiation, but are exposed to continuing sources of breathable radon.]
Meanwhile in Ramsari, Iran, the 2,000 inhabitants and their ancestors have lived for centuries begin exposed up to 48,000 mrem (48 cSv or 132 times the U.S. average) and "survived" to tell about it... in fact they keep on surviving to the point that our regulators are wearing out their fingernails from scratching their LNT - and collective dose - heads. (Actually, they just engage in politically correct science: ignore those data that are inconvenient.)
The highest background radiation levels I could find are in China, India, Brazil, and Iran (more on this in chapter 17). All these countries have deposits of monazite - a black sand often found on beaches and in rare earth deposits - in which the principle radioisotopes are from the decay of thorium 232 and radium 226.
The 80,000 people of Kerala, India, receive up to 1,300 mrem (1.3 cSv or about three-and-a-half times our background exposure) per year and have been recognized for their healthfulness compared with neighboring states. The 10,000 citizens of Guarapari, Brazil, and the vacationers that flock to their beaches to bury themselves in the black sand absorb 0.03 mGy (3mrem) per hour - the equivalent of 26,280 mrem (2.6 cSv or about eighty-seven times our background) per year. [It is illegal to take the sand, but it has been done for centuries by tourists who have heard of its benefits and keep it under their beds. By so doing they receive little additional "through skin" radiation, but are exposed to continuing sources of breathable radon.]
Meanwhile in Ramsari, Iran, the 2,000 inhabitants and their ancestors have lived for centuries begin exposed up to 48,000 mrem (48 cSv or 132 times the U.S. average) and "survived" to tell about it... in fact they keep on surviving to the point that our regulators are wearing out their fingernails from scratching their LNT - and collective dose - heads. (Actually, they just engage in politically correct science: ignore those data that are inconvenient.)
Table 10 – Background Radiation in Various Locations
with Comparisons
|
|||
Case/Place
|
cGy/yr
|
mrem/year
|
Ratio
to U.S. average
|
EPA level of concern
|
0.001
|
1
|
0.003
|
Limit nearby nuclear power plant
|
0.005
|
5
|
0.016
|
Proposed EPA maximum (all sources)
|
0.100
|
100
|
.3
|
U.S. average background
|
0.300
|
300
|
1.0
|
Chernobyl forced resettlement**
|
0.500
|
500
|
1.7
|
Colorado plateau
|
0.600
|
600
|
2.0
|
Kerala, India
|
1.3
|
1,300
|
4.3
|
Gerais, Brazil
|
2.3
|
2,300
|
7.7
|
Hormesis optimum (Luckey)
|
10.0
|
10,000
|
33.3
|
Guarapari Beach, Brazil
|
26.3
|
26,300
|
87.6
|
Ramasari, Iran (average)
|
48.0
|
48,000
|
132
|
* Adapted from “Radiation Hormesis for
Health” by T.D. Luckey, Health Physics
Newsletter, June 1995.
|
|||
** In areas where the natural
background plus the Chernobyl contribution exceeded this limit, 200,000
people were forcibly resettled.
|
|||
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)